Matera or Mostar?

Neither town is a beach destination, but Matera brings the sea closer. About 45 minutes away by car, the Ionian shore at Metaponto and Policoro has long, wide sandy beaches backed by pine woods. The water there is calm, shallow and warm by late summer, and the rockier coves of Puglia are a longer drive.

From Mostar the coast at Neum is over an hour away and the Makarska beaches further still. Most visitors cool off at the Kravica waterfalls or take a quick, cold jump into the Neretva.

Both cities offer regional home cooking and little else, but Matera's table is the richer one. The crusty pane di Matera comes with crapiata, hand-made cavatelli, roast lamb and crackling fried peperoni cruschi, alongside hill cheeses and a strong Aglianico. Some dining rooms are carved into the cave walls of the Sassi.

Mostar keeps to a shorter Bosnian repertoire: charcoal-grilled ćevapi in somun bread, burek and slow-cooked stuffed vegetables. Its real pleasures are the local Žilavka and Blatina wines and the slow ritual of coffee from a copper džezva.

Matera has the deeper set of sights. People have lived in its cave dwellings since prehistoric times, and the rock churches still hold Byzantine frescoes. The Palombaro Lungo cistern runs under the main square, and MUSMA shows sculpture in carved rooms. Exploring all of this takes several unhurried days.

Mostar's appeal is concentrated on Stari Most, the Ottoman arch rebuilt after its destruction in 1993, together with the bridge divers, the climbable minaret of Koski Mehmed Pasha and a few carpeted Ottoman houses. The war damage along the old front line gives it a recent, sobering story that Matera does not have.

Evenings are quiet in both, and they are spent much the same way, over a long dinner with a view: the lit Sassi in Matera, the floodlit bridge in Mostar. The small difference is that Mostar has a few student clubs that open late on summer weekends. Matera has no clubs at all, only cave wine bars and the passeggiata along Via del Corso.

The outdoors is equally strong in both, but the landscapes differ. In Matera you can walk straight out of town, down into the Gravina gorge and up to Murgia Timone, past abandoned rock churches and Neolithic village sites. The sandstone spires of the Lucanian Dolomites and the forests of the Pollino are a drive away.

Mostar's surroundings are wilder and wetter. The bare Prenj and Velež mountains rise around the city, and the Neretva canyons upstream are used for rafting and kayaking. The Hutovo Blato wetland draws migrating birds.

Matera is the far better base. Within about an hour lie the trulli of Alberobello, the white towns of the Valle d'Itria, Bari, Castel del Monte and the cliffs of Polignano a Mare. Closer to home are the ghost town of Craco and the mountain villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa.

Mostar's outings are smaller places: the dervish house at Blagaj, the walled village of Počitelj, the stećci tombstones at Stolac and Tito's bunker at Konjic. Sarajevo, the one major city within reach, is a long day there and back by train. Both cities need a car for most trips.

Both are manageable with children for a short stay, and neither has much built for them. Steep stone underfoot is a problem in each: endless stairways in the Sassi, worn and slippery cobbles in Mostar's old town. Summer heat in both makes the afternoons hard on small children.

What changes is the outing they will remember. In Matera it is the caves, the underground cistern and a drive to the shallow Ionian beaches. In Mostar it is watching the divers leap from the bridge and swimming beneath the Kravica falls.

Each has a centre you cover on foot and a hinterland that needs a car. Matera's walk is the harder one, with flat streets above and steep stairways down into the Sassi. Mostar's old town and Austro-Hungarian centre make an easier stroll along the river, as long as you have shoes with grip.

Further afield, Mostar is better connected. A train runs through the gorge to Sarajevo, and long-distance buses serve the region. Matera sits off the national rail network, with only a slow narrow-gauge line to Bari.

Shopping is limited in both, and Mostar has slightly more to look at. Along the Kujundžiluk, a few coppersmiths still hammer coffee sets and plates by hand, among kilims, embroidery and lamps, though much of the stock is imported.

Matera's stalls in the Sassi sell the painted cuccù whistle and small tufa carvings, but the better things to take home are dried peppers, local pasta and Aglianico.

Mostar is clearly the cheaper of the two. Guesthouses and family apartments cost little, and so do meals of grilled meat, bottles of local wine and the daily coffee. Only the terraces facing the bridge and old-town rooms in midsummer charge more.

Matera is good value for Italy, especially in the trattorias of the upper town. However, its speciality is the cave hotel, and staying in the Sassi costs considerably more than any room in Mostar.

Neither city offers much live performance, so plan evenings around dinner rather than a stage. Matera's big night is the Festa della Bruna, when a papier-mâché float is torn apart, and its summer jazz and open-air events sometimes use the Sassi as a backdrop. Mostar has a national theatre and a youth theatre, but they perform mostly in local languages, so open-air concerts in summer suit visitors better.

Matera is the more restful place to stay. Some of its hotel spas are set in candlelit caves with pools cut into the rock, and from autumn to spring the Sassi are very quiet in the mornings.

Mostar's Ottoman hammam is now a monument rather than a working bath, and treatments are limited to a few hotels. Rest there comes from long coffees in the shade and the hours after the coach groups leave.