Milan or Positano?

Positano is the clear choice for the sea. Spiaggia Grande lies right below the town, Fornillo is a short cliff walk away, and boats reach Arienzo, Laurito and coves further along the coast. The shore is coarse dark sand and pebble that shelves steeply, and in high summer the space is gone by mid-morning, but the water is clear and warm through the season.

Milan has no coast. On a hot day you can swim at the Idroscalo or an open-air pool, or take the train for about an hour to the pebbly lidos of Como or Maggiore. That is enough for an occasional dip, not a beach vacation.

Milan has far more to eat. Its own cooking is rich and butter-based, with saffron risotto, ossobuco and cotoletta, and it also has good food from every other Italian region and a serious fine-dining scene. Aperitivo in Navigli, Brera or Isola and the old pasticcerie give each day its rhythm.

Positano's food is all about the setting: spaghetti with clams, grilled fish and lemon desserts eaten on a terrace above the sea. The menus are much the same from one place to the next, there is little cheap everyday food, and many kitchens close in winter.

Leonardo's Last Supper and a Gothic cathedral whose roof you can walk among the spires put Milan in a different league. Add the Italian paintings of the Pinacoteca di Brera, Michelangelo's Rondanini Pietà in the Castello Sforzesco, the early Christian basilica of Sant'Ambrogio and the Ambrosiana, and you have several days of sightseeing. They come in clusters set among modern, businesslike streets rather than as one continuous old town.

Positano offers one lovely scene rather than a list of sights: pastel houses stacked up a ravine, the green and gold majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta and the painted rooms of a Roman villa preserved beneath it. A couple of hours is enough, and for museums you need to go to Naples.

Milan offers a proper night out. Bars line the Navigli towpaths, Isola and Porta Venezia are more relaxed, Porta Venezia has the city's gay scene, and the clubs range from dressy venues on Corso Como to warehouse nights on the edge of town. It does go quiet in August.

Positano's evenings mean an aperitivo with a view, a long dinner and possibly a late visit to the cave club at the end of the main beach. That suits a couple well, but outside the summer season there is almost nothing open.

Positano has the more dramatic landscape, and it starts at your door. The Path of the Gods runs high above the sea to Nocelle, and woodland trails climb to ridges over 1,000m. Kayaks follow the cliffs to grottoes and the Li Galli islets.

Milan itself is flat and often hazy, with Parco Sempione and the canal towpaths as its main green spaces. The good walking starts about an hour away by train, around Como, Maggiore and the Grigne ridges. That is excellent country, but it always means a trip out of the city.

Both are excellent bases, but for different kinds of day out. From Milan, fast trains take you to whole cities: Verona, Turin, Bergamo and Bologna, plus Mantua, Parma and Lugano across the Swiss border. The trains run all year.

From Positano the trips are coastal and mostly by boat, to Capri, Amalfi and Ravello, with Pompeii, Herculaneum and Paestum further away. Most ferries run only from spring to autumn, and the slow coast road makes winter outings harder work.

Milan is much easier with children. The centre is flat, trams make getting about simple, and the science and technology museum, with its submarine and hands-on labs, is good on a wet day. Parco Sempione has playgrounds, and Leolandia and Gardaland are within reach for older children.

Positano is built almost entirely of stairs, so a pushchair is no use, and the only entertainment for children is the sea. Older children who love swimming and boats will enjoy it, but the beaches shelve steeply, which is a worry with toddlers.

Getting around is far easier in Milan. Most of the main sights are a short, flat walk apart, five simple metro lines and a dense tram network cover the rest, and trains go straight to the lakes. Summer heat underground and the long transfer from Malpensa are the only real drawbacks.

In Positano almost every walk means hundreds of steps. One bus loops through the upper town, and buses on the coast road crawl in summer traffic. Ferries are the easiest way to reach the next town but run mainly in season, and a car is more trouble than it is worth.

Milan is one of the world's great places to shop. The Quadrilatero holds the flagships of the Italian fashion houses, the Galleria and La Rinascente have long histories, Corso Buenos Aires covers everyday shopping, and there are design showrooms and Navigli antique markets as well.

Positano has a single, distinctive look: white linen and printed resort wear, sandals made to measure while you wait, ceramics and lemon soaps. It is fun to browse, but there is nothing else beyond it.

Neither is cheap, but Milan costs noticeably less. Hotels are expensive, especially during trade fairs and fashion weeks. Even so, fairly priced transport, aperitivo snacks that can stand in for supper, lunchtime set menus and rooms near a metro stop outside the centre all help keep costs down.

Positano is one of the most expensive places to stay in Italy. You pay for the view in sea-view rooms, on the beach and on restaurant terraces, and boat trips add up. Staying in Praiano or Sorrento, or coming in May or October, helps the most.

Milan is one of Europe's great cities for the stage. La Scala's opera and ballet season opens each December, and gallery seats make it possible with some determination. The Piccolo Teatro, a fine symphony orchestra, jazz rooms and big summer concerts at San Siro add to the programme.

Positano has only occasional summer concerts in churches and squares. Its best option is an evening at Ravello's classical music festival up the coast, played on a terrace above the sea.

Neither is a classic place for rest and wellness, and they relax you in different ways. Milan offers a large thermal spa complex with outdoor pools, some hotel spas and the 1930s pools of the Bagni Misteriosi. Most people looking for real calm take the train to the lakes.

In Positano the setting does the work: hotel spas with pools cut into the cliff, slow lunches and quiet afternoons above the sea. July and August crowds and the constant stairs undo much of that, so May, June and late September are the most restful months.