Amalfi or Mostar?

Amalfi is a place to swim and Mostar is not. Marina Grande is pebbly and packed with beach-club loungers in summer, but the clear Tyrrhenian stays warm for months. Atrani, Santa Croce and boat trips to rocky inlets give you better water within easy reach.

Mostar has no shore at all. The Neretva is a cold plunge from the rocks below the old town. A proper swim means the falls at Kravica, about 40km south, or more than an hour's drive to the sea at Neum.

Amalfi has the more distinctive table, built on what the coast produces. That means sfusato lemons, anchovies and colatura from Cetara, scialatielli with clams and wines from Furore and Tramonti, with limoncello to finish.

Mostar's cooking is heartier and plainer: charcoal-grilled ćevapi in somun bread, burek and slow-cooked stews, with Herzegovina's Žilavka and Blatina and the slow ritual of Bosnian coffee. Neither town offers much range beyond its own region, and in both the cooking is weakest at the tables with the best view.

Mostar has more to see. The Stari Most, rebuilt after it was destroyed in 1993, stands among the Kujundžiluk, the Koski Mehmed Pasha Mosque and the carpeted Ottoman houses. War-scarred façades further out add a harder chapter, and together they hold your attention for a day or two.

Amalfi's heritage comes from its time as a medieval sea republic: the striped Duomo with its bronze doors from Constantinople, the Chiostro del Paradiso, the Arsenale and the paper museum up the valley. These are fine sights, but they fill half a day before the coast takes over.

Neither is a place for a big night, but Mostar has a little more going on after dinner. Once the terraces facing the lit bridge empty, a few cocktail bars and student clubs keep going on weekends, especially in summer.

Amalfi stops at a late drink on Piazza Duomo or by the harbour, and the town goes quiet when the last ferries and buses leave. For anything more you would have to go to Salerno or Naples.

Amalfi's landscape is its main attraction. Mountains fall straight into the sea past lemon terraces. The Valle delle Ferriere has waterfalls a short walk from town, and the Sentiero degli Dei runs high above Positano. Out on the water, kayaks reach sea caves such as the Emerald Grotto, so walking and the sea come together here in a way Mostar cannot match.

Mostar's surroundings are wilder and harsher: a bare karst basin under Velež and the Prenj range. There is rafting in the Neretva canyons, the Buna spring bursts from the cliff at Blagaj, and birds gather at Hutovo Blato. It rewards active travellers with a car, but it takes more effort to reach.

From Amalfi, famous places are easy to reach. Ravello is just up the hill and Positano a ferry ride away. Capri, Paestum, Pompeii and Herculaneum all fit into a full day, and the ceramics town of Vietri sul Mare is along the coast road. The limits are ferries that run mainly from spring to autumn and a slow road in summer.

Mostar's outings are smaller and quieter: the dervish tekke at Blagaj, the walled hillside village of Počitelj, Stolac's medieval tombstones and Tito's bunker at Konjic. Most need a car or a tour. Sarajevo, two hours away by train through the gorge, is the only big city within a day.

Neither is easy with small children, but Mostar is slightly kinder for a short stay. The bridge divers, a minaret climb and a swim at Kravica fill a couple of days, and restaurants welcome children readily. The slippery cobbles and summer heat still need care.

In Amalfi, pushchairs are useless on the stairways, the beach is crowded pebbles and the winding cliff buses can make children carsick. It suits older children who swim well and enjoy boats and sea caves better than toddlers.

Both centres are small enough to walk around. The difference is what lies beyond them. Amalfi is the hub of its coast, with local buses and seasonal ferries to Ravello, Positano and Capri, so you can manage without a car, though summer buses overflow and the stairs never let up.

In Mostar, the old town and Austro-Hungarian centre are an easy stroll on worn, slippery cobbles. Local buses serve residents rather than visitors, though, so Blagaj, Počitelj and Kravica mean a car, a taxi or a tour. The train to Sarajevo is the main public link onwards.

Shopping is a small affair in both, along a single souvenir street where much of the stock repeats. What differs is the craft. In Amalfi it is handmade cotton paper from the valley mills, painted majolica and sandals made to measure.

In Mostar it is hand-hammered copper coffee sets from the few smiths still working on the Kujundžiluk, along with kilims and embroidery. Neither has fashion or design shopping worth the name.

This is where the two differ most. Mostar is one of Europe's cheaper stops. Guesthouses, ćevapi and local wine cost little, and prices only rise for old-town rooms and bridge-view terraces in midsummer.

Amalfi is at the other end of the scale. Summer sea-view rooms, seafront meals, loungers and boat hire are all expensive. Staying in a hill village and coming in spring or autumn help, but a stay here costs far more than the same days in Mostar.

A summer evening at the Ravello Festival is the best performance either town can offer. Its orchestral and chamber concerts are held on the garden terrace of Villa Rufolo, high above the sea, a short ride up the hill from Amalfi. Outside the festival season, Amalfi has church concerts and the processions and band music of Sant'Andrea.

Mostar does have a national theatre and a youth theatre, but they perform mostly in local languages. For visitors, live performance comes down to open-air concerts in summer and the odd band in a café bar.

Amalfi is the easier place to unwind, more because of its setting than because of any spa. The luxury hotels built into the cliffs have pools and treatment rooms, though mostly for their own guests. The days fall into shaded lunches and swims from the rocks, and in high summer the calm moves up to the hill hamlets.

Mostar's Ottoman hammam survives as a historic building rather than a working bath, and treatments are limited to a few hotels. What rests you here is slow coffee in the shade and the old town early and late in the day, quiet apart from the river once the coach groups have gone.