Amalfi or Turin?

Amalfi has the sea on its doorstep. There is the pebble beach of Marina Grande below the Duomo, Atrani's small cove ten minutes away on foot, and rocks and grottoes you can reach by hired boat. In summer it is packed with loungers and it is never a sandy shore, but a swim fits easily into any day.

Turin has no beach at all. The Ligurian coast is close to two hours away, so in summer the realistic swim is in a lake such as Avigliana, or further afield on Lago Maggiore.

Turin is the better place to eat. Piedmontese cooking runs from vitello tonnato and agnolotti del plin to autumn truffles from the Langhe, with Barolo on the wine list. Add the aperitivo ritual, bicerin in the arcaded cafés and the huge Porta Palazzo market.

Amalfi's food has a sharper but narrower identity: sfusato lemons, anchovies and colatura, scialatielli with clams and limoncello to finish. In a town this small the choice is limited, and much of the seafront cooking is aimed at day visitors, so the good meals take some finding.

Turin is in another league here. The Museo Egizio alone justifies the trip. Around it are the Royal Palace, Palazzo Madama, the cathedral of the Shroud, Savoy residences such as Venaria and the cinema museum inside the Mole, which together fill several full days.

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 old Arsenale and the paper museum. It is beautiful and compact, and most people see it all in a morning.

Neither is a party town, but Turin does have real evenings out. After the aperitivo, people move on to wine bars in the Quadrilatero Romano, crowded pavements in San Salvario, the Murazzi on the Po in summer and a few clubs in old industrial buildings. In Amalfi the evening ends with dinner and a last drink on Piazza Duomo, and the town goes quiet once the ferries and buses have left.

Both have outstanding landscapes, but of very different kinds. Amalfi's is right outside the door: the Lattari mountains falling into the sea, the gorge and waterfalls of the Valle delle Ferriere, the Path of the Gods above Positano, and sea caves to explore by kayak.

Turin's is the Alps, an hour or more away. There is Gran Paradiso with its ibex, the Susa valley, skiing around Sestriere in winter and hut-to-hut hiking in summer. Closer to town there are the Superga hill and the riverside parks, but you need a train or a car to reach the mountains.

Both are excellent bases, for different kinds of trip. From Amalfi the days out are coastal towns and ancient sites: Ravello's villas, Positano and Capri by ferry and, with more effort, Pompeii, Herculaneum and Paestum. The ferries are seasonal and the summer road is slow.

Turin looks towards wine country and other cities. Alba, Barolo and the Langhe are about an hour south, Milan is a fast train ride away, and the Sacra di San Michele, Aosta and Genoa are further out, with trains running all year.

Turin is much easier with children. Its flat grid and long arcades suit pushchairs. The glass lift in the Mole, the car museum, the Egyptian mummies, the planetarium and the rack railway up to Superga give plenty to do, and a large zoo park is within driving distance.

Amalfi is better kept for when children are older and swim well. The stairs defeat pushchairs, the beach is crowded pebbles and the winding coast buses can make children carsick, though older ones will love the boat trips and sea caves.

Turin's centre is flat and laid out on a grid, so you can walk to most sights. One driverless metro line, plus trams and buses, covers the rest, and the main stations connect well with the rest of Italy.

Amalfi is tiny and walkable but steep, with stairs everywhere. Its buses and seasonal ferries make it a hub for the coast, but in summer the buses fill up and pass waiting queues, and the single cliff road clogs. In neither town is a car worth having for the town itself.

Amalfi's shopping is one street climbing from Piazza Duomo, lined with limoncello, lemon soaps and painted ceramics, and much of it repeats from shop to shop. The things worth taking home are the handmade cotton paper from the valley mills, majolica tiles and sandals made to measure.

Turin gives you far more to browse. There are luxury labels under the arcades of Via Roma, mainstream shops along Via Garibaldi, antique dealers on Via Maria Vittoria and the Balon flea market every Saturday. Its best buys are edible, though: gianduiotti, truffles and Piedmontese wine from the city's chocolate makers and delicatessens.

Turin costs much less. Central hotels are fairly priced for most of the year, an aperitivo can serve as dinner and public transport is inexpensive, so most of the money goes on fine dining and museum tickets.

Amalfi is one of the most expensive places to stay in Italy. Sea-view rooms cost as much as in the dearest capitals, and loungers, boat hire and meals on the piazza add up. Staying in the hill villages or coming in spring or autumn makes the bill smaller, but only the buses are cheap.

Turin has a full year-round calendar: opera and ballet at the Teatro Regio, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, concerts in the Lingotto auditorium, plays at the Carignano and plenty of jazz. Amalfi has no theatre or concert hall. Its one real draw is the summer Ravello Festival on the Villa Rufolo terrace, worth it for the setting alone, plus church concerts and the Sant'Andrea processions.

Neither has its own thermal baths, and in both the spas are mostly in hotels. Turin is the slightly easier place to unwind. Its unhurried pace, historic cafés, evening walks along the Po and afternoons in Valentino park stay calm all year, and the thermal waters of Acqui Terme are within a long day out.

Amalfi's calm comes from long lunches on a terrace and swims off the rocks. In July and August, though, the centre is loud and crowded, and the hotel spas mostly serve their own guests.