Amalfi or Dubrovnik?

Both coasts swim off pebbles and rocks rather than sand, but Dubrovnik makes it easier to find a good spot. Its swimming is spread out: ladders off the rocks under the seaward walls, Banje beside the Old Town, and the coves of Lapad and Babin Kuk where most visitors stay.

Amalfi has one main town beach, Marina Grande, and in summer most of it is covered by beach-club loungers. The better swims mean a walk to Atrani, stairs down to Santa Croce, or a boat. Dubrovnik's offshore swimming is also more varied. There is Lokrum a few minutes out, quiet Elafiti bays, and a rare sandy cove at Sunj on Lopud.

The two are evenly matched, both serving honest coastal cooking with a centre that caters to day crowds. The difference is in what reaches the plate. In Amalfi the flavours are lemon and anchovy: sfusato lemons, Cetara's colatura, scialatielli with clams, and limoncello to finish.

Dubrovnik's table is Dalmatian. You get black risotto, octopus salad, slow-cooked pasticada, and Ston oysters you can eat at the farm itself, with Peljesac reds such as Dingac on the side. In both places the better meals are away from the main square or the Stradun, in back-alley trattorias or village konobas.

Dubrovnik is far ahead here. Its walls are a sight in their own right, and inside them stand a palace, monasteries, a baroque church and a fort on its own rock. Together they make a whole intact city that rewards two or three days, with the 1991-92 siege remembered on Mount Srd.

Amalfi's heritage is fine but brief. The striped Duomo with its Constantinople bronze doors, the Chiostro del Paradiso, the republic's Arsenale and the paper museum up the valley make a good morning, and after that you head back to the coast.

Neither suits serious clubbing, but Dubrovnik at least gives you a night out. In summer there are sunset drinks at the bars cut into the rocks below the walls, wine bars in the lanes off the Stradun, and dancing at the club inside the Revelin fortress.

Amalfi ends its evening with dinner and a gelato on Piazza Duomo. Once the last ferries and buses leave, the town goes quiet, and anything livelier means a trip to Salerno or Naples.

Both have mountains dropping into a clear sea, but Amalfi's landscape is the more dramatic and the more walkable. The Path of the Gods above Positano is one of Europe's great coastal walks. The Valle delle Ferriere offers waterfalls and ferns from the back of town, and old mule stairways climb to Ravello and the hill hamlets.

Dubrovnik's outdoors is more about the islands. You can kayak around the walls to Lokrum, cycle between Elafiti villages, or walk among the saltwater lakes and pine forest of Mljet. Mount Srd gives the big view over it all.

Amalfi has the stronger day trips, and the places themselves are bigger names. Ravello and Positano are close, Capri is a ferry ride away, and the Greek temples of Paestum and the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum each fit into a full day. Ferries run only from spring to autumn, though.

From Dubrovnik the trips cross borders. Kotor and Perast in Montenegro are the classic outing, Trebinje's Ottoman bridge is under an hour away, and closer to home there are Ston's walls and the car-free Elafiti islands. Both suffer in summer, but in different ways. On the Amalfi coast the delay is the slow crawl along the single cliff road and buses too full to board. From Dubrovnik it is the border queue, which can add hours to a day in Montenegro or Bosnia.

Neither town is built with children in mind, though both feel safe and welcoming. Amalfi works best for families with older children who swim confidently and can manage long climbs. They will enjoy boat trips into the sea caves and the walks up the valley past old mills. With toddlers, the shape of the town is the problem, and a base with more space and sand elsewhere on the coast is easier.

Dubrovnik is more forgiving with younger children because you can plan around its difficulties. Walk the walls early in the morning or in the evening, when the summer heat and cruise-day crowds ease. Save the steep side streets for older legs, since a pushchair only really manages on the flat Stradun.

Dubrovnik is a little easier to get around. Its hotel districts are spread out but linked by a straightforward city bus to the Pile gate, and taxi boats run to Lokrum and Cavtat. A hire car earns its keep for Konavle or Montenegro.

Amalfi is a single small town you cross on foot, and the coast's buses and ferries all start from its harbour. In summer, though, full buses pass waiting queues and the one cliff road jams, so a car only adds to the trouble. Both towns are heavy going for anyone who struggles with steps.

Amalfi has more worth bringing home. Its handmade cotton paper, still produced in the valley, is a real local craft, alongside hand-painted majolica, linen and sandals made to measure, even if the limoncello shops repeat themselves.

Dubrovnik's lanes are mostly souvenir stalls. Look past them for Konavle embroidery, silver filigree, and the dried figs and candied orange peel at the Gunduliceva Poljana morning market.

Both are expensive, but Amalfi is the harder on the wallet. Sea-view rooms are priced like the dearest capitals, there is little cheap accommodation, and loungers and boat hire add up. The local buses are the only real bargain.

Dubrovnik is costly too, especially in and near the Old Town in summer. It does have more ways to soften the cost: rooms in Lapad, Gruz or Cavtat, konobas away from the Stradun, and spring or autumn stays, when room prices drop sharply.

Both are thin for most of the year, and each is lifted by one notable summer festival. Ravello, up the hill from Amalfi, holds orchestral and chamber concerts on the terrace of Villa Rufolo, high above the sea.

The Dubrovnik Summer Festival, running since 1950, is broader and takes place inside the city itself. It stages theatre, dance and music in Fort Lovrijenac and the Rector's Palace. The city's symphony orchestra also plays through the year.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and spa treatments in both mostly mean the larger hotels. What differs is where to find calm. Around Amalfi it is up in the hill hamlets, with long shaded lunches and early swims off the rocks. From Dubrovnik you would cross by ferry to the Elafiti islands or settle in Cavtat, where the days follow the harbour.