Amalfi or Venice?

Amalfi has the better swimming, though it is on pebbles. Marina Grande below the Duomo is lined with beach-club loungers, so the nicer dips are at Atrani, in coves such as Santa Croce, or off rocks you reach by hired boat, all in clear Tyrrhenian water.

Venice offers the opposite: kilometres of fine sand on the Lido, a vaporetto ride from San Marco, with shallow, gentle water that is greenish rather than clear. It is the easier beach for small children, but it makes an afternoon out rather than a reason to come.

Venice eats better, largely because of its bacari. Cicchetti such as creamed salt cod and sarde in saor are eaten standing with a spritz, and lagoon dishes like cuttlefish risotto black with its ink come straight from the Rialto market. The main skill is avoiding the picture-menu places around San Marco.

Amalfi's cooking is good but narrower: sfusato lemons, anchovies and Cetara's colatura, scialatielli with seafood, and wines from Furore and Tramonti. In such a small town there are fewer good tables, and the best are in the alleys and up the valley rather than on the piazza.

This is where the two are furthest apart. Venice is itself the sight: San Marco, the Doge's Palace and the palazzi of the Grand Canal, then Titian in the Frari, Tintoretto at San Rocco, the Accademia and the Biennale on top. A week is not enough to see it all.

Amalfi's heritage comes from its days as a maritime republic: the Duomo with its bronze doors from Constantinople, the Chiostro del Paradiso, the Arsenale and the paper museum. It fills half a day, and the rest of the stay belongs to the coast.

Neither suits a big night out, but Venice has a little more life after dark. Aperitivo crowds gather on the Fondamenta della Misericordia, and students keep Campo Santa Margherita busy later. Amalfi winds down after dinner and a drink on Piazza Duomo, and goes quiet once the last buses and ferries have taken the day visitors away. For clubs, both send you elsewhere: from Venice to the mainland or Jesolo, from Amalfi to Salerno or Naples.

Amalfi is much the stronger choice outdoors. The Lattari mountains drop straight into the sea, and the Valle delle Ferriere gorge starts behind the town. The Sentiero degli Dei and the mule stairways to Ravello and Pontone are some of the finest coastal walking in Europe, and kayaks and small boats explore the sea caves.

Venice's nature is quieter and flat. There are the salt marshes of the northern lagoon around Torcello, with herons and flamingos, which you can explore by kayak or rowing boat, and bike rides along the Pellestrina sea walls. Real mountains are more than two hours away.

Both make excellent bases for day trips, in very different ways. From Amalfi you travel by bus and ferry along a famous coast: Ravello's villas, Positano, Capri and, with planning, Pompeii, Herculaneum and Paestum. A crowded summer road slows you down, and most ferries stop in winter.

Venice relies on fast trains. Padua, Vicenza and Verona each make an easy day in an art city. Murano, Burano and Torcello are out in the lagoon itself and work all year round.

Venice works better with children, though neither is easy. Boats instead of buses, no traffic, glass-blowing on Murano and the shallow, sandy Lido give them plenty to enjoy, even if the stepped bridges defeat pushchairs.

Amalfi is harder going, with steep stairways, a crowded strip of pebbles and winding buses that can make children carsick. Older children who swim confidently will enjoy the boats and sea caves, but it is a poor fit for toddlers.

Venice is easier to get around. The car-free centre can be crossed on foot in under an hour, vaporetti cover the Grand Canal, the Lido and the islands, and trains arrive right at Santa Lucia. The steps on its many bridges are the main burden.

Amalfi's own centre is tiny, but going anywhere else depends on the blue buses and the seasonal ferries. In summer, full buses drive past waiting queues on the single cliff road, and the stairs are even harder to avoid.

Venice has more worth buying, and most of it is made in the city. Look for Murano glass, Burano lace, papier-mâché masks, marbled paper and furlane slippers from real workshops in Dorsoduro and Castello. The big fashion names are on Calle Larga XXII Marzo. The trick is to avoid the imported fakes along the main routes.

Amalfi has one shopping street where the same limoncello and ceramics repeat from shop to shop. The real local find is the handmade cotton paper from the valley, along with majolica tiles and made-to-measure sandals.

Both are among the most expensive places to stay in Italy, so the difference is in how you save. In Amalfi, the local buses are the bargain, staying in the hill villages and eating in back-street trattorias trim the bill, and spring and autumn are cheaper than summer.

In Venice, cicchetti at the bar counter can replace sit-down meals, and rooms cost less on the mainland at Mestre or in the quieter sestieri. Late autumn and winter outside carnival are the cheapest times, though water transport and church entry fees add up.

Venice has a proper season of performances. La Fenice, where Verdi and Rossini premiered operas, puts on opera, ballet and symphonic concerts. There is also drama at the Teatro Goldoni, the Biennale's festivals and Vivaldi played in the city where he worked.

Amalfi has no theatre or concert hall of its own. Its one highlight is the summer Ravello Festival, with orchestral and chamber music on the Villa Rufolo terrace above the sea. Otherwise there are church concerts and the feast of Sant'Andrea.

Venice offers a little more for a restful stay. There are spas in palazzo hotels, the quiet of a city without traffic in Castello, Cannaregio and Giudecca, and real thermal pools and mud at Abano Terme, about an hour away.

Amalfi has no thermal tradition, and its spas mostly serve their own hotel guests. Its calm comes from long shaded lunches, swims off the rocks and the hill hamlets, and it is at its most peaceful in May and October.