Amalfi or Padua?

Amalfi has the sea right in front of the town. Marina Grande lies under the Duomo steps, though in summer it is mostly rows of beach-club loungers. Better swimming is at Atrani, at coves such as Santa Croce reached by stairs or shuttle boat, and off a hired boat among the rocks. The water is clear, but the beaches are pebble, not sand.

Padua is inland, so a swim means a day trip of about an hour to Sottomarina or the Lido of Venice. The Adriatic there is shallow and calm, which suits small children paddling, but the shore is a long, flat line of umbrellas with none of Amalfi's cliffs.

Amalfi's cooking is narrow but distinctive: sfusato lemons, anchovies and Cetara's colatura, and scialatielli with clams, with limoncello after dinner. The catch is the setting. The piazza and seafront cafés serve passing crowds, and the better trattorias have to be found up the alleys and in the valley.

Padua gives you more to eat and a better way to eat it. The morning markets in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta, the delicatessens under the Palazzo della Ragione, Venetian dishes such as bigoli and baccalà, and the early-evening spritz ritual make it the stronger choice for food, even though fine dining there is limited too.

Amalfi's heritage comes from its time as a maritime republic: the striped Arab-Norman Duomo with its bronze doors from Constantinople, the white arches of the Chiostro del Paradiso, the old Arsenale and a paper museum in the valley. It is handsome but quickly seen.

Padua has a different level of art. The Scrovegni Chapel holds Giotto's fresco cycle that changed European painting, and the city's fourteenth-century frescoes form a UNESCO-listed group. Add the Basilica of Saint Anthony with Donatello's altar and Gattamelata statue, the frescoed hall of the Palazzo della Ragione and the university's anatomical theatre, and Padua can fill several days of serious sightseeing where Amalfi fills a morning.

After dinner in Amalfi there is a gelato or a glass on Piazza Duomo, and once the last ferries and buses have left the town goes quiet. Padua is livelier, mainly because of its students. Aperitivo crowds spill across Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori until late, and there are wine bars around the Bo and the old ghetto. Neither town has much in the way of clubs, and Padua also goes quiet in high summer.

Amalfi's mountains are the main reason to go. The Lattari range drops into the sea through lemon terraces and ravines. The Valle delle Ferriere gorge starts behind the town, and the Path of the Gods runs high above Positano. Old mule stairways climb to Pontone and Ravello, and kayaks reach sea caves such as the Emerald Grotto.

Padua's outdoors is gentler and starts outside the city. There are vineyard trails and cycling roads in the Euganean Hills, level towpaths along the Brenta and birdwatching on the lagoon. For real mountain walking you need to drive to Monte Grappa or the Asiago plateau.

Both are excellent bases. From Amalfi you can reach Ravello, Positano, Capri, Paestum and, with some effort, Pompeii and Herculaneum. But the ferries run mainly in the warmer months, and the summer traffic on the cliff road slows everything down.

Padua has a slight edge because its trips are quicker and work all year. Venice is under half an hour by train, Vicenza is a quarter of an hour away, and Verona, Bologna and Ferrara are within about an hour. Closer by are the Brenta villas and walled towns such as Montagnana.

Amalfi is hard going with young children. There are steep stairways that defeat a pushchair, a crowded pebble beach and winding bus rides that can make children carsick. Older children who swim well will still enjoy the boat trips and sea caves.

Padua is easier day to day: the centre is flat, safe and largely pedestrianised, and children can run around Prato della Valle. It has little made for children either, so families usually add day trips to Gardaland, Lake Garda or the shallow Adriatic.

You can walk across Amalfi in minutes, but it is all steps and covered alleys. Travelling along the coast depends on blue buses that fill up in summer and seasonal ferries. Parking is so scarce that a car is a burden.

Padua is much simpler. The flat centre is covered by arcades, a tram runs from the station to Prato della Valle, and many people get about by bike. Fast mainline trains in every direction mean you don't need a car unless you are heading into the hills.

Amalfi's shopping comes down to one street running up from Piazza Duomo, and many of its shops sell the same limoncello and lemon soaps. What is worth taking home is the handmade cotton paper still made in the valley mills, sold as notebooks and stationery, along with painted majolica tiles, linen and sandals made to measure.

Padua offers more variety. Under the arcades between the station and the old squares there are Italian fashion and shoe shops, independent boutiques and university bookshops. Cheeses and Euganean wine come from the market halls, and one Sunday a month there is an antiques market on Prato della Valle. For serious fashion shopping, people go on to Venice or Milan.

This is where the two differ most. Space on the Amalfi coast is so limited that sea-view rooms, piazza meals, loungers and boat hire all cost a lot. Staying in the hill villages or going in spring or autumn helps, but only up to a point.

Padua charges ordinary northern Italian prices, so many people use it as the cheaper bed for Venice. Market food and standing spritzes cost little, and a walkable centre keeps transport costs low.

Amalfi itself has no theatre. Its one big draw is in summer up the hill, where the Ravello Festival holds concerts on the terrace of Villa Rufolo above the sea, a setting few concert halls can match.

Padua has events all year. There is prose theatre and some opera at the horseshoe-shaped Teatro Verdi, a chamber orchestra season that plays in the Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica, and student live music. The Fenice in Venice and the Arena in Verona are both close enough for an evening.

Amalfi has no bathing tradition. Its spas belong to the cliffside luxury hotels and are mostly for their own guests, so the rest comes from long terrace lunches and swims from the rocks, best in May or October.

Padua has a real advantage here. About 12km out of town, Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme form one of Europe's largest thermal districts, with hot mineral pools and mud treatments that go back to Roman times. Many spa hotels there take day visitors, so you can have a soak after a morning of frescoes.