Bari or San Marino?

Bari has the sea on its doorstep. The sandy Pane e Pomodoro beach and the rocks around Torre Quetta are a short walk from the centre. Better swimming is a short train ride south, in the pebble cove at Polignano a Mare and the clear rocky inlets around Monopoli.

San Marino is on a mountain, so a beach day means going down to Rimini or Riccione, about half an hour away. There you get long sandy beaches with rows of umbrellas and shallow water. The sea is about as warm as Bari's, but the trip makes it an outing rather than part of daily life.

Food is one of the main reasons to choose Bari. In Bari Vecchia you can watch orecchiette being rolled in doorways and buy sgagliozze from kitchen windows. Down at the fishermen's pier, locals eat raw sea urchins with a beer. Dinner is tiella, burrata and Primitivo at fair prices.

San Marino serves good Romagna hill cooking, such as passatelli, piadina and grilled meats. But the summit restaurants trade on the view, and the best meals are down in Borgo Maggiore or over the border. It is a pleasant side to a visit, not a reason to go.

What separates the two is how long the sightseeing lasts. In Bari Vecchia, between the two harbours, the Basilica di San Nicola is a model of Apulian Romanesque that still draws Orthodox pilgrims to the relics of St Nicholas. The Cathedral of San Sabino, the Norman-Swabian castle and the whitewashed courtyards and shrines are all close by. The nineteenth-century palazzi of the Murat quarter and the southern Italian painting at the Pinacoteca stretch the visit to a day or two.

San Marino has one striking set piece: the walled town along the crest of Monte Titano. The Guaita and Cesta towers are joined by a cliffside path, and the Palazzo Pubblico is where the Captains Regent are installed. It tells the story of one of the world's oldest republics well, but you will have seen it in half a day.

Bari has a real night out. On summer evenings students and young locals fill Piazza Mercantile and Piazza Ferrarese, the bars of the Umbertino streets stay open past midnight, and in July and August the crowds move to beach clubs along the coast.

San Marino has almost nothing after dinner. A few wine bars look down on the lights of the coast, and anyone who wants clubs has to drive down to the Riviera at Rimini and Riccione.

Bari has more varied outdoor options within an hour. You can walk or cycle across the open karst plateau of the Alta Murgia, go underground at the Grotte di Castellana, sail along the southern coast or cycle gently through the Valle d'Itria. The city itself is flat, and the long seafront is its main green space.

San Marino offers the better view from the doorstep. Paths link the towers along the cliffs of Monte Titano and drop through woodland to Borgo Maggiore, with views to the Adriatic and the Apennines. These are short walks, though, and the Montefeltro hills are best seen by car or bike.

Both make good bases, but Bari has more to choose from and you can reach more of it by train. Matera's cave dwellings, Lecce's Baroque streets, Trani's cathedral on the sea and the coves of Polignano are all reachable by rail. A car makes it easy to add Alberobello's trulli, Ostuni and Castel del Monte.

San Marino's trips are rewarding but depend on a car. San Leo's fortress, the ducal palace town of Urbino, Gradara and Verucchio are all a short drive away. Ravenna's mosaics and Bologna are easiest by train once you are down in Rimini.

The two are about even for families, but they work in different ways. In Bari, children have a sandy beach in town, flat traffic-free lanes and a centre small enough to cover on foot. The cave system and the Fasano safari park make good half-days out.

San Marino is more exciting for children, with battlements, cliff edges and the cable car up from Borgo Maggiore. However, the steps make pushchairs hard work, and the theme parks, waterparks and shallow beaches are on the coast below, so a car helps.

Bari is much easier to get around. The old town, the Murat streets and the seafront sit side by side on flat ground, a train runs to the airport, and regional lines go to Polignano, Trani, Matera and Alberobello, though some are slow.

In San Marino, almost every street climbs or drops by steps. Beyond the cable car to Borgo Maggiore, the only regular link to the outside world is the bus to Rimini, so the hill towns are hard to reach without a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Bari has more ordinary shopping. Via Sparano is a long pedestrian street of Italian chains and a few boutiques, and the best things to take home are food: dried orecchiette, taralli and olive oil from the old town.

San Marino's shops are mostly souvenirs, decorative crossbows and stamps for collectors. Lower taxes bring Italians up for perfume, watches and spirits, and there is an outlet centre in the valley.

Bari is the cheaper of the two. Street food, a trattoria lunch and local wine cost little, and the old town and basilica are free, although rooms get tighter in July and August.

San Marino has middling prices, and the summit hotels and view terraces cost more than places a few kilometres downhill. Lower taxes make fuel and spirits cheaper.

Only Bari can fill an evening at the opera. The Teatro Petruzzelli, among the largest opera houses in Italy, runs a season of opera, ballet and symphonic concerts. In summer a long-running jazz festival plays in the castle and the piazzas. Plays at the Teatro Piccinni and the smaller stages are mostly in Italian.

San Marino has a small theatre and the odd concert by local ensembles. Its liveliest moment is the Medieval Days festival in summer, with costumed musicians, crossbow contests and flag-throwers. For opera or a concert season, you have to go to Bologna or to Pesaro, Rossini's festival town.

Neither city has thermal baths or a real spa culture, so relaxation comes from the pace of the place. In Bari that means long lunches, a quiet afternoon break and an evening walk by the sea. For proper pampering, visitors stay at a restored country estate outside the city.

San Marino's calm comes in the evening, when the day visitors have gone and you can walk the walls above the plain. Thermal spas on the coast or in the Apennine valleys need a separate trip.