Naples or Palermo?

Palermo has the beach that Naples lacks. Mondello's pale sand and shallow turquoise water are half an hour away by bus. There are flat rocks into deep water around Sferracavallo and Capo Gallo, and Cefalù's long beach is an hour away by train.

In Naples, swimming means the rocks below the Lungomare, small lidos at Posillipo or crowded paid beach clubs, and the water near the port is not always clean. The good sea is on Procida, Ischia, Capri or the Sorrento peninsula. Getting there takes a day trip, not a quick afternoon swim.

Both are serious food cities, and both have the same gap: little beyond local Italian cooking and not much fine dining. Naples is the place for pizza in its original form, fried street snacks, sfogliatelle and babà, with espresso drunk standing at the bar.

Palermo eats in its markets, Ballarò, the Capo and the Vucciria, with panelle, arancine and pani ca' meusa. Its cooking still shows its Arab past in saffron, raisins and sweet-and-sour sauces. For sweets, its cannoli and brioche with granita can match anything a Neapolitan pastry shop makes.

Naples has more to see. Its Greek street grid is packed with Gothic and Baroque churches, and the Archaeological Museum holds the frescoes from Pompeii. There is the Veiled Christ, a network of tunnels and catacombs underground, and the palaces and Capodimonte gallery above, easily enough for a week.

Palermo's range is narrower but unusual. Its Arab-Norman buildings, such as the Palatine Chapel and La Martorana, have no real equal in Naples, and Serpotta's stucco oratories and the Salinas museum add to them. Its crumbling centre has atmosphere, but some streets feel neglected.

Neither city is for serious clubbing. In both, the night is spent outdoors with a drink, and in summer the dancing moves to the coast. Naples divides between students on the steps of Piazza Bellini and a smarter crowd in the alleys of Chiaia, while in Palermo the Vucciria market becomes an open-air bar with grills going and wine bars fill the Kalsa, though winter weeknights there can be quiet.

Both cities sit between mountains and sea, but the landscapes differ. Around Naples the land is volcanic: a trail to the rim of Vesuvius, the craters of the Phlegraean Fields with the oak woods of Astroni, snorkelling in the Gaiola underwater park, and the Path of the Gods above the Amalfi Coast.

Palermo's setting is limestone. Monte Pellegrino can be climbed straight from town, and there are cliff paths and diving at Capo Gallo, the coastal trail through the Zingaro reserve and beech woods high in the Madonie. More of Palermo's outdoors needs a car, while much of what surrounds Naples can be reached by train or ferry.

Naples is hard to beat for day trips. Pompeii and Herculaneum are under an hour away on the Circumvesuviana, Caserta's palace is a short train ride inland, and ferries run to Capri, Ischia and Procida, with the Amalfi Coast and Paestum further on. Almost all of it is easy without a car.

Palermo has good short trips, with Monreale's mosaics half an hour away and Cefalù an hour away by train. Its great ancient sites, Segesta, Selinunte and the temples of Agrigento, are further off and much easier to reach with a hire car.

Both cities welcome children warmly, and both are hard work with them, with scooters in narrow lanes, uneven stone streets and hot summers. What makes a good day out differs: in Palermo it is Mondello's shallow sandy bay and the puppet shows, while in Naples it is the zoo and Edenlandia, the funiculars, the underground tunnels and the ferry rides. Both work better from a calmer base, such as Sorrento or the islands for Naples and a seaside villa for Palermo.

Outside the centre, both cities are slow going, with buses stuck in traffic. Naples has the more useful rail network: Metro Line 1, with stations decorated like galleries, and four funiculars up to Vomero and Posillipo. The Circumvesuviana, though, is crowded and often late.

Palermo's centre is flatter, and its main sights run along Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, an easy walk from end to end. Trains reach Cefalù and Bagheria, but Segesta, Erice and the interior call for a hire car, which you never need in Naples.

Naples gives more reasons to shop. There are handmade suits, shirts and ties from the old tailoring workshops of Chiaia, the iron-and-glass Galleria Umberto I and the nativity workshops of Via San Gregorio Armeno, plus coral and cameos from Torre del Greco.

Palermo has fashion shops on Via Libertà, chains and souvenir shops in the centre, and food to take home from the markets, such as capers and pistachio pesto. Its painted ceramics, marionettes and the flea market near the cathedral are pleasant to browse, but they are not a reason to come.

Everyday costs are much the same: street food, trattoria meals and guesthouses in the centre are cheap in both by Italian standards. Where the extra spending goes is different. In Naples it is ferries, island hotels and entry fees for the archaeological sites, while in Palermo it is a hire car for day trips and seaside rooms in July and August.

Each city's music life centres on a grand opera house: in Naples the San Carlo, the oldest in Europe still in use, and in Palermo the vast neoclassical Teatro Massimo. Beyond the opera, Naples has Neapolitan song at small shows and in trattorias and chamber music in its churches. Palermo has the Opera dei Pupi puppet theatres, a long-standing jazz following and summer concerts in cloisters and squares.

Naples has the advantage thanks to its volcanic ground. The thermal spa at Agnano is on the edge of the city, and Ischia's terraced thermal parks are an hour away by hydrofoil, good enough to plan a restful stay around.

Palermo has no bathing culture of its own, only hotel spas in town and thermal water at Termini Imerese or, further away, at Sciacca. Its quiet places are the Orto Botanico, the cloisters and the seafront at the Foro Italico, but real rest usually means staying in a country house outside the city.