Budva or Naples?

Budva is the beach resort of the two. Slovenska Plaza runs right along its seafront, Mogren's coves lie just past the walls, and a short ride reaches Becici, Jaz and the sand facing Sveti Stefan. The shore is fine pebble and coarse sand, and in high summer it is packed with sunbeds and music, so early starts or a boat to a cove pay off.

Naples has the same warm bay but little beach life on its doorstep. Locals swim off the rocks below the Lungomare and at Posillipo's small lidos, while the clean, clear water is on Procida, Ischia, Capri or the Sorrento coast, a day out rather than a morning swim.

Naples is one of Italy's great eating cities, and Budva cannot compete. Neapolitan pizza in its birthplace, fried street food, sfogliatelle, standing espresso and the produce of the Pignasecca market make meals a reason to come.

In Budva the best eating is regional and needs seeking out: Njegusi ham, mountain cheese, grilled squid at family konobas and Vranac red wine. Along the promenade, menus aimed at summer crowds are hit and miss.

Budva's culture is essentially Stari Grad: marble lanes, a handful of churches, the Citadel and a small archaeological museum, much of it rebuilt after the 1979 earthquake and seen in an hour or two.

Naples offers enough for a week. Its Greek-planned centre is packed with Gothic and Baroque churches, the National Archaeological Museum holds the treasures of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and beneath the streets lie tunnels, cisterns and the catacombs of San Gennaro, with Capodimonte and the Royal Palace still to come.

The two are broadly level for a night out, but the nights feel very different. Budva goes in for clubs and volume: beach bars and terrace clubs along Slovenska Plaza, a big open-air club on the hill until dawn, and a scene that suits groups of friends in summer and largely shuts from October.

Naples is about the street rather than venues. Students crowd Piazza Bellini and the lanes by the Greek walls, and Chiaia's small bars spill into the alleys past midnight all year, though serious clubbing is scarce.

Naples has the more remarkable landscape. Vesuvius rises behind it with a trail to the crater rim, the Phlegraean Fields hold Astroni's wooded crater and Lake Avernus, and the Gaiola underwater park is good for snorkelling, with the Path of the Gods on the Amalfi Coast reachable in a long day.

Budva's setting is dramatic too, with bare limestone mountains climbing straight from the shore. Lovcen's beech forest and Lake Skadar's reeds and water lilies are about an hour away, and closer to town there are coastal paths, sea kayaking and paragliding above Becici.

Both make good bases, but Naples has one of the richest ranges of excursions anywhere. Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae are on the Circumvesuviana line, Caserta's palace is a short train ride inland, and ferries reach Capri, Ischia and Procida, with Positano, Ravello and Paestum further on.

Budva's outings are fine but fewer. Kotor and Perast on their fjord-like bay, Cetinje's royal past and the wine villages at Virpazar are all close, and Dubrovnik works as a long day if the summer border queue allows.

Budva is the easier family choice, mainly because it is a beach vacation. The town beaches shelve gently, Becici's bays are calmer, and a water park sits above town, though July and August nights are loud enough that many families stay down the coast.

Naples welcomes children warmly but is tiring with small ones, with scooters in the lanes, broken pavements and cobbles hard on pushchairs. Older children often love the tunnels, the funiculars and Pompeii.

Naples is easier to get around. Metro Line 1, with its art-gallery stations, and four funiculars connect the centre with Vomero and Posillipo, and trains and ferries reach the big sights without a car, even if buses and the Circumvesuviana are slow and crowded.

Budva's centre is small and walkable, and boat taxis serve the nearby coves, but beyond that there is no railway and only one coast road that jams in summer. Lovcen and Cetinje are far simpler with a car or a driver.

Naples is the place to shop. Chiaia's tailors make suits, shirts and silk ties, Via Toledo and the Galleria Umberto I cover the high street, and San Gregorio Armeno's nativity workshops and Torre del Greco's coral and cameos give it crafts of its own.

Budva sells beachwear, sunglasses, silver filigree, olive oil, honey and rakija, plus a modest shopping centre by the marina, and little more.

Day to day the two cost about the same, but the traps lie in different places. In Budva the seafront rooms, sunbeds and promenade restaurants carry resort prices in July and August, while apartments a few streets back, bakeries and local buses stay cheap, and June or September brings costs down.

In Naples the city itself is good value, with cheap pizza, street food and transport and plenty of small B&Bs in the centre. The money goes on what lies beyond it: island ferries, Capri and Amalfi hotels, and entry to the archaeological sites.

Naples has a real stage life and Budva barely has one. The Teatro di San Carlo, Europe's oldest working opera house, runs a full season of opera, ballet and concerts, the San Pietro a Majella conservatory and the centre's churches add chamber music, and Neapolitan song is still sung in small venues and trattorias.

Budva's one fixture is the Grad Teatar summer festival on the old town squares. The rest of the year there is no season, only cover bands in seafront bars.

Neither city is restful in itself, but Naples has thermal water close by. The Agnano spa uses springs known since Roman times, and Ischia, about an hour by hydrofoil, is a spa island of terraced thermal pools above the sea.

Budva has no bathing tradition, so relaxation means the hotel spas at Becici and Sveti Stefan or a massage at a beach club, ideally in May, June or late September, when the music fades and the sea is still warm.