Kotor or Positano?

Positano is the beach town of the two. Spiaggia Grande sits right under the houses, with Fornillo a short cliff walk away and Arienzo and Laurito reached by stairs or boat. The water is clear and deep blue, though the shore is coarse grey sand and pebble that drops steeply.

Kotor has no beach of its own. You swim from concrete platforms and jetties along the shore towards Dobrota and Muo, in calm but less clear water at the enclosed end of the bay. For sand you head over the hill to Jaz or the coves around Budva and Sveti Stefan, so beach days are outings rather than part of daily life.

The two are much alike: small towns with narrow menus built on the sea, and the busiest terraces are the weakest places to eat. Kotor mixes the bay and the mountains. Expect mussels, black cuttlefish risotto, Njegusi ham with sharp cheese and a dark Vranac, and the best meals come from the konobas in Dobrota, Prcanj and Perast. Its green market also gives you somewhere to shop for food.

Positano is more about the view. Think spaghetti with clams, scialatielli, mozzarella and lemon desserts on a terrace over the sea, and a few hotel dining rooms aim at fine dining. There is no market, and many kitchens close between November and Easter.

Kotor offers far more for the sightseer. The UNESCO-listed walled town is a dense web of marble lanes, small churches and the palazzi of old seafaring families. The 12th-century Cathedral of St Tryphon stands at its centre, and the Maritime Museum tells the story of the Boka.

Positano's culture is mostly its looks: houses stacked up the ravine, the majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta and the painted Roman villa preserved beneath it. A morning covers all of it, while Kotor keeps you busy for a couple of days.

Neither town has much going on after dark, but Kotor has a little more. In summer a few bars inside the walls stay open late, there is a small club scene, and Budva's seafront clubs, open until dawn, are half an hour away for a proper night out.

Positano's evenings are aperitivo with a view, a long dinner and, for a dressed-up crowd, the cave club at the end of Spiaggia Grande. It suits couples, but there is nowhere nearby to move on to, and it all winds down when the season ends.

Both have mountains plunging straight into the water, and they are evenly matched. The difference is the kind of landscape. Kotor sits deep inside a fjord-like bay hemmed in by limestone walls. The Ladder of Kotor climbs out of town, Lovcen National Park opens up beyond the hairpins, and Lake Skadar's wetlands make a longer outing.

Positano faces the open sea. The Path of the Gods runs high above terraced lemon groves with Capri on the horizon, and from the water you can kayak to grottoes and the Li Galli islets. Kotor's paddling is calmer and goes past villages.

Positano has the stronger list. Capri is half an hour by boat, ferries run to Amalfi and Ravello, and Pompeii, Herculaneum and the temples of Paestum are all within a day. The catch is that most ferries run only from spring to autumn.

Kotor's outings are smaller in scale but varied. Perast and the islet church of Our Lady of the Rocks are close, Cetinje and the Njegos mausoleum lie over Lovcen, and Dubrovnik or the cliff monastery of Ostrog fill longer days. Most of these work better by car than by boat.

Neither is built for children, but Kotor is easier. The old town is flat and car-free, children love the street cats, and the calm jetties along the bay make swimming simple. A boat to Perast's island church is a reliable outing.

Positano is almost all stairs, so a pushchair is useless, and the pebble beaches shelve quickly. It works better with older children who like boats and swimming than with toddlers.

Kotor's old town takes a few level minutes to cross, which makes daily life easy compared with Positano's endless steps. Leaving town is the weak point: buses round the bay are infrequent and the single road jams in summer, so many visitors hire a car.

In Positano a car is more trouble than it is worth. Parking is scarce, the coast road crawls and buses fill up, so you rely on your legs and on ferries, most of which run only in season.

Positano gives you a real reason to shop. Its lanes are full of the white linen and printed resort wear known as moda Positano, sandal makers fit a pair while you wait, and there are hand-painted ceramics too.

Kotor's shops are mostly souvenirs, silver filigree and lace. The buys worth carrying home are edible: Vranac, Njegusi ham, honey and olive oil from the green market. For brands, people go to the Tivat marina.

Kotor costs far less. Konoba meals, local wine, buses and the fortress walk stay moderately priced, and only the hotels and main squares inside the walls charge resort rates in July and August.

Positano is among the most expensive places to stay in Italy. Sea-view rooms, beach loungers, terrace meals and boat transfers all cost a lot. Staying in Praiano or Sorrento and going in May or October are the main ways to save.

Neither is a place for a season of concerts, but what each offers is different. Kotor's highlights are local traditions: carnival, and Boka Night with its decorated boats on the bay. A summer festival of recitals and choirs fills the churches and squares.

Positano's best evening of music is up the coast, at Ravello's classical festival on a terrace above the sea. For opera and theatre, Naples is within reach.

Positano is the more restful choice if you want pampering. Several of its upscale hotels have spas and pools cut into the cliff, and an afternoon on a terrace above the sea does the rest, at least outside the crowds of July and August.

In Kotor, spas mean a resort hotel along the bay or at Tivat. The calm here comes from quiet early mornings on the water and long lunches in the shore villages, away from the old town at midday.