Lucca or Naples?

Lucca is inland, but its beaches are an easy outing: Viareggio is about 25 minutes by train, and from there long sandy beaches run north to Forte dei Marmi. The sand shelves gently and is mostly set out in rows of umbrellas at beach clubs, while the Lecciona dunes, backed by pine woods, offer a wilder free stretch.

Naples has the sea right in front of it. Locals swim off the rocks below the Lungomare and from small lidos in Posillipo, though the water near the port is not always clean, and the sandy beaches near the city are crowded, paid clubs. For clear water you take a boat to Procida, Ischia or Capri, or head for the rocky coves of the Sorrento peninsula. Lucca is better for easy wading on open sand, and Naples for swimming in clear water off the rocks.

Naples is the far stronger food city. Pizza was born here, and the street food, from fried pizza to cones of seafood and sfogliatelle, is part of daily life. The Pignasecca and Porta Nolana markets are full of mozzarella, fish and San Marzano tomatoes.

Lucca eats plainly and well: farro soup, tordelli in ragù, chestnut dishes, cecina and buccellato, with mild local olive oil and wines from the surrounding hills. The menus are much the same from one trattoria to the next, so after a few days the choice feels narrow. Naples offers more to eat and is more exciting.

Lucca is a single, complete picture. You get the walls, the medieval street grid, the carved façade of San Michele, Ilaria del Carretto's tomb in the cathedral and the oval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, all seen comfortably in two days.

Naples works on a different scale. Its Greek-planned historic centre is one of Europe's largest, the National Archaeological Museum holds the treasures of Pompeii, and there are also the Veiled Christ, the tunnels and catacombs below the city, and the Capodimonte gallery. A week there barely runs out.

Lucca's evenings are aperitivo, dinner and a walk on the walls, and the streets go quiet by midnight. Anyone who wants to dance has to travel out to the Versilia clubs.

Naples stays out late. Students crowd Piazza Bellini and the lanes beside the Greek walls, and Chiaia's small bars spill into the alleys well past midnight. The nights are about the street more than clubs, but there is far more going on than in Lucca.

Lucca's countryside is gentle, with olive groves, villa gardens and cycle paths along the Serchio. The steep marble peaks of the Apuan Alps and the chestnut woods of the Garfagnana lie about an hour north, with birdwatching at Lake Massaciuccoli toward the sea.

Naples has the more striking landscape, because it is volcanic. You can walk up to the crater rim of Vesuvius, explore the old craters of the Phlegraean Fields at Astroni and Lake Avernus, snorkel in the Gaiola underwater park, and hike the Path of the Gods above the Amalfi Coast.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference lies in what is within reach. From Lucca, easy trains run to Pisa, Florence and Pistoia, and nearby are the formal gardens of the Lucca villas, Collodi, and the marble towns of Pietrasanta and Carrara. This is classic Tuscany, mostly reached without fuss.

From Naples the outings are more dramatic. Pompeii and Herculaneum are on the Circumvesuviana line, the Caserta palace is inland, ferries run to Capri, Ischia and Procida, and further away are the Amalfi Coast and the temples of Paestum. The catch is that the trains and boats are crowded and less smooth than Tuscany's regional lines.

Lucca is the gentler choice with children. The car-free centre is safe to wander, riding a quadricycle around the walls is the classic outing, and Pinocchio Park and sandy beaches are both near. It has little made specifically for children, though.

Naples welcomes children warmly, but the scooters, broken pavements and steps make it tiring with small ones. Older children enjoy the tunnels, funiculars and Pompeii. Many families stay in Sorrento or on an island and come into the city for the day.

Lucca is far easier to get around. The walled centre is flat and largely closed to traffic, bikes are the local transport, and the station just outside the walls has regular trains across Tuscany. Only the villas and hill villages really call for a car.

In Naples you walk the historic centre alongside scooters, and Metro Line 1 and four funiculars handle the hills. Beyond them, buses crawl through traffic, the Circumvesuviana is packed and often late, and crossing the road takes nerve.

Naples has more to buy and more that you can't get elsewhere. Chiaia's tailors make suits, shirts and ties by hand, Via Toledo and the Galleria Umberto I cover the high street, and San Gregorio Armeno is lined with workshops making nativity figures, with coral and cameos from Torre del Greco on top.

Lucca's Via Fillungo is a pretty street with old Liberty shopfronts, and its delicatessens are good for olive oil and buccellato. The main event is the monthly antiques market around the cathedral. Otherwise the shopping is small-town.

Naples stretches a budget further. Pizza, street food, coffee at the bar and transport all cost little, and the historic centre has plenty of modest B&Bs. Costs climb only when you head for the islands, the Amalfi Coast or the big archaeological sites.

Lucca is cheaper than Florence but costs the normal central Italian rate. Rooms inside the walls are scarce and fill up in summer and during festivals, so staying just outside often saves money.

Opera ties these two cities together. Lucca's is built around Puccini: short recitals of his arias in a central church most evenings, the Teatro del Giglio's season, and open-air opera by the lake at Torre del Lago in summer, plus big outdoor concerts in Piazza Napoleone each July.

Naples has the greater stage. The Teatro di San Carlo is Europe's oldest working opera house, with a full season of opera, ballet and concerts. Neapolitan song is still part of everyday life, though most spoken theatre is in Italian or dialect.

Lucca relaxes you through its pace: traffic-free streets, long lunches and evening walks on the shaded walls. For thermal water you take the train to Montecatini, or go to the cave pools of Monsummano or the steam grottoes of Bagni di Lucca.

Naples is too loud and intense to unwind in, apart from the cloisters of Santa Chiara and the Lungomare. Its volcanic ground does provide the stronger spa option, though: Ischia's terraced thermal gardens above the sea are about an hour away by hydrofoil.