Budva or Sorrento?

Budva is a proper beach town and Sorrento is not. In Budva you walk from the old town onto Slovenska Plaza or down to the coves at Mogren, and a short ride brings the long bay at Becici, open Jaz and the sand facing Sveti Stefan. The shore is pebble or coarse sand, and in high summer it is crowded with sunbeds and loud music.

Sorrento's cliff leaves room only for lidos on wooden piers at Marina Piccola and Marina Grande, and for the rocks at the Bagni della Regina Giovanna. Swimmers there climb down ladders into deep, clear water. The sea is just as warm, but finding a real beach means a bus to Marina del Cantone or a boat to the coves.

Sorrento eats much better. It sits at the source of Campanian cooking: gnocchi alla sorrentina, fish cooked all'acqua pazza, mozzarella from the hill dairies, lemons in everything and Neapolitan pizza. The hill villages of the peninsula also have some of the most celebrated fine dining in southern Italy.

Budva's best food is regional and simple: smoked Njegusi ham, mountain cheese, grilled squid at family konobas and dark Vranac wine from around Lake Skadar. Along the promenade, the menus are generic and the quality uneven. In both towns, the good meals are away from the main squares.

Neither town is a cultural destination in its own right, and their sights are on a similar scale. Budva's Stari Grad is a compact walled peninsula with marble lanes, the Citadel and a small archaeological museum, and much of it was rebuilt after the 1979 earthquake. You can see it in an hour or two.

Sorrento's old centre is spread more thinly but repays a slower day. It has a Roman street grid, the cloister of San Francesco, Neapolitan paintings in the Museo Correale and the strange sunken ravine of the Vallone dei Mulini.

Budva is the place for a night out. In summer the seafront beach bars and terrace clubs play pop and house until late, and a large open-air club on the hill keeps going until dawn. Groups of friends come for exactly that.

Sorrento's evening is a passeggiata along Corso Italia, a drink on a terrace over the bay, perhaps a piano bar with Neapolitan songs. A club or two stays open in summer. Because the last trains and ferries leave early, a big night in Naples or on Capri means staying over. Both towns go quiet out of season.

Both towns sit beneath limestone mountains, but Sorrento's walking is closer to hand. Paths lead from town through olive and lemon terraces to Punta Campanella and down to the protected bay of Ieranto. The Path of the Gods, Monte Faito and the crater rim of Vesuvius are all within reach.

Budva's best landscapes are about an hour away by winding road: the beech forest and high trails of Lovcen, and the reed beds of Lake Skadar for birdwatching and kayaking. Closer to town there are coastal paths, sea kayaking and paragliding above Becici.

Sorrento is one of the best bases anywhere for day trips. The train reaches Pompeii in about half an hour, with Herculaneum and Vesuvius on the same line. Ferries cross to Capri and run along the Amalfi Coast, and Naples is about an hour away. Even Paestum and Ischia are manageable.

Budva's outings are good but fewer. Kotor and its fjord-like bay are half an hour away, with baroque Perast beyond, and Cetinje and the Skadar wine villages lie inland. Dubrovnik makes a long day, with a slow border crossing in summer.

Budva works better with children, mainly because of the water. The town beaches and the bays at Becici shelve gently, and the water park above town fills an afternoon. Families usually stay out of the centre in July and August, when the nights get loud.

Sorrento is warm towards children, and boat trips and Pompeii go down well. However, the swimming is off piers and rocks into deep water, and many hotels sit on steep lanes without pavements, so families with small children lean on hotel pools.

The centres of both towns are compact and easy on foot. The difference shows once you leave town. From Sorrento, the Circumvesuviana train runs to Pompeii and Naples, and ferries reach Capri and the Amalfi side, so a car is more trouble than it is worth, even though the trains are crowded and the coast buses slow.

Budva has no railway and one coast road that jams in summer. Buses and minibuses cover the coast and Kotor, but Lovcen, Cetinje and the quieter bays are far easier with a car, a driver or an organised trip. Boat taxis from the marina are the quickest way to the nearby coves.

Sorrento gives shoppers more to take home. Alongside the lemon-themed souvenirs on Via San Cesareo there are genuine local crafts: intarsia boxes and trays, leather sandals made to measure while you wait, linen, coral and cameo jewellery.

In Budva, the old town lanes and promenade stalls sell beachwear, silver filigree, olive oil, honey and rakija, and a modest centre near the marina covers the basics. Neither suits serious fashion shopping.

Budva leaves more money in your pocket, but the saving depends on when you come and where you stay. As Montenegro's dearest resort, it charges its highest rates in July and August for seafront rooms, sunbeds and promenade meals. In June or September, or in a village down the coast, those costs ease noticeably, and away from the seafront ordinary meals and coffee stay cheap all year. The catch is getting inland, since Lovcen and Cetinje usually mean paying for a hire car, a driver or an organised trip.

Sorrento's costs gather in the things people come for: a room facing the bay, a bed on a lido pier, dinner on a terrace, a private boat around Capri. It is kinder in getting about, because the train to Pompeii and Naples and the coast buses cost little, and pizza or a trattoria meal off the main squares is fairly priced. Spring and late autumn cut its hotel rates considerably.

Neither town has a real performing arts season, and both rely on summer. Budva's one fixture is the Grad Teatar festival, which brings theatre, concerts and readings to open-air stages in the old town squares.

Sorrento offers Neapolitan song and tarantella shows for visitors and chamber concerts in the cloister of San Francesco. Its real advantage is Naples, about an hour away, where opera at the Teatro di San Carlo is possible outside summer.

Sorrento is the more restful stay. Cliff-top hotels have spas, pools and terraces over the bay, the villa gardens and lemon groves set a slow pace, and the thermal gardens of Ischia are a ferry ride away.

Budva has no bathing culture of its own, only the resort spas in Becici and around Sveti Stefan and massages at beach clubs. In high summer, music from the seafront carries late into the night. Both towns are calmer in spring and late September.