Kotor or Sorrento?

Neither town has a proper beach of its own, but the swimming feels quite different. In Kotor you step off concrete platforms, jetties and pebble strips along the road to Dobrota and Muo into calm water of the enclosed inner bay, which is easy but less clear. A real beach day means half an hour over the hill to the sand at Jaz or the coves near Budva and Sveti Stefan.

Sorrento swims from wooden lido piers at Marina Piccola and Marina Grande, down a lift from the cliff into clear, deep water. The rocks at the Bagni della Regina Giovanna are a short walk away. Much of the shore is given over to paid sunbeds, and pebble beaches mean a bus to Marina del Cantone or a boat to Capri's coves.

Sorrento is the stronger place to eat. Gnocchi alla sorrentina, fish all'acqua pazza, milky mozzarella from the hill dairies and Neapolitan pizza make an everyday table worth travelling for. Family trattorias on the back lanes and the fish restaurants at Marina Grande avoid the tourist menus, and the peninsula's hill villages add serious fine dining.

Kotor's cooking is good but narrower: mussels from the bay farms, black cuttlefish risotto, Njegusi ham with mountain cheese and a glass of Vranac. The terraces in the old town squares are uneven, so the better meals mean heading out to the konobas in Dobrota, Prcanj or Perast.

Kotor's walled town is the attraction in itself. Its marble lanes squeeze between bay and cliff, the Romanesque Cathedral of St Tryphon anchors the squares, and the Venetian walls climb the mountain behind. There are few big museums, but the whole townscape holds your interest for a couple of days.

Sorrento's centre is pleasant rather than remarkable: a Roman street grid, the cloister of San Francesco, the Museo Correale's Neapolitan collections and the odd ravine of the Vallone dei Mulini. The region's real cultural weight lies outside the town.

Both are quiet, early-evening towns where the night is a drink on a terrace. Kotor's is spent on the old town squares once the day visitors leave and the walls light up, with a few late bars in summer. Sorrento follows the passeggiata on Corso Italia, then wine bars, cocktail terraces and piano bars playing Neapolitan song.

The difference is the livelier option. From Kotor, Budva's seafront clubs are half an hour away and easy to reach for the night. From Sorrento, Naples or Capri means booking a room, because the last trains and ferries leave in the evening.

Both settings are superb, with a different feel to each. Kotor is enclosed: limestone walls rise more than 1,000m almost straight from the water, and the Ladder of Kotor and the road of hairpins lead from the town gates up into Lovcen's beech woods and karst meadows. Kayaking along the inner bay and Lake Skadar's wetlands add more.

Sorrento is open coast and volcano. Paths run through lemon and olive terraces to Punta Campanella and the protected bay of Ieranto, and the Path of the Gods, Monte Faito and the crater of Vesuvius are all in reach. In both places summer heat makes spring and autumn the hiking seasons.

Sorrento is one of the best-placed bases in the Mediterranean. The train reaches Pompeii in about half an hour and Herculaneum just beyond, ferries cross to Capri in under an hour, summer boats run to Positano and Amalfi, and Naples with its archaeological museum is about an hour away.

Kotor has good outings, but fewer in the same league. Perast and its island church are twenty minutes off, Cetinje and Njegos's mountain-top mausoleum make a fine loop over Lovcen, and Budva and Sveti Stefan lie along the coast. Dubrovnik and Ostrog are long days rather than easy hops.

For children, the choice comes down to gentle water against things to do. Kotor's calm bay water off the jetties is the easier place for little swimmers, and the car-free old town with its street cats charms younger visitors. Beyond the boat to Perast's island church there is little to do, though, and the steep, hot fortress climb is hard on small legs.

Sorrento fills the days a little better, with a boat to Capri, a train to Pompeii's ruins and gelato in a flat, pushchair-friendly centre. Its swimming is off piers and rocks into deep water, so families with small children usually book a hotel with a pool.

Both centres are small, flat and walkable. The gap opens once you leave. Sorrento works without a car: the Circumvesuviana runs direct to Pompeii and Naples, and ferries reach Capri and the Amalfi Coast, even if trains are crowded and summer buses crawl round the hairpins.

From Kotor, regional buses to Budva, Tivat and Cetinje are too infrequent to rely on, and the single road round the bay jams in summer. Seeing Lovcen or the Lustica coves usually means hiring a car or a driver.

Sorrento has more worth buying. Intarsia boxes and trays from its long wood-inlay tradition, leather sandals made to measure while you wait, linen and cameos lift it above the lemon souvenirs, and Capri's boutiques are a ferry away.

Kotor's lanes sell filigree, lace and cat trinkets, and its best buys are edible: Vranac, Njegusi ham and honey from the green market. For brands, people go to the Tivat marina.

Kotor is clearly the cheaper stay. Konoba meals, local wine and buses are moderately priced, and only the rooms and terraces inside the walls in high summer reach resort levels. An apartment in Dobrota or Muo keeps costs down.

Sorrento charges like the famous coast it sits on, with sea-view rooms, lido sunbeds and private boats all expensive in summer. Cheap trains, pizza and back-lane trattorias soften this, and spring and late autumn bring hotel rates down a good deal.

Neither has a year-round stage. Kotor's highlights are traditional occasions: a summer festival of recitals and choirs in its churches, the carnival and Boka Night with decorated boats on the bay.

Sorrento leans on Neapolitan song, tarantella shows for visitors and chamber concerts in the cloister of San Francesco. Its real advantage is Naples, where the Teatro di San Carlo puts proper opera about an hour away.

Sorrento is the more restful choice. The big cliff hotels have spas, pools and terraces over the bay, the old villa gardens set a slow pace, and the hot springs of Ischia are about an hour away by ferry.

Kotor has no bathing tradition, and wellness means a resort hotel spa along the bay or at Tivat. Its calm comes from quiet early mornings on the water and long lunches in the shore villages, away from the crowded midday old town.