Bari or Rome?

Bari wins clearly here. Pane e Pomodoro gives you sand within walking distance of the centre, with rocky platforms around Torre Quetta beyond it. Swimming can be fitted into any summer afternoon, and the limestone coves of Polignano a Mare and the inlets around Monopoli are about half an hour south.

Rome's sea is a separate outing. Ostia's dark volcanic sand is mostly lined with paid lidos and crowded at weekends, and the water is rarely clear. For coves to match Puglia's you would have to travel down to Sperlonga or Sabaudia.

Both cities do their best eating in plain, unfussy places, but Rome has more to offer. Bari's strengths are narrow and very good: hand-rolled orecchiette in Bari Vecchia, focaccia barese and sgagliozze from kitchen windows, and raw sea urchins by the fishermen's pier, with fine-dining and international choices both thin.

Rome has a whole cuisine to work through, from carbonara and cacio e pepe to Jewish-style artichokes in the Ghetto, Testaccio's offal dishes and pizza al taglio. The catch is the area around the big sights, so eat in Trastevere, Monti or Testaccio. Bari has the better local wines, Primitivo and Negroamaro, against Rome's modest Frascati.

There is no real contest. Bari's sights cluster in one old town: the Romanesque Basilica di San Nicola with its pilgrims, the cathedral, the Norman-Swabian castle and the Murat quarter's palazzi. They are charming and seen in a day or two.

Rome layers the Colosseum, Forum, Pantheon and Baths of Caracalla under early Christian mosaics, Renaissance palaces and the Baroque of Bernini and Borromini. Add the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and the Borghese Gallery, and a week is too short.

Evenings are much alike in both cities: late, outdoors and centred on a drink in a piazza, with clubbing a minor part of either. In Bari the scene is concentrated in Piazza Mercantile and Piazza Ferrarese and is mostly local students. In July and August it moves out to beach clubs on the coast, while winter weeknights are quiet.

Rome gives you more neighbourhoods to choose from. Trastevere has crowded wine bars, Monti has small cocktail bars, San Lorenzo is cheap and full of students, and Pigneto draws an arty crowd, all after the aperitivo hour.

Rome has the edge outdoors, oddly for a capital. Villa Borghese and Villa Pamphili give green space in town, the Appian Way makes a superb bike ride past tombs and aqueducts, and the Alban Hills' crater lakes and the Apennines, with hiking and winter skiing, are within reach.

Bari stands on a flat plain of olive groves. Its outdoor life is the long seafront promenade, quiet walks and cycling on the Alta Murgia plateau about an hour inland, and the Grotte di Castellana. There are no mountains nearby.

Both are excellent bases, with different kinds of trips. From Bari you head into rural southern Italy: Matera's rock churches, the trulli of Alberobello, white Ostuni and Locorotondo, Trani's cathedral by the sea and Baroque Lecce. Slow regional lines mean a car helps for the inland towns.

Rome's day trips lean towards antiquity and the great Italian cities. You can visit Ostia Antica, Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este at Tivoli, Etruscan tombs at Tarquinia and Orvieto on its cliff. High-speed trains put Florence and Naples within about ninety minutes, so you rarely need to drive.

Neither city is built around children, and both welcome them warmly. Bari's advantages are the sandy city beach, traffic-free old-town lanes and a small centre, with the Fasano safari park and the Castellana caves as outings.

Rome has more to catch a child's imagination, with gladiators, catacombs and the Bioparco and rowing boats in Villa Borghese. It also brings long queues, cobbles that are hard on pushchairs, and busy roads. In both, summer middle days call for a long break indoors.

In both cities you get around mostly on foot, and both have weak buses. Bari's old town, Murat grid and promenade are next to each other on flat ground, and there is a rail link to the airport. Its slow regional railways often push visitors towards a hire car for the Valle d'Itria.

Rome's centre is a longer walk over cobbles, among scooters and in summer heat. The metro barely reaches the historic core, and a car is a burden there. Fast trains make leaving the city easy.

Rome is the place for serious shopping. The fashion houses on Via Condotti and the streets off the Spanish Steps, independent and vintage boutiques in Monti, antique dealers around Via dei Coronari and the huge Porta Portese flea market give it real range.

Bari is practical by comparison: chains and a few boutiques on Via Sparano, and the best souvenirs are edible. Dried orecchiette, taralli, olive oil and Puglian ceramics are what to pack home.

Bari is clearly easier on the wallet. Rooms are moderately priced for most of the year, street food and local wine cost little, and the old town and basilica are free. Prices tighten mainly in July and August, and beach clubs and car hire add up.

Rome's costs come from small, expensive central rooms that are hard to find in spring and autumn, and from hefty entry fees at the Vatican, Colosseum and Borghese. Standing espresso, free drinking fountains and open churches soften the daily spend.

Rome offers far more here. Opera and ballet at the Teatro dell'Opera move outdoors to the Baths of Caracalla in summer. The Santa Cecilia orchestra plays at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, and church organ concerts and a long-established jazz club scene fill other nights.

Bari has one big draw, the Teatro Petruzzelli, one of Italy's largest opera houses, along with a summer jazz festival in its piazzas and castle. Beyond that, regular live music is thin and theatre is in Italian.

Rome edges ahead because real thermal water is within reach, and Bari has none. In Bari, unwinding comes from pace rather than facilities. Spas are found only in hotels, but the city is smaller and gentler than Rome, the day slows down after lunch, and families come out to walk by the water once evening cools things off. Anyone who wants serious treatments usually leaves town for one of the converted masserie, the old fortified farmhouses of the Apulian countryside.

Rome's centre is harder to rest in: it is loud, hot and full of people, and nobody bathes in its famous ancient baths any more. What it adds is the chance of a proper soak. The sulphur-fed outdoor pools of Bagni di Tivoli are close by, and the free hot springs around Viterbo make a day out about ninety minutes north. Back in town, the villa parks and the Aventine hill are the quietest places to stop.