Matera or Turin?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Matera is much closer to one. The Ionian coast at Metaponto and Policoro is under an hour by car, with long sandy beaches, pine woods behind and calm, shallow water that suits children. The rocky coves of Puglia's Adriatic shore are a longer drive.

From Turin the nearest sea is the Ligurian Riviera, close to two hours away and better as a separate stay than a day trip. Summer swimming from the city means lakes such as Avigliana or Viverone instead.

Turin is one of Italy's great eating cities, and Matera cannot match its range. Piedmont brings vitello tonnato, agnolotti del plin, bagna cauda and Langhe truffles, the wine list runs to Barolo and Barbaresco, and the city adds vermouth, gianduja, bicerin in the arcade cafés and the huge Porta Palazzo market.

Matera's cooking is honest Basilicata peasant food: its horn-shaped bread, crapiata, cavatelli and crackling peperoni cruschi with a glass of Aglianico. It is good and distinctive, but beyond regional dishes there is little choice and no market life, so a few days covers it.

Turin offers more to see, and over more days. The Museo Egizio alone justifies a visit, and around it stand the Royal Palace, Palazzo Madama, the Shroud cathedral, the ring of Savoy residences, the Mole with its cinema museum and a strong contemporary art scene at Rivoli and the GAM.

Matera's offer is smaller but unlike anywhere else in Europe. The Sassi themselves are the sight: cave houses, frescoed rock churches such as Santa Maria de Idris, and the walk-through cistern of the Palombaro Lungo. It is a single, powerful place seen in a couple of days, where Turin is a capital's worth of museums.

Turin has a proper night out and Matera does not. After the aperitivo, Turin's crowd spreads into the wine bars of the Quadrilatero Romano, the student pavements of San Salvario, alternative Vanchiglia and, in summer, the Murazzi on the Po, with clubs in old industrial buildings for later.

Matera's evening is the passeggiata, a long dinner and a drink on a terrace above the lit Sassi. A few cave bars stay open late in summer, but there are no clubs, and out of season the town is asleep soon after dinner.

Turin has the Alps on its horizon and within reach: Gran Paradiso with its ibex, hut-to-hut hiking in the Susa valley and skiing at Sestriere, plus the Superga hills and the Mandria forest closer in. Getting into the wilder country needs a car or a train, as the city sits on a flat plain.

Matera's landscape starts at the edge of town. The Gravina gorge drops below the Sassi, and a path climbs to the Murgia plateau with its abandoned rock churches, while the Lucanian Dolomites and Pollino are a drive further. It is fine walking country in spring and autumn, but there are no mountains or ski slopes on Turin's scale.

Both are excellent bases, with Turin just ahead because many of its outings are on the train line. The Langhe wine villages, Alba and Bra are about an hour south, Milan is a fast train away, and the Sacra di San Michele, Aosta and Genoa widen the choice.

Matera's trips are of a different kind: small towns and southern landscapes rather than cities. Altamura and Gravina are close, Alberobello, Ostuni and Polignano a Mare are around an hour, and Craco and the mountain villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa lie inland. Almost all of them need a car.

Turin is much the better choice with children. Its flat grid and long arcades keep pushchairs moving and out of the sun, the glass lift up the Mole and the car and Egyptian museums please older children, and Valentino park gives space to run, with the Zoom Torino animal park within a short drive.

Matera welcomes children but offers them little of their own. Older ones enjoy the caves, the cistern and the gorge, yet the Sassi's uneven steps defeat a pushchair, and summer afternoons are hot and shadeless.

Turin is simpler to get around and much better connected. Its centre is flat, compact and arcaded, a driverless metro line and trams cover longer hops, and the main stations reach the rest of Italy quickly.

Matera is all on foot, with an easy upper town and steep stairways down into the Sassi. Leaving it is the hard part: the city is off the national rail network, the narrow-gauge line to Bari is slow and buses are few, so a hire car makes a real difference.

Turin offers far more. Via Roma's arcades hold the big labels, Via Garibaldi the mainstream shops, the Quadrilatero smaller boutiques, and the Balon flea market and the antique dealers of Via Maria Vittoria add character. Its chocolate makers and delicatessens are the real draw.

Matera's shopping is mostly souvenirs: painted cuccù whistles, tufa carvings and ceramics in the Sassi, with ordinary shops along Via del Corso. Dried peppers and a bottle of Aglianico are the best things to carry home.

The two cost about the same overall, but the money goes in different places. In Matera meals in the upper-town trattorias are cheap and the Sassi and the Murgia are free to walk, while the cave hotels it is known for are the expensive part. Guesthouses up the hill save a lot.

In Turin a generous aperitivo can stand in for dinner and public transport is inexpensive, but museum entry, fine dining and truffle season add up, and hotel rates rise during the big trade fairs.

Turin has a full season and Matera has little beyond summer. The Teatro Regio stages opera and ballet, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra and the Lingotto auditorium host concerts, and jazz clubs and festivals fill the rest of the year, though theatre is almost all in Italian.

Matera offers conservatory concerts, a summer jazz festival and open-air events against the Sassi. Its one great night is the Festa della Bruna, when the papier-mâché float is torn apart after the procession.

Neither city has thermal baths or a bathing tradition, so rest comes mostly from the pace. Matera's distinctive touch is its cave spas, with pools cut into the rock, and its calm early mornings in the Sassi before the visitors arrive.

Turin's version is long coffee breaks in historic cafés, evening walks under the arcades and afternoons in Valentino park. For real thermal water it sends you about two hours away to Acqui Terme or the Aosta valley.