Assisi or San Marino?

San Marino is far better for swimming. From its walls you can see the Adriatic, and the long sandy beaches of Rimini and Riccione, with rows of umbrellas, beach clubs and shallow water for children, are an easy half-day trip in summer. You still drive or take the bus down rather than staying by the sea.

Assisi offers no such option. The closest water is Lake Trasimeno, where small lido beaches at Passignano and Castiglione del Lago have warm but murky water, so most visitors settle for a pool at an agriturismo.

The two eat about equally well, from different regional kitchens. Assisi cooks in the Umbrian way: strangozzi with black truffle, Castelluccio lentils, torta al testo, olive oil from Monte Subasio and Sagrantino from Montefalco. San Marino leans to Romagna, with passatelli, strozzapreti, piadina and cassone, plus the Tre Monti wafer cake and wines from the republic's own small vineyards.

The same problem appears in both, with the restaurants nearest the sights feeding the crowds. In Assisi, look for trattorias on the side lanes or country agriturismi. In San Marino the better tables are down in Borgo Maggiore and the lower villages.

Assisi has one of Europe's great monuments. The Basilica of San Francesco stacks a dim Lower Church painted by Cimabue, Simone Martini and Lorenzetti beneath an Upper Church lined with the Saint Francis cycle attributed to Giotto. Santa Chiara, the Temple of Minerva, the Rocca and the Porziuncola chapel inside Santa Maria degli Angeli bring the visit to two full days.

San Marino's appeal lies more in its setting and history than in its art. The three towers on the cliff edge and the Palazzo Pubblico of an ancient republic make a memorable half day, but the museums are small.

Neither town stays up late. An evening in Assisi is a glass of Sagrantino and a walk through floodlit, emptying lanes, and on San Marino's summit it is a terrace drink with the lights of the coast below. The real difference is the escape route. Assisi's nearest bars are in Perugia, the student city half an hour away, while San Marino looks down on the Riviera clubs and seafront bars of Rimini and Riccione, which run late all summer.

Assisi has the bigger outdoors. A path leaves town into Monte Subasio's regional park, through holm oaks to the Eremo delle Carceri and up to open summit meadows at about 1,290m. Beyond lie the Valnerina, the gorges of Monte Cucco and the Sibillini mountains for full days out.

San Marino's Monte Titano is a ridge of about 740m with cliffs and wide views to the sea. Its paths between the towers and down to Borgo Maggiore make pleasant morning walks, and the Montefeltro hills suit quiet cycling, but nothing here compares with a day on the Umbrian mountains.

Assisi sits at the centre of a remarkable cluster of towns. Spello is ten minutes away, Perugia and Spoleto are on the railway line, and Gubbio, Todi, Orvieto and Deruta fill further days, with Cortona and Montepulciano across the Tuscan border.

San Marino's trips are strong too: the rock fortress of San Leo, ducal Urbino, Ravenna's mosaics and Gradara's castle. Getting to them is the weak point, since only the bus to Rimini runs regularly, so most of these outings depend on a car.

San Marino is the easier place to bring children. The cliff-top towers, battlements and the cable car up from Borgo Maggiore all go down well, and the coast below adds Italia in Miniatura, Fiabilandia, waterparks and gently shelving beaches.

In Assisi, the frescoed churches need hushed voices, and the stepped lanes are hard going with a pushchair. Older children may enjoy the Rocca Maggiore and the climb up Subasio, but families usually stay at a valley agriturismo with a pool and visit the town in short trips.

Both old towns are compact and steep, with stairs, car-free cores and car parks on the edges. Assisi is the easier place to explore without a car. Its station lies about 4km below in Santa Maria degli Angeli, a short bus ride from the walls, and regional trains run along the valley to Perugia, Spello, Foligno and Spoleto.

San Marino has a cable car between the summit and Borgo Maggiore, but its only real link outward is the bus to Rimini, which takes under an hour. Village buses are sparse, so a car matters more here.

There is little serious shopping in either, though San Marino has slightly more choice. Lower taxes than in Italy fill its main streets with perfume, watches, leather and spirits, an outlet centre on the valley floor stocks fashion brands, and collectors look for its stamps and coins.

Assisi's lanes are dominated by rosaries and Tau crosses, but the goods worth taking home are more rooted in local craft: Assisi-embroidered linens, Deruta ceramics, Subasio olive oil and Sagrantino.

Both cost what provincial central Italy costs, with a premium on the most central tables and beds. Assisi stretches a budget a little further, because the basilicas are free and convent guesthouses offer simple rooms cheaply, though Easter and feast days push hotel prices up. In San Marino the summit view terraces cost more, while lower taxes make fuel and spirits cheaper than across the border.

Assisi has the richer programme, and most of it is sacred. Organ recitals and choirs fill the Basilica of San Francesco around the feasts, the Calendimaggio festival pits the town's two quarters against each other in costume and song each spring, and Perugia's opera and summer jazz are half an hour away.

San Marino offers a small theatre, open-air music in summer and its Medieval Days, with crossbow contests and flag-throwers. For anything bigger, you have to travel to Bologna or Rossini's Pesaro.

Neither is a spa destination, but Assisi does more for anyone seeking rest. Its stillness has a purpose: retreats in convent guesthouses, silent walks to the Eremo delle Carceri and quiet early mornings, with a few spas at country hotels in the valley.

San Marino is calm only after the day visitors go, and its summer afternoons are crowded around the towers. Wellness there means a hotel spa, or a separate trip to thermal baths on the coast or in the Apennines.