Cortina d'Ampezzo or Rome?

Cortina has no sea within easy reach, as the Adriatic is more than two hours' drive away. The small lakes in the valley are there to look at more than to swim in, and they are chilled by snowmelt even in July. After a hike, your swim is far more likely to be indoors.

Rome has the beach that Cortina lacks, though not a fine one. Ostia's dark volcanic sand is half an hour away by suburban train, the sea is warm enough for bathing in July and August, and Fregene is a calmer choice. It makes a day at the seaside rather than a beach vacation. For clear water you have to go further, to Sperlonga or Sabaudia.

Cortina eats well for a small resort: casunziei with poppy seeds, polenta with game, barley soup, and long lunches on rifugio terraces among the peaks. The choice is narrow and rarely cheap, though, with almost no street food or anything international.

Rome has a whole cuisine of its own and many more places to eat it. There are the four classic pastas, Jewish-style artichokes in the Ghetto, offal in Testaccio, and pizza al taglio and supplì on the street. The best meals come from neighbourhood trattorias in Trastevere and Monti rather than the menus beside the big sights.

On sights, the two are hardly comparable. Rome has the Colosseum and Forum, the Pantheon, the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel, early Christian mosaics and the Baroque city of Bernini and Borromini, more than any visitor can see in a week.

Cortina offers a pleasant centre with its basilica and painted houses, the 1956 Olympic ice stadium, and three small museums led by the Rimoldi art collection. Its most striking history is the First World War front line on Lagazuoi and the Cinque Torri, which takes a day in the mountains to reach.

Rome has far more going on after dark, almost all of it outdoors. Aperitivo leads to crowded lanes in Trastevere, small cocktail bars in Monti, cheap student drinking in San Lorenzo and an arty crowd in Pigneto, with the clubs further out in Testaccio and Ostiense.

Cortina's evening is après-ski, a stroll along the Corso Italia and a long dinner. A few smart bars and clubs stay open late in the peak winter weeks, but for most of the year the town is asleep by late evening.

This is where Cortina leaves Rome far behind. The pale Dolomite peaks surround the Ampezzo valley, lifts climb from the town onto them, and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Lago di Misurina and the Fanes-Sennes-Braies park are all close by. Summer brings via ferrata, climbing and hut-to-hut trails, and winter brings one of the great ski circuits of Europe.

Rome's outdoors is gentler and mostly needs a short journey. There are the villa parks, a bike ride along the Appian Way past tombs and aqueducts, and the crater lakes of the Alban Hills, with the Apennines about ninety minutes away.

Rome is one of the best bases in Italy for day trips. Ostia Antica, Hadrian's Villa and the gardens at Tivoli are close, as are the Etruscan tombs of Tarquinia and the hilltop towns of Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio. High-speed trains put Florence and Naples within about ninety minutes.

From Cortina most outings go up into the mountains rather than to other towns. South Tyrol is the best direction, with Brunico's castle and Bolzano's Iceman, while Venice takes a long day of coach travel each way.

Both work for families, but for different families. Cortina suits children who ski or hike, with ski schools at Socrepes, public skating, lake walks and a rope park, all in a safe, calm small town. On rainy days, though, there is little for young children to do.

Rome has the Bioparco zoo and boating in Villa Borghese, a children's museum, gladiators, catacombs and daily gelato. Queues, summer heat, cobbles and traffic make the sightseeing hard work for younger children.

Both centres are best seen on foot, and Rome's is simply richer to walk, from the Colosseum past the Pantheon to Trastevere. Its metro barely reaches the historic core and buses crawl, but trains link the city easily to the rest of Italy.

Cortina's compact centre takes minutes to cross. Beyond it the town has had no railway since 1964, so you arrive by coach or car, buses to the passes and the Tre Cime are infrequent, and most visitors end up hiring a car.

Both cities do luxury, but Rome has far more of it and much else besides. Via Condotti and the streets below the Spanish Steps hold the big fashion houses, Monti has independent and vintage boutiques, Via Margutta has artisan workshops, and Porta Portese holds a sprawling Sunday flea market.

Cortina has one polished street, the Corso Italia, with furriers, jewellers and smart mountain wear, plus the old Cooperativa store and local wood carving and filigree. Once you have walked its length, you have seen the shopping.

Neither is cheap, but Cortina is the harder one on a budget. Hotels and restaurants charge luxury-resort rates in winter and August, lift passes and equipment hire add more, and many budget travellers stay in cheaper valleys and drive in. Only the rifugio meals and the shoulder months ease the cost.

Rome's main expense is a room in the historic centre, plus entry to the major museums. Day to day it is much kinder: espresso at the bar, pizza al taglio, free water from the street fountains and churches full of art that cost nothing to enter.

Rome has a proper year-round programme. There is opera and ballet at the Teatro dell'Opera in winter, then outdoors at the Baths of Caracalla in summer, the Santa Cecilia orchestra at Renzo Piano's Auditorium, jazz clubs and frequent concerts in churches.

Cortina has no theatre season or regular venue. Its music comes in summer, with chamber and classical concerts in churches and sometimes in the mountains, and there is very little at other times of year.

In Cortina, you relax in the hotel. Alpine spas with saunas, steam rooms and hay baths suit tired legs after a day of skiing or a walk to a mountain hut. Outside the peak weeks, the valley's clear air and slow pace add to the effect, while Rome only offers calm in pockets.

Rome's advantage is real thermal water close by. There are the sulphur pools at Bagni di Tivoli and the open-air hot springs around Viterbo, and Cortina has nothing like them. The centre itself is loud, so in town the calm comes from long lunches, the villa gardens and the Aventine.