Bari or Cortina d'Ampezzo?

Bari has real beach life and Cortina has none. In Bari you can swim at the sandy Pane e Pomodoro beach in town, or take the train to the pebble cove at Polignano a Mare and the clear rocky inlets around Monopoli.

Cortina is a high Alpine valley more than two hours from the sea. Lakes like Ghedina and Pianozes are lovely to walk round, but a swim there is a cold dare, and for anything more comfortable you need a hotel pool.

Bari is the better place to eat, and it covers more ground: street food from kitchen windows, raw sea urchins by the fishermen's pier, and tiella or orecchiette with turnip tops at the table, with Primitivo to drink. It is generous food, and it does not cost much.

Cortina's cooking is good for such a small town, built around casunziei, polenta with game and long lunches on the terraces of the rifugi. The range is narrow, though, there is almost no street food, and very little of it is cheap.

Bari has much more to see. The whitewashed lanes of Bari Vecchia lead to the Romanesque Basilica di San Nicola, the cathedral and the Norman-Swabian castle, and the nineteenth-century Murat quarter and the Pinacoteca fill a second day.

Cortina's sights in town amount to a bell tower, painted houses, the 1956 Olympic ice stadium and three small museums, enough for a rainy afternoon. Its most powerful history is the First World War front preserved on Lagazuoi and the Cinque Torri, but you will need a day in the mountains to reach it.

Bari gives you proper evenings out. Students and young locals fill Piazza Mercantile and Piazza Ferrarese, the Umbertino bars stay open past midnight, and in high summer the crowd moves to the beach clubs along the coast.

In Cortina the evening means après-ski drinks, a stroll along the Corso Italia and a long dinner. In the peak winter weeks a few smart bars and clubs stay open late, but in summer the town is quiet by late evening.

This is Cortina's category by a wide margin. The ring of Dolomite peaks, the lifts straight from town, Lago di Misurina, the Fanes-Sennes-Braies park, the Alta Via 1 and the Sella Ronda make it one of Europe's great mountain bases in both summer and winter.

Bari's outdoors is gentler: kilometres of seafront promenade, open karst walking and cycling in the Alta Murgia about an hour inland, and the Grotte di Castellana. There are no mountains anywhere near.

Bari is a far better base for day trips. Matera's cave dwellings, Alberobello's trulli, Ostuni and the Valle d'Itria towns, Castel del Monte, Trani's seafront cathedral and Baroque Lecce are all within a morning's travel. You could fill a week with outings and still not see everything.

From Cortina, most outings head up into the peaks rather than to other towns. South Tyrol's Brunico, San Candido and Bolzano, with the Iceman, are the best choices, while Venice is a long day by coach.

Both places suit families about equally well, but in different ways. Bari is an easy-going city where children join the evening passeggiata, with a sandy beach, gelato and traffic-free lanes, plus outings to the caves or the Fasano safari park. You will need to plan around the midday summer heat.

Cortina suits active families, with ski schools, the Socrepes beginner slopes, skating at the Olympic stadium and meadow walks to the huts. Rainy days can drag with young children, and the bills add up.

Bari is easier to get to and easier to get around. A rail link connects it to the airport, the old town, Murat and the seafront sit next to each other on flat ground, and regional trains reach Polignano, Trani and Matera, though slowly. Many visitors still hire a car for the Valle d'Itria.

Cortina's centre takes minutes to cross, but the town has had no railway since 1964. You arrive by coach from Venice or by a long drive, buses up to the passes run a thin service, and a car is close to essential for exploring the wider Dolomites.

Neither place is a shopping destination, and what they sell is quite different. Bari's Via Sparano carries Italian high-street chains, and the best things to take home are dried orecchiette, taralli, olive oil and Puglian ceramics.

Cortina's Corso Italia is short but glossy, with jewellers, furriers, luxury labels and upmarket ski wear. The century-old Cooperativa di Cortina and shops selling wood carving and filigree give it a more local side.

The gap here is wide. Bari is one of Italy's more affordable cities, with cheap street food and wine and free sights, and its rooms only get tight in July and August.

Cortina charges luxury-resort prices in the winter peak and in August, before you add lift passes and equipment hire. Meals at the rifugi and the quieter weeks of June and late September soften the cost a little, but only a little.

Bari has a proper stage. The Teatro Petruzzelli, one of Italy's largest opera houses, runs a full season of opera, ballet and concerts, and in summer jazz and open-air music move into the piazzas and the castle.

Cortina has no theatre season and no regular venue. Its music comes from summer chamber and classical festivals in churches and, now and then, out in the mountains, plus a few concerts around New Year.

Cortina is the better choice for a restful stay. Many of its hotels have Alpine spas with saunas, steam rooms, hay baths and indoor pools, ideal after a day on the slopes. In June and September the clear air and quiet hut terraces add to the calm, though the peak weeks are busier.

Bari has no bathing tradition, and its spas are mostly basic hotel facilities. Its version of relaxing is the long lunch, the afternoon break and the evening walk along the seafront, and visitors who want real pampering head out to the restored country estates.