Lecce or Valletta?

These two are close for a beach trip, and the difference is in what you swim from. Lecce has nothing much on its own doorstep, but within about 40 minutes by car it reaches two seas. On the Adriatic side are the pale coves and sea stacks of Torre dell'Orso. On the Ionian side, the long, shallow sands of Porto Cesareo are among the best in southern Italy.

Valletta lets you swim in town, climbing down ladders off limestone ledges below the bastions into very clear water. Its sandy bays at Golden Bay and Mellieha are small, crowded in August and a bus ride away. Prefer sand and a full beach day and Lecce has the edge. Prefer a quick dip between sights and Valletta does that better.

Lecce eats better and more distinctively. The day runs from a warm pasticciotto with almond-sweetened iced coffee to chickpeas with fried pasta, fava purée and Negroamaro, all honest peasant cooking found easily in old-town osterie. The limit is range: it is Apulian food or little else.

Valletta's cooking is a mix of Sicily, North Africa and Britain, with pastizzi, rabbit stew and lampuki pie. Too many places on its main streets cater to cruise passengers. The best fish means a trip out to Marsaxlokk.

Both are honey-coloured limestone cities, but Valletta has more to see. Its whole fortified grid is a UNESCO site. St John's Co-Cathedral, with its marble tomb floor and Caravaggio, is a sight of European rank, and the Grandmaster's Palace, Fort St Elmo and the Three Cities across the harbour add depth.

Lecce's appeal is ornament rather than a list of landmarks. The carved Baroque facades of Santa Croce, Piazza del Duomo at dusk and the half-buried Roman amphitheatre reward slow wandering. Its museums are modest.

Neither city is a reason to come for nights out, but Valletta offers a little more. Strait Street's wine and cocktail bars give the capital a sociable evening. For clubs, Paceville is half an hour away by bus or taxi and runs until dawn in summer.

Lecce's evenings are the passeggiata, an aperitivo on the piazzas and small bars in the lanes, kept lively by students. Dancing means driving to the summer beach clubs near Gallipoli.

This one is even, and both cities find their outdoors on the coast. Around Lecce the land is a flat plain of olive groves for gentle cycling. The draw is the cliff path from Roca Vecchia towards Leuca, with birdwatching in the Alimini wetlands and the pine woods of Porto Selvaggio.

Malta's strength is underwater. Its very clear sea, with wrecks close to shore and Gozo's Blue Hole, makes it the stronger choice for divers. On land the walks are short ones along Dingli Cliffs and Gozo's greener coast.

Valletta packs more into a small area and needs no car. Mdina and the Roman remains at Rabat are half an hour away. The Hagar Qim and Mnajdra temples are older than the pyramids, and Gozo makes a full day by ferry.

Lecce opens up a wider, more varied region: Otranto's cathedral mosaic, island Gallipoli, Galatina's frescoes, and the trulli of Alberobello further north. Distances are longer, though, and most of these trips are realistic only with a hire car.

Valletta works a little better with children, largely because of Malta as a whole. English is spoken everywhere, distances are short, and there is an aquarium at Qawra and the Popeye Village film set. The capital itself, with its stepped streets, is hard going with a pushchair, so many families stay in Sliema.

Lecce's flat, mostly traffic-free old town is the gentler place to walk with small children, and the shallow sands at Porto Cesareo are ideal for them. Beyond that there is little built for children.

Both centres are walkable, but beyond the walls Valletta is much easier. Buses from the city gate reach nearly the whole island, and short ferries cross to Sliema and the Three Cities. Slow, crowded roads are the price.

Lecce's flat old town is simple on foot, and trains run north to Bari. The Salento's local railways and summer-only beach buses are thin, though, so most visitors end up hiring a car and parking outside the walls.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the interest in both lies in local crafts. Lecce has papier-mâché saints from old-town workshops, carved limestone and Grottaglie ceramics. Valletta offers silver filigree, Gozo lace and blown glass, plus high-street chains along Republic Street and a market on Merchant Street.

Lecce is the cheaper stay for most of the year, with low-cost food and wine and fairly priced bed and breakfasts in old palazzi. August is the exception, when Italian visitors fill the Salento and a hire car adds to the bill.

Valletta's rooms inside the walls are dearer, and visitor restaurants in the centre charge more. Cheap buses and staying across the harbour in Sliema or Gzira bring the costs down.

Valletta has the edge, thanks largely to the Manoel Theatre of 1731. Its small gilded auditorium is worth a visit for whatever is on. Add a winter baroque festival, summer jazz on the Grand Harbour, and the rival opera houses on Gozo every autumn.

Lecce's theatres carry a modest season. Its real draw is pizzica, the Salento's tambourine dance, heard at village festivals all summer and at the huge Notte della Taranta in Melpignano in August.

Lecce is the better place to unwind properly. The long afternoon closure slows everyone down. Old masseria farmhouses on the plain have become spa retreats, and Santa Cesarea's sulphur pools in cliff grottoes are under an hour away.

Valletta offers calm rather than treatments. When the cruise passengers leave in the late afternoon, the Barrakka Gardens over the harbour turn quiet, and spas are mainly in resort hotels in St Julian's.