Matera or Palermo?

Palermo is the beach city of the two, with real swimming close by. Mondello's pale sandy bay is about half an hour away by bus, and for deeper water you can head north to the flat rocks around Sferracavallo and Capo Gallo. Cefalù's town beach is an hour away by train.

Matera has no coast. Its nearest beaches are the long, pine-backed Ionian sands at Metaponto and Policoro. They are shallow and good for children, but they are about 45 minutes away by car and hard to reach without one.

Matera's cooking is the plain peasant food of Basilicata: crusty pane di Matera, crapiata, cavatelli and crackling peperoni cruschi, with Aglianico to drink. It is honest and satisfying, but the range barely goes beyond regional dishes, and there is no street food or market scene.

Palermo is in a different league for anyone who travels to eat. Its markets fry panelle and arancine all day, and the sweet-and-sour Arab touches in pasta con le sarde and caponata give the cooking real depth. Cannoli, cassata and brioche with granita make breakfast and dessert worth planning around.

Matera offers one remarkable sight rather than many. The cave districts of Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano, the frescoed rock churches and the walk-through Palombaro Lungo cistern add up to a place unlike anywhere else, and you can see it properly in two days.

Palermo has more breadth and more depth. The Palatine Chapel's gold mosaics, La Martorana and the cathedral make up a UNESCO-listed Arab-Norman route, and then come Serpotta's stucco oratories, the Selinunte metopes at the Salinas and Antonello's Annunciata. A culture trip lasts much longer here.

Matera's evenings are the passeggiata along Via del Corso, a long dinner and a drink in a cave bar above the lit Sassi. It is lovely for a couple and over early outside summer.

Palermo has a real night out, though it happens on the street rather than in clubs. Drinkers spill around the grills of the Vucciria, wine bars fill in the Kalsa after a late dinner, and on warm nights the streets stay busy well past midnight. In summer the dancing moves to the coast near Mondello.

Matera's best outdoors is right under the town. A path drops into the Gravina gorge and climbs to the Murgia plateau, with abandoned rock churches, Neolithic sites and nesting kestrels. The Lucanian Dolomites are a longer drive away.

Palermo has more variety, and much of it involves the sea. Monte Pellegrino rises straight above the city, and Capo Gallo and the Zingaro reserve combine cliff paths with snorkelling coves. The Madonie, with peaks close to 2,000m, add beech woods and the occasional winter snow.

Both cities make good bases, and Palermo is slightly ahead. Monreale is half an hour away and Cefalù an hour by train, while Segesta, Erice and Agrigento's Valley of the Temples rank among the great sites of the Mediterranean.

Matera's appeal is that it straddles two regions. Altamura and Gravina are close, and the trulli of Alberobello, the Valle d'Itria towns and Castel del Monte lie in Puglia, with Craco and the peak villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa on the Basilicata side. Almost all of them need a car, whereas from Palermo trains reach several.

Neither city is built around children, but Palermo copes better. Mondello's shallow sandy bay is an easy day out, the puppet theatres put on short shows of knights in battle, and families are welcome at dinner late into the evening.

In Matera, older children enjoy the caves and the cistern. For younger ones, though, the Sassi are a tiring maze of stone steps where a pushchair is useless, and the nearest beach is a drive away.

The two are much alike: both are walkable at the core and awkward beyond it. Matera's upper town is flat, but the Sassi below are all stairs and steep lanes. The town lies off the national rail network, with only a slow narrow-gauge line to Bari.

Palermo's centre is flat and laid out along two main axes, though side lanes come with scooters and no pavements. Buses are slow, but regional trains do reach Cefalù and Bagheria.

Matera's shopping is small and aimed at visitors: painted cuccù whistles, tufa carvings of the Sassi and ceramics, plus jars of dried peppers and local pasta to take home.

Palermo gives you more to browse. Via Libertà has Italian fashion, the puppet workshops sell handmade marionettes, and you can hunt for moor's-head ceramics, coral jewellery and antiques at the flea market by the cathedral. The markets are good for pistachio pesto and capers.

Palermo stretches a budget a little further. You can make a cheap meal of several market stops, and old-centre guesthouses are fairly priced for most of the year.

Matera's trattorias in the upper town are good value too, and walking the Sassi and the Murgia costs nothing. The town's signature cave hotels are expensive, though, and since nearly every outing needs a car, the hire adds to the cost.

Palermo has a proper performing arts life. The Teatro Massimo runs a full season of opera and ballet, the Politeama is home to the Sicilian symphony orchestra, and the Opera dei Pupi puts on hour-long marionette battles that you won't see elsewhere.

Matera has little beyond conservatory concerts and a summer jazz festival set against the Sassi. Its one big night is the Festa della Bruna, when the papier-mâché float is torn apart.

Neither city has a bathing culture, but they rest you in different ways. Matera's calm comes from its slow pace and hotel spas set in candlelit caves, and it is at its quietest from autumn to spring.

Palermo itself is loud. Its advantage is real thermal water at Termini Imerese, forty minutes away by train, and peaceful hours in the cloisters and the Orto Botanico.