Florence or Piran?

Florence has no swimming of its own. The sandy Versilia coast around Viareggio is a full day out by train, so in summer a hotel or public pool is the realistic way to cool off.

Piran has the sea right below its old walls. You swim from platforms and ladders off the Punta into clear Adriatic water, and the pebble cove at Fiesa, the small sandy beach at Portoroz and quieter Strunjan are all nearby. It is not a sandy beach resort, but a swimming trip works here in a way it never does in Florence.

Florence eats far better. You have bistecca, ribollita and lampredotto from the carts, working markets at San Lorenzo and Sant'Ambrogio, Chianti on the doorstep and family trattorie in the Oltrarno. That is enough range for a week of meals.

Piran is simpler and narrower: grilled fish, squid and scampi buzara in harbour konobas, with Malvazija, Refosk, local salt and olive oil. It is pleasant eating by the water, but the menus repeat, and for serious cooking you have to head inland into Istria.

The difference is one of scale. In Florence the art is the reason for the trip: the Duomo with its bell tower and Baptistery, the Pitti Palace, Santa Croce and the Medici Chapels hold work you have known from reproductions all your life, and a week of museum mornings still leaves rooms unseen. The sights set the shape of every day.

Piran offers a different, quieter pleasure. There are no great collections to plan around. The Venetian houses, the old walls above the red roofs and the view from St George's campanile are the attraction, and the maritime museum and the Minorite cloister fill an unhurried hour between swims.

Neither city is a place for clubbing, but Florence has more going on in the evening: aperitivo, wine bars, crowds spilling out across Piazza Santo Spirito, summer bars along the Arno and a loud student pub scene. Piran goes quiet soon after a sunset glass on the Punta, and the beach bars and casino at Portoroz are as lively as it gets.

Both offer gentle, cultivated landscape rather than wild country, and both are best in spring and autumn. Around Florence it is hill country: olive terraces at Fiesole, the Chianti lanes for cycling and the Casentino forests further out.

Around Piran it is the coast: the flysch cliffs at Strunjan to walk along the top of or paddle beneath, wading birds on the Secovlje salt pans, the Parenzana cycle route inland and the Skocjan caves on the Karst. The choice comes down to whether you want vineyards and woods or water.

Florence has the stronger list by some way. Siena, Pisa, Lucca, San Gimignano, the Chianti villages and Bologna by fast train are all first-rank places, and most are easy to reach by rail or bus.

Piran is still a good base because three countries meet there. Trieste, Rovinj, Porec, the Istrian hill towns and Ljubljana are all within reach, and in summer boats cross to Venice. The catch is that much of it needs a car.

Piran is the easier of the two with children, though neither is built for them. Car-free lanes, a flat seafront, calm warm water, a small aquarium and the shallow sand at Portoroz make a few relaxed days simple.

Florence asks more of young children, with narrow pavements, summer crowds and heat, and museums made for adults. Climbing the dome, the family tours of Palazzo Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens help, and the Pinocchio park at Collodi is the classic outing.

Florence is easier to get around. The main sights are within about twenty minutes' walk of each other, trams and small buses cover the rest, and Santa Maria Novella station in the centre puts the Tuscan towns a train ride away.

Piran is just as walkable inside its car-free peninsula, and a shuttle runs to Portoroz. But there is no railway and the regional buses are slow, so exploring beyond the coast usually means hiring a car.

Florence is a real shopping city in its own way. There are leather workshops and the San Lorenzo stalls, marbled paper, the goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio, the artisans of the Oltrarno and the fashion houses of Via de' Tornabuoni.

Piran has a few galleries and souvenir stalls along the harbour. The things worth taking home are food: salt flower from Secovlje, Istrian olive oil and coastal wine.

Piran is the cheaper stay, though neither is a bargain. Rooms and waterfront tables are expensive in July and August. Simple konobas, local wine and staying in Portoroz or out of season keep costs fair, and swimming and walking cost nothing.

Florence costs more for its size. Central hotels are expensive for much of the year, and admission to the museums and the Duomo adds up over a few days. Street food, market lunches and walking everywhere soften the blow.

Opera was more or less born in Florence, and the city has a proper season at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, the spring Maggio Musicale festival and theatre at the Pergola. Piran's music is mostly summer concerts honouring Tartini in churches, the cloister and the square, with little on the rest of the year.

Piran is the better place to unwind. The seawater spa tradition of Portoroz, the brine and salt-mud baths out among the Secovlje lagoons and the seawater resort at Strunjan are all close, and the town's slow pace does the rest.

Florence has hotel spas, and gardens like the Boboli and Bardini for a quiet hour. Real thermal bathing means leaving the city for Montecatini Terme or the sulphur pools of southern Tuscany.