Mostar or Salerno?

Mostar is inland, so a swim there means a cold plunge in the Neretva or a trip out to the pool beneath the Kravica waterfalls. The nearest sea, at Neum, is a day's outing by car.

Salerno lives on the coast. Its grey-sand city beaches are fine for a quick dip, and the wide sandy stretches with pine woods towards Paestum, along with the pebbly Amalfi coves a ferry ride away, make full beach days easy all summer.

Mostar cooks hearty Bosnian food with an Ottoman accent: ćevapi in somun bread, flaky burek, stuffed peppers and Herzegovinian wines such as Žilavka and Blatina. The coffee ritual is a pleasure, but once you leave the local cooking, the choice runs out quickly.

Salerno eats better and more widely. The seafood comes straight from the gulf, the buffalo mozzarella is made the same day on the plain to the south, colatura comes from Cetara and the trattorias and pastry shops of the old town are good. For a food-led trip, the Italian city wins comfortably.

Each city takes a day or two, but Mostar's sights leave the stronger impression. The rebuilt Stari Most, with divers leaping from its crown, sits at the heart of a UNESCO-listed Ottoman quarter. Around it are the minaret of Koski Mehmed Pasha, the carpeted Bišćević house and the war-marked buildings of the old front line.

Salerno's heritage is medieval rather than Ottoman. It has the Norman cathedral holding Saint Matthew's relics, the medicinal Giardino della Minerva tied to Europe's first medical school and the Arechi Castle above the gulf. It is attractive, but its greatest ancient sites lie outside the city.

Neither is a clubbing city, but Salerno has more life after dark. On weekends and summer nights, young locals fill the squares around Largo Campo and Via dei Mercanti with drinks outside, and Naples is close for a bigger night. In Mostar the evening ends with drinks on a terrace facing the lit bridge, and the old town goes quiet once the day visitors leave.

Salerno has the more spectacular landscape. The Amalfi cliffs and lemon terraces, the Path of the Gods and the Valle delle Ferriere, and the wooded hills of the Cilento give it walking and sea kayaking of the highest order.

Mostar's outdoors are wilder and emptier: bare karst, the Prenj and Velež ranges, rafting in the Neretva canyons, the Blidinje plateau and the birdlife of Hutovo Blato. In both places, spring and autumn suit hiking far better than summer.

This is where Salerno pulls well ahead. Paestum and Pompeii are each about half an hour by train, ferries run to Amalfi and Positano, and Naples, Herculaneum and Caserta are all easy outings, so a week of excursions needs no car.

Mostar's outings are smaller and more intimate. There is the dervish tekke at Blagaj, the hillside village of Počitelj and the stećci tombstones near Stolac. Sarajevo makes a long day by train, but most of the nearby places need a car or a tour.

Salerno is the easier place with children. The flat, car-free promenade has playgrounds and gelato, the shallow sandy beaches to the south suit young swimmers and the Luci d'Artista lights brighten the winter.

In Mostar, the bridge divers and a swim at Kravica will fill a day. After that, the steep, slippery cobbles, the trouble with pushchairs and the fierce valley heat make a longer family stay hard work.

Both centres are walkable, but Salerno connects better beyond them. Regional trains run directly to Naples, Pompeii and Paestum, and summer ferries along the coast avoid the crowded roads. Mostar's old town and bridge are a short stroll apart on slick stones. Blagaj, Počitelj and Kravica, though, are hard to reach without a car, a taxi or a tour.

Mostar's shopping is the Kujundžiluk, where a few coppersmiths still hammer coffee sets by hand among stalls of imported souvenirs. Salerno has more to offer. Corso Vittorio Emanuele is lined with Italian clothing shops, and you can take home painted Vietri majolica, limoncello and Cetara's colatura. Neither is the place for luxury shopping.

Mostar is clearly the cheaper stay. Family-run guesthouses, grilled meals and Herzegovinian wine all cost very little, and only the bridge-view terraces charge noticeably more.

Salerno is good value for this coast, far cheaper to sleep in than the cliff villages it serves as a base for. Even so, summer room prices, ferry fares, beach lido fees and the entry tickets to Pompeii and Paestum push daily spending well above Mostar's.

Salerno has the Teatro Verdi, a gilded opera house with a proper season of opera, ballet and concerts. In summer, the Ravello Festival on its cliff-top terraces is within reach for a special evening. Mostar's national theatre and youth theatre perform mostly in local languages, so outside the summer concerts there is little for a visitor to book.

Neither city has a bathing tradition. Salerno at least has open-air thermal pools at Contursi Terme about an hour inland, and its palm-lined promenade is made for slow sunset walks. Mostar's hammam stands as a monument rather than a working bath, so rest there means long coffees in the shade and the quiet lanes by the river after the day visitors have gone.