Lecce or Mostar?

This is the widest gap between the two. Lecce is close to two seas: the coves and sea stacks of Torre dell'Orso on the Adriatic, and the long, shallow, clear beaches of Porto Cesareo and Punta Prosciutto on the Ionian. In summer the whole stay can be built around mornings on the sand.

Mostar has no beach life at all. The Neretva is too cold for more than a quick jump from the rocks, the pool beneath the Kravica waterfalls is the real swim, and the sea at Neum or Makarska means a full day out.

Lecce has the richer table. Its day runs from pasticciotto and iced almond coffee through rustico at mid-morning to ciceri e tria and orecchiette with turnip tops, with Negroamaro and Primitivo on the side, and the simple osterie of the old town do it well.

Mostar's cooking is hearty and satisfying, built on charcoal-grilled ćevapi, burek and slow-cooked stews, with Žilavka and Blatina wines and the ritual of Bosnian coffee. It has fewer dishes to explore, and the terraces by the bridge are more about the view than the cooking.

Lecce gives you a whole town of carved honey-coloured stone, from Santa Croce to the enclosed Piazza del Duomo, with a Roman amphitheatre under the main square and underground Messapian layers. You can walk it for days and keep finding facades.

Mostar's sights centre on one great image, the rebuilt Stari Most with divers leaping from it, plus the bazaar, a climbable minaret and Ottoman houses. The war-scarred front line adds a recent history Lecce does not have, but the set is done in a day or two.

Neither city is a reason to go out, but Lecce has more evening to it. The passeggiata leads into aperitivo on the piazzas and on to wine and cocktail bars in the lanes, students keep weekends lively, and summer adds beach clubs near Gallipoli. Mostar's evenings mostly end at dinner on a terrace facing the lit bridge, with only a few bars and clubs open late.

Mostar has the wilder setting. Bare limestone mountains surround it, the Prenj range is among the most rugged in the Balkans, and the Neretva canyons offer rafting and kayaking, with the Buna spring, Blidinje plateau and Hutovo Blato wetland all within reach.

Lecce's countryside is a flat plain of olive groves, good for gentle cycling. Its outdoors is the sea: clifftop paths and sea caves from Roca Vecchia to Leuca, the pine woods of Porto Selvaggio, and snorkelling and diving rather than mountains.

Lecce opens up a wider region. Otranto's cathedral mosaic, Gallipoli on its island, Galatina's frescoes, white Ostuni and the trulli of Alberobello add up to a full week of outings.

Mostar's trips are smaller and more intimate: the dervish house at Blagaj, the hillside village of Počitelj, Stolac's medieval tombstones and the bridges of Jablanica and Konjic. Sarajevo makes a long day by train through the gorge. In both places a car makes most of these far easier.

Lecce is the easier place with children. The old town is flat and mostly free of traffic, families fill the piazzas at night, and the shallow sand around Porto Cesareo suits toddlers.

Mostar works for a short visit, with the bridge divers and Kravica as the highlights, and children are welcomed everywhere. But its steep, polished cobbles are hard with a pushchair, and the valley heat is tougher on small children than Lecce's.

The two are much the same: easy on foot in the centre, harder beyond it. Lecce's old town is flat and partly pedestrian, and its trains run quickly north to Bari, though the Salento coast really needs a car. Mostar's centre is a short riverside walk on slippery cobbles, and Blagaj or Kravica need a car, taxi or tour, while the train to Sarajevo is a scenic way out.

Neither is somewhere to shop seriously, and they differ in craft. In Lecce, look for cartapesta saints and nativity figures from the old-town workshops, small pieces carved in local stone, and olive oil and wine. In Mostar, the Kujundžiluk sells hand-hammered copper coffee sets and kilims, though only among a lot of imported souvenirs.

Mostar is clearly the cheaper of the two. Rooms in family guesthouses, grilled meals and local wine cost little, and prices drop a few streets away from the bridge.

Lecce is good value by Italian standards, with cheap pastries and trattorias, but it costs more overall. August pushes up rooms and beach loungers across the Salento, and a hire car adds to the bill.

Lecce has the stronger live scene, mostly because of pizzica, the tambourine dance played at village festivals all summer and at the huge Notte della Taranta in Melpignano in August. The Teatro Paisiello and Politeama Greco add opera and concerts. Mostar's theatres perform mostly in local languages, and outside summer concerts, live music rarely goes beyond a band in a café.

Lecce offers more for a restful stay. The sulphur grottoes of Santa Cesarea Terme are under an hour away above the sea, and old fortified masserie on the plain have become quiet spa retreats.

Mostar's hammam no longer works as a bath, and treatments are limited to a few hotels. Rest there comes from slow coffees in the shade and the quiet old town early in the morning, before the tour groups arrive.