Como or Naples?

Neither is a beach destination, but Naples at least has the sea. Locals swim off the rocks below the Lungomare and at small lidos in Posillipo, and a boat ride brings the clear, rocky coves of Procida, Ischia and Capri. Late summer gives you properly warm water for a whole day of swimming.

Como offers a lake dip instead: lawns and pontoons at the lido by Villa Olmo, or small pebble jetties at Moltrasio and the Tremezzina reached by ferry. The season runs only from about June to early September, there is hardly any sand, and a swim is something to fit into a summer afternoon.

Food is one of the biggest gaps between these two. Naples is a city to plan meals around: blistered pizza at shared tables, fried pizza and seafood cones in the street, sfogliatelle and babà, and markets like the Pignasecca full of buffalo mozzarella and San Marzano tomatoes.

Como eats well but more quietly. Perch risotto, missoltini and polenta from the valleys show the lake-and-mountain kitchen, and the aperitivo around the cathedral is a pleasant habit. The choice is that of a small provincial town, though, and the lakefront terraces charge for the view. Neither city has much international food.

Naples has sightseeing for a week and Como for about a day. In Naples the Greek street plan along Spaccanapoli is lined with Gothic and Baroque churches. The Archaeological Museum holds the Pompeii frescoes, and below ground run tunnels and catacombs, with Capodimonte and San Martino on the hills above.

Como's sights are few but good. The marble cathedral, the Romanesque churches of San Fedele and Sant'Abbondio and Terragni's Casa del Fascio, which architecture lovers travel for, sit within a small walled centre. The Tempio Voltiano and the silk museum round off an unhurried day.

Naples has a real night out, Como mostly an evening. Students crowd the steps around Piazza Bellini, and a smarter set fills the small bars on the slopes of Chiaia, staying in the street until well past midnight, above all in summer.

In Como the aperitivo and a long dinner are the main event, followed by a drink near Piazza Duomo or a walk along the lake. Neither city has much of a club scene. Como's young locals take the train to Milan, while Naples moves its dancing to beach clubs on the coast in summer.

Both have outstanding landscapes, but of very different kinds. Como gives you a steep-sided glacial lake with wooded mountains starting at the edge of town. The funicular to Brunate leads to ridge paths and the Volta lighthouse, the Greenway links old villages, and the water is good for kayaking and sailing, with spring and autumn the best walking seasons.

Naples gives you volcanoes. There is the short climb to the rim of Vesuvius, the craters of the Phlegraean Fields with the oak woods of Astroni, and snorkelling at Gaiola. The Path of the Gods and Monte Solaro mean a full day out, the city itself has little green space, and summer heat cuts short midday walks.

Both are superb bases, and Naples has the more famous list. Pompeii and Herculaneum are under an hour away on the Circumvesuviana, and Caserta's palace, the islands of the bay, the Amalfi Coast and the temples of Paestum are all within reach of one city.

Como's outings are gentler and more varied in setting. Ferries go to Bellagio, Varenna and the gardens of Villa Carlotta and Balbianello, and the train reaches the Last Supper in Milan in about forty minutes. Lugano puts Switzerland within an afternoon, with Bergamo and Lake Maggiore further afield.

Neither city is built around children, but the two fall short in different ways. Como is calm and safe, with a flat lakeside promenade for pushchairs and the funicular and ferries as treats. What it lacks is anything aimed at children beyond a lido paddle.

Naples has more to do, with the zoo, Edenlandia, the science museum and the tunnels underground, and children are made welcome everywhere. The daily effort is much greater, though, with scooters, broken pavements and summer heat, which is why many families stay in Sorrento instead.

Como is the easier place to manage day to day. The old town and lakefront are flat and walkable, trains run straight to Milan and Lugano, and the funicular handles the hill. The weak point is going further up the lake, where slow boats and congested shore roads take time.

Naples has more transport but less reliability. Metro Line 1 with its art-filled stations and the four funiculars work well, but buses crawl through traffic, the Circumvesuviana is crowded and late, and crossing the road takes nerve. Neither city needs a car.

Each city has a famous trade of its own, and Naples builds more around it. Como's is silk, which has made the town rich for centuries, so a scarf or tie bought in the old town or from one of the mills is the souvenir to take home. Beyond that the shopping is thin: a few streets of Italian clothes and shoes that you can walk in an hour, and a weekend market by the walls for antiques and crafts.

Naples sells its cloth already made up. Chiaia's tailors cut suits and shirts to measure, and Via Toledo, the Galleria Umberto I and the smarter boutiques of Via dei Mille give you more to browse than anywhere in Como. The crafts are what make it worth a shopping trip: nativity figures shaped and painted all year on Via San Gregorio Armeno, and coral and cameos from Torre del Greco. It is a distinctive list rather than a long one.

Naples is much the cheaper stay. Pizza, coffee at the bar, trattoria meals, transport and guesthouses in the historic centre all cost noticeably less than in northern Italy, although the islands, the Amalfi Coast and the big site entry fees push spending up.

Como draws a luxury crowd, and summer lakeside hotels and waterfront restaurants are expensive. Staying back from the water, eating in old-town or hillside trattorias and coming in spring or autumn all help, and trains and ferries stay cheap.

For an evening at the theatre, Naples is in another league. Como's stage is the Teatro Sociale, a columned neoclassical house near the cathedral with a mixed season of opera, concerts, ballet and plays. It is at its best in summer, when performances move outdoors to the Arena and chamber music fills lakeside villas and Romanesque churches, but on many nights nothing is on.

In Naples the Teatro di San Carlo alone justifies a night out. It is the oldest opera house in Europe still in use, with a red-and-gold horseshoe auditorium of rare beauty. Around it come concerts at the San Pietro a Majella conservatory, chamber music in the old churches and Neapolitan song, heard at small shows or from musicians going from table to table in the trattorias. Spoken theatre is nearly all in Italian or dialect, though, and jazz clubs are scarce in both cities.

The two are about even for unwinding, but in completely different ways. In Como the place itself is the calm: still water, gardens running to the shore, slow ferries and early nights. It has no thermal springs, so treatments mean the spas of the grand villa hotels.

Naples is too loud to rest in, yet its volcanic ground gives you real hot springs. There is the Roman-era spa at Agnano, and Ischia's terraced thermal parks lie about an hour away by hydrofoil, so those who want to soak usually stay on the island.