Dubrovnik or Salerno?

Dubrovnik has clear water right at the edge of town. You can swim off the rocks beneath the seaward walls, at Banje or in the coves of Lapad, although the beaches are all pebble or concrete platforms and fill early. Boat rides to Lokrum and the Elafiti islands, including the sandy cove at Sunj on Lopud, make it even better.

Salerno's own beaches are grey sand beside a working port, fine for a dip but less clear. Its strength is choice a short trip away: long sandy lidos and pine woods towards Paestum for a full day by the sea, and the bright pebbly coves of the Amalfi Coast. If you want sand more than clear water, Salerno has the edge.

In Salerno you eat well with little effort. Buffalo mozzarella from the plain towards Paestum, colatura from Cetara, wood-fired pizza, friggitorie and sfogliatelle make the old town's lanes a place to graze, and good everyday food is normal rather than something you have to hunt for.

Dubrovnik's Dalmatian cooking is fine at its best: grilled fish, black risotto, Ston oysters and Peljesac reds. But the Old Town's tables serve the cruise crowds at high prices. To eat well you have to head to the konobas of Lapad, Gruz or Konavle, and there is little choice beyond seafood.

Dubrovnik is the stronger sight by some distance. The unbroken walls, the Stradun, the Rector's Palace, the Franciscan pharmacy and Fort Lovrijenac together make a whole walled city. Its rebuilding after the earthquake of 1667 and the siege of 1991-92 adds to the visit.

Salerno's heritage is quieter and more scattered: the Norman cathedral with Saint Matthew's crypt, the medicinal garden tied to Europe's earliest medical school, and the Arechi Castle above the gulf. It fills a pleasant day or two, while the region's great ancient sites lie outside the city.

Neither city is a clubbing destination, and in both a night out stays within a few streets. Dubrovnik's evenings are about a drink with a view, from the bars cut into the rocks below the walls to the small cocktail bars off the Stradun, with a club inside the Revelin fortress. Much of it closes from November to March.

Salerno's nights are more local and depend less on the season. Young locals gather outside the wine bars around Largo Campo at weekends, and the seafront passeggiata fills the early evening. For a bigger night out, Naples is a short train ride away.

Both cities have limestone mountains falling into the sea, but Salerno has more ways to get out into them. The Path of the Gods and the Valle delle Ferriere on the Amalfi Coast follow old mule tracks across the cliffs, and the Cilento national park adds wooded hills, river gorges and the wild headlands around Palinuro.

In Dubrovnik the outdoors is more about the water and the islands. You can kayak around the walls to Lokrum, take in the views from Mount Srd, cycle on the Elafiti islands or visit the saltwater lakes of Mljet. In both places the summer heat makes spring and autumn the seasons for proper walking.

Day trips are Salerno's great advantage. Paestum and Pompeii are each about half an hour away by train, and ferries reach Amalfi and Positano. Naples, Herculaneum, Caserta and Sorrento are all easy days out, enough for a week of outings without repeating one.

Dubrovnik has fewer day trips, but several cross a border: Kotor and Perast in Montenegro, and Trebinje and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Ston's walls and the Elafiti islands are closer to home. Summer queues at the borders can make those days much longer.

Dubrovnik gives children more small adventures, while Salerno is easier on young legs. In Dubrovnik there are the walls to walk, the cable car up Mount Srd, boats to Lokrum, the little aquarium in the St John fortress and calm swimming coves in Lapad. The catch is the stairs, which defeat pushchairs away from the Stradun, and summer heat and cruise-day crowds that wear families down, so a base in Lapad or Babin Kuk works best.

Salerno's long, flat, car-free seafront promenade has playgrounds and gelato along the way, and the shallow sandy beaches south of the city suit younger swimmers. The old town is steep here too, and there is no aquarium or theme park. Children are welcome out late on summer evenings, though, and the Luci d'Artista lights give families a reason to come in winter.

Both cities are easy without a car, in different ways. Dubrovnik's Old Town is car-free and small, but most hotels are in Lapad or Babin Kuk, linked by buses on one congested road, and the hills make walking between districts tiring. Boats are the way to reach Lokrum, the islands and Cavtat.

Central Salerno is a walkable strip from the station to the old town. Its big advantage is rail: direct trains to Naples, Pompeii and Paestum, where Dubrovnik has no trains at all. In summer, ferries are the best way along the Amalfi Coast, rather than the packed coastal buses.

Salerno has a proper shopping street. Corso Vittorio Emanuele is a long pedestrian stretch of Italian chains and clothes shops, busiest at passeggiata time. Painted majolica from Vietri, limoncello from the coast and colatura from Cetara are good things to take home.

Dubrovnik has little beyond souvenir shops and a few crafts: Konavle embroidery, silver filigree, lavender and wine, plus dried figs and candied peel at the morning market. Neither city suits a serious fashion trip.

The difference here is large. Salerno is a working southern Italian city where pizzerias, coffee bars and trains charge local prices, and it makes a sensible base for the much more expensive Amalfi Coast. Only high summer, lido sunbeds and entry to the big archaeological sites push costs up.

Dubrovnik is the most expensive place in Croatia. In summer, rooms near the Old Town cost as much as in a Western European capital, and the walls, the cable car and the boats add up quickly. Staying in Lapad or Cavtat and coming in spring helps, but it rarely becomes cheap.

Salerno has a year-round centre in the Teatro Verdi, a gilded opera house with a season of opera, concerts and ballet. In summer, the Ravello Festival's cliff-top concerts are within reach, and Naples offers much more for keen audiences.

Dubrovnik's big moment is the Summer Festival in July and August, with theatre and music in striking open-air settings such as Fort Lovrijenac and the Rector's Palace atrium. Outside those weeks there is little beyond the occasional symphony or church concert.

Dubrovnik's calm lies offshore, while Salerno's comes from its seafront and a spa town inland. In Dubrovnik, spa treatments mean the larger hotels in Lapad, Babin Kuk or towards Ploce, and the Old Town in summer is anything but restful. A stay on the Elafiti islands or in Cavtat, ideally in spring or autumn, is the way to slow down.

Salerno has the only thermal waters of the two: the open-air sulphur pools at Contursi Terme, about an hour inland in the Sele valley. In town, sunset walks along the palm-lined promenade and quiet mornings in the upper lanes suit an unhurried stay. Traffic on the main roads stops it from feeling like a retreat.