Amalfi or Lucca?

Amalfi puts you right on the sea, though the town beach is crowded pebble rows of loungers under the Duomo. The real pleasure is the water itself, with coves like Santa Croce reached by stairs or shuttle boat, Atrani's beach a short walk away and a hired boat to rocks and grottoes. You can swim between sightseeing on any day.

Lucca has no shore of its own, but the Versilia coast is a short train ride away and offers what Amalfi lacks: long, gently shelving sand that suits waders, plus pine-backed dunes at the Lecciona. It is a half-day outing rather than a morning dip, so sea lovers will find Amalfi more rewarding.

Lucca eats better day to day. Its family trattorias and osterie inside the walls serve rustic Lucchese dishes such as farro soup, tordelli and chestnut-flour cooking, with fair prices and reliable standards, and aperitivo with local salumi in the wine bars.

Amalfi's cooking is built on lemons, anchovies, colatura and seafood scialatielli, which is a real draw for seafood lovers. But the piazza and seafront tables cater to passing crowds, and you have to seek out the better places in the alleys and up the valley. Neither offers much variety beyond its regional menu.

Lucca is the far richer place for sightseeing. The whole walled city is the attraction, with San Michele in Foro, San Frediano's mosaic, the cathedral's Ilaria del Carretto tomb, the oval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro and the tree-topped Torre Guinigi.

Amalfi's heritage centres on its maritime republic past: the striped Duomo with its Constantinople bronze doors, the Chiostro del Paradiso, the Arsenale and the paper museum. These are fine, but they take half a day, while Lucca rewards two.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Lucca has a little more life, with students in some pubs and wine bars and aperitivo in its two main piazzas. Amalfi winds down to a gelato on Piazza Duomo once the day visitors leave. In summer, Lucca's younger visitors can reach the Versilia discos, whereas from Amalfi a proper night out means Salerno or Naples.

Amalfi's landscape is the main event: the Lattari mountains plunge into the sea, terraced with lemons and cut by gorges like the Valle delle Ferriere. The Path of the Gods and old mule stairways to Ravello and Pontone start close by, and kayaks reach sea caves such as the Emerald Grotto.

Lucca's surroundings are gentler, with olive groves, villa gardens and cycle paths along the Serchio and around the walls. The big scenery, the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps and the Garfagnana forests, is about an hour north, and Lake Massaciuccoli adds birdwatching.

Both are outstanding bases, but for different kinds of outing. From Amalfi the trips are mostly coastal and by bus or ferry: Ravello's villas, Positano, Capri, Vietri's ceramics, with Paestum, Pompeii and Herculaneum possible on a full day. Ferries are seasonal and the summer road is slow.

Lucca's strength is the railway, which links it simply and year-round to Pisa, Florence and Pistoia. The Lucchese villas, Collodi, Pietrasanta's sculptors, Carrara's marble and, with an early start, the Cinque Terre broaden the mix of art towns, gardens and coast.

Lucca is much the easier choice with children. Its flat, mostly traffic-free centre, quadricycle rides on the walls, Pinocchio Park at Collodi and nearby sandy beaches keep days simple, and Lucca Comics & Games in autumn thrills teenagers.

Amalfi suits only older, confident swimmers who will enjoy boat trips and sea caves. Steep stairways rule out pushchairs, the beach is crowded pebbles, and the twisting cliff road can make children sick.

Both centres are walkable, but Lucca's is flat and largely closed to traffic, with bikes for hire at every gate and trains leaving just outside the southern walls. Only the hill villages and Garfagnana really call for a car.

Amalfi's town is tiny but full of steps, and its role as the coast's hub depends on buses that fill up and pass queues in summer and on ferries that stop out of season. A car is a liability, and anyone with limited mobility will struggle.

Neither is a shopping destination, though Lucca offers a little more. Via Fillungo has fashion and jewellery behind old Liberty shopfronts, delicatessens sell local oil and buccellato, and the monthly antiques market around the cathedral is a genuine draw. Amalfi's single main street repeats limoncello and ceramics from shop to shop, with handmade cotton paper, majolica and made-to-measure sandals the best finds.

Lucca is markedly kinder to your wallet. It costs less than Florence, many of its main sights, including the walls and many churches, are free, and trattoria meals and regional trains are fairly priced, with rooms just outside the walls the best value.

Amalfi sits among Italy's priciest places to stay, with sea-view rooms, piazza meals, loungers and boat hire all expensive. The cheap local buses help, as do hill-village rooms and shoulder-season dates, but it stays expensive.

Lucca is Puccini's hometown, and it shows: recitals of his arias run through most of the year, the Teatro del Giglio holds a full opera and concert season, and summer adds stadium-scale concerts on Piazza Napoleone and open-air opera by the lake at Torre del Lago.

Amalfi itself has no theatre. Its one great draw is summer in Ravello, where orchestral concerts on the Villa Rufolo terrace above the sea are unforgettable, but outside that season there is little beyond church music and festival bands.

Neither town has its own baths, but Lucca is the more restful base. Its traffic-free streets and evening walks on the walls set an easy pace, and spa days are close by at Montecatini's belle époque baths, Monsummano's cave pools and the steam grottoes of Bagni di Lucca.

Amalfi's calm comes from long terrace lunches and swims from the rocks, while spa treatments are mostly kept for guests of the cliffside luxury hotels. In July and August the centre turns crowded and noisy.