Genoa or Siena?

This is the clearest gap between the two. Genoa lets you swim without leaving the city, from the pebble cove at Boccadasse, the bathing establishments along Corso Italia or the rock platforms under Nervi's promenade, and the coves of Camogli, Rapallo and Sestri Levante are a short train ride away. The shores are mostly pebble and lounger-lined, but a daily swim fits easily around sightseeing.

Siena has no sea at all. The Maremma beaches near Castiglione della Pescaia are well over an hour's drive, so in practice swimming means a hotel or agriturismo pool unless you move to the coast for a few nights.

Genoa eats a little better, and more of its best food is on the street: focaccia at breakfast, farinata and panissa from old friggitorie, pesto with trofie, and seafood in harbour trattorias and fishing hamlets, washed down with Vermentino. The Mercato Orientale shows off Liguria's produce.

Siena's cooking is heartier and inland, with pici, ribollita, cinta senese pork and wild boar, plus a baking tradition of panforte and ricciarelli. Its real advantage is wine, with Chianti Classico, Brunello and Vino Nobile all grown nearby. Both cities are regional rather than varied, so neither is the place for international food.

The two are evenly matched, but they reward different ways of sightseeing. Genoa is a big, layered city: its sprawling maze of caruggi, the Rolli palaces of Via Garibaldi with their Van Dycks and painted halls, the striped cathedral, the Lanterna and the sculpture of Staglieno cemetery. It keeps surprising people who arrive expecting only a port.

Siena is smaller and more concentrated, with its whole centre a single medieval set piece. The Campo, Lorenzetti's Good and Bad Government frescoes, the Duomo's inlaid floor and Duccio's Maestà are works of the first rank, and the contrade give each quarter its own identity. Two or three days see Siena's highlights, while Genoa takes longer to uncover.

Neither is a party city, but Genoa offers more to do after dinner. Aperitivo crowds fill the squares around Piazza delle Erbe at weekends, and in summer the evening moves to waterfront bars at the Porto Antico and beach clubs along Corso Italia.

In Siena an evening is a long meal, a glass on the Campo and a walk home, with a few student pubs and almost no clubs. The streets come alive late only around the Palio, when the contrade dine outdoors.

Genoa has more variety outdoors because it has both mountains and sea. You can take the funicular to Righi and walk the ring of fortresses, follow cliff paths to San Fruttuoso on the Portofino promontory or reach the Cinque Terre trails by train. Whale-watching boats in the Pelagos Sanctuary, kayaking and diving add the sea.

Siena's landscape is gentler and more pastoral: the clay hills of the Crete Senesi, the Val d'Orcia and the Montagnola woods. Its standout is cycling on the strade bianche gravel roads straight from town, but there is no coast and nothing high or wild.

Both are superb bases, and Siena edges ahead for sheer density. Within short drives lie San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, the Chianti villages, Volterra, Pienza, Montalcino and Montepulciano, plus abbeys such as Sant'Antimo and San Galgano, with Florence a bus ride away. The catch is that most of this needs a car.

Genoa's trips run along a single railway line, which makes them easy without one: Camogli, Portofino and Sestri Levante to the east, the Cinque Terre a little further, and Finale Ligure and Noli to the west. Milan and Turin are close enough for a city day.

Genoa is much easier with children, mainly thanks to the Porto Antico. The aquarium, the Galata museum's submarine, the science centre, the biosphere and the panoramic lift can fill a couple of days, and riding the funiculars and public lifts is a treat in itself. The old town's steep, dark lanes are tough with a pushchair, though.

Siena is safe and largely car-free, and older children enjoy climbing the Torre del Mangia and watching the contrada drummers, but there is nothing built for young visitors. Families usually stay at a countryside farmhouse with a pool and come into town for a few hours.

Both centres are best on foot and both are steep. Genoa has more mechanical help, with funiculars, a rack railway, public lifts and a short metro line, and its coastal railway reaches Nervi and the Riviera towns without a car, though buses crawl through congested streets.

Siena is compact and largely closed to traffic, so the sights are minutes apart, with escalators up from the station. Leaving town is the weak point: trains are slow and sparse, and the countryside really calls for a hire car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Genoa has more range. There are the arcades of Via XX Settembre, the smarter Italian labels on Via Roma and in Galleria Mazzini, and old-town workshops making silver filigree and coral alongside long-established shops selling candied fruit and pesto.

Siena keeps to clothing and leather on Banchi di Sopra, hand-painted majolica, contrada scarves and its own panforte, pecorino and wine, plus a big weekly market by the Fortezza. Its lanes off the Campo lean heavily towards souvenirs.

Genoa is the cheaper stay. Focaccia and farinata make for very cheap meals, central hotels are reasonable by Italian standards and the funiculars and lifts cost little, though Riviera resorts and beach loungers push summer costs up.

Siena's rooms inside the walls are scarce and in demand, especially in summer and around the Palio, and the cathedral and civic museums each charge entry. Osteria lunches are good value, and staying at an agriturismo outside town often saves money.

Genoa has the fuller programme, led by the Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari with opera, ballet and symphonic seasons, and the Teatro Nazionale for Italian drama. Paganini concerts and the small clubs that keep alive its singer-songwriter tradition round it out.

Siena's musical life is serious but small and tied to its schools: Accademia Chigiana concerts in palaces and churches in summer, and Siena Jazz performances. For opera or a major orchestra you have to go to Florence.

Siena is clearly the more restorative choice because of the thermal water around it. Rapolano Terme's travertine pools are about half an hour away, and further south lie the steaming medieval bath at Bagno Vignoni, the free white pools of Bagni San Filippo and Petriolo's hot river, all easy to pair with a farmhouse or rural spa stay.

Genoa's centre is busy with port and traffic, and its nearest springs are inland at Acqui Terme. Calm there means Nervi's villa gardens and seafront walk, or a long lunch in a Riviera village.