Lucca or Venice?

These two are broadly level for a swim, and in both cases the beach is a side trip rather than the reason to come. Lucca's sand is a train ride away on the Versilia coast: wide, gently shelving beaches from Viareggio to Forte dei Marmi, mostly laid out as beach clubs, with wilder dunes and pinewoods at the Lecciona.

Venice's Lido is closer, a short vaporetto ride from San Marco, with fine sand on the open Adriatic and shallow water for children, though the sea looks greenish rather than clear. Versilia gives a longer, more varied stretch of coast, while the Lido is easier to fit into an afternoon of sightseeing.

The two eat about equally well, in very different ways. Lucca's cooking is rustic and inland: farro soup, meat-filled tordelli, chestnut flour in the cooler months, cecina and buccellato, with local oil and Montecarlo wine in family trattorias. It is reliable and fairly priced, but after a few days the menus start to look alike.

Venice is about the lagoon and the bar counter: cicchetti and a spritz in the bacari, cuttlefish risotto, sarde in saor, moeche from the Rialto market. The best of it is more distinctive than Lucca's, but tourist restaurants crowd the main routes, so it pays to eat in Cannaregio or Castello.

Venice is in another league here. The whole city is a monument, from the Basilica of San Marco and the Doge's Palace to the palazzi of the Grand Canal. On top of that come the Venetian painters in the Accademia, Titian at the Frari, Tintoretto at San Rocco, modern art at the Guggenheim and the Biennale.

Lucca has real charm on a smaller scale: complete Renaissance walls, the carved façade of San Michele, Ilaria del Carretto's tomb in the cathedral and the oval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro. Its museums are modest, though, and two days cover the essentials where Venice could fill a week.

Neither city is for a big night out, and both centres fall quiet around midnight. The evening is built around aperitivo: in Lucca on Piazza San Michele or the Anfiteatro, followed by dinner and a stroll on the walls.

Venice has a little more going on. The bacari of the Rialto and the Fondamenta della Misericordia fill up early, and student bars keep Campo Santa Margherita busy later. For dancing, both send people to the coast in summer, to Versilia or Jesolo.

Lucca has much more to offer outdoors. The tree-lined walls and Serchio cycle paths are right in town, and the olive hills begin at the edge of the city. The Apuan Alps, with their limestone peaks and marble quarries, are about an hour north, and the Garfagnana's chestnut and beech woods are close by.

Venice's nature is the lagoon: marshes around Torcello, herons and flamingos, kayaking or Venetian rowing. It is beautiful but flat, the city has few parks, and real mountains are more than two hours away.

Both are excellent bases, with Lucca slightly ahead. From Lucca, Pisa is half an hour by train and Florence little more than an hour, with Pistoia, the Lucca villas, Collodi, Pietrasanta and the coast all close. The Cinque Terre and San Gimignano are possible with an early start.

From Venice, fast trains reach Padua, Vicenza and Verona easily, and the Brenta villas and Prosecco hills are nearby. The difference is the lagoon, which gives Venice a day of island-hopping to Murano, Burano and Torcello without boarding a train.

Lucca is the easier city with children. Its centre is small, flat and almost traffic-free, so a family bike or quadricycle ride round the walls is simple. Pinocchio Park at Collodi and the Versilia beaches are each under half an hour away.

Venice delights children in theory, with its boats, glass-blowing on Murano and the Lido's shallow water. The practice is harder: stepped bridges defeat pushchairs, summer crowds are thick and there are few parks or playgrounds. Short stays with older children work best.

Both centres are car-free and best on foot, but Lucca is the smoother of the two. It is compact, level and made for bikes, and the station sits just outside the walls with direct trains to Pisa and Florence. Only the hill villages and the Garfagnana really need a car.

In Venice, bikes are ruled out and walking is the only option apart from the boats. Alleys that dead-end at canals get people lost, hundreds of bridges have steps, and the vaporetti are slow and crowded. Arrival by train at Santa Lucia, though, is easy.

Venice has the better shopping, built on crafts with centuries behind them: Murano glass, Burano lace, papier-mâché masks, marbled paper and furlane slippers. Big fashion names line Calle Larga XXII Marzo. The catch is the imported fakes on the main routes, so look for workshops where you can see the craft being done.

Lucca is smaller and more provincial. Via Fillungo has fashion and jewellery behind old Liberty shopfronts, and the lanes sell oil, wine and buccellato. Its real draw is the monthly antiques market around the cathedral.

Lucca is the far cheaper stay. Prices are normal for central Italy and well below Florence. The walls and most churches are free and trattoria meals are fair, so accommodation is the main cost, and staying just outside the walls helps.

Venice is among the most expensive places in Italy. Hotels in the centre, water transport and entry to most churches all cost more, and café table service on San Marco is notorious. Cicchetti at the counter and a bed in Mestre or a quieter sestiere soften the bill.

Venice has the deeper stage. La Fenice, where Verdi and Rossini premiered works, runs a full season of opera, ballet and concerts. The Goldoni and the Biennale festivals add drama and contemporary work, and Vivaldi concerts in churches fill most evenings, of uneven quality but in the city where he worked.

Lucca's music belongs to Puccini: nightly recitals of his arias, the Teatro del Giglio's season and open-air opera by the lake at Torre del Lago in summer. Big outdoor concerts come to Piazza Napoleone in July. It is charming but narrower.

Neither city has a bathing culture of its own, but Lucca is better placed for a gentle trip. Montecatini's belle époque spas are half an hour away by train, along with the cave pools of Monsummano and the steam grottoes of Bagni di Lucca. In town, the quiet streets and shaded walls set an unhurried pace.

Venice relies on hotel spas in palazzi and on the Lido, with the thermal mud of Abano about an hour away. Its calm is real in Castello, Cannaregio and on Giudecca, but the daytime crowds around San Marco work against it.