Naples or Rome?

Neither city is a beach destination, but the sea fits into each in a different way. In Naples, people swim off the rocks below the Lungomare and at small Posillipo lidos within the city. The clear water and rocky coves are a ferry ride away on Procida, Ischia or Capri.

From Rome, the sea means a half-hour train to Ostia's dark volcanic sand, mostly lined with paid lidos and rarely clear. Naples offers prettier water by boat, while Rome offers long sandy beaches by train.

Both cities eat equally well, but on different dishes. Naples is the city of soft, blistered pizza, fried street food, sfogliatelle and the produce of the Pignasecca and Porta Nolana markets, with Campanian wines like Falanghina and Aglianico to drink.

Rome's table is built on its four classic pastas, Jewish-style artichokes from the Ghetto and offal from Testaccio, with pizza al taglio by day. In Rome, the best eating means walking out to Trastevere, Monti or Testaccio. In Naples it is right in the old centre's loud pizzerias.

Naples has a remarkable historic centre: a Greek street grid packed with churches, the Veiled Christ at Sansevero, a whole city underground, and the finds from Pompeii in the Archaeological Museum. It would fill a week.

Rome goes further on every count. The Colosseum, Forum and Pantheon still stand in the centre, and layers of Christian, Renaissance and Baroque building sit above them. The Vatican, the Sistine Chapel and the Borghese Gallery are collections few cities can match. For sightseeing alone, Rome is the deeper choice.

Evenings are much alike in both, spent outdoors with a drink rather than in clubs. Naples gathers students on the steps of Piazza Bellini and a smarter crowd in the alleys of Chiaia, and in summer the dancing moves out to the coast.

Rome spreads its evenings over more distinct quarters: aperitivo-to-midnight Trastevere, cocktail bars in Monti, cheap student San Lorenzo and arty Pigneto. It also has a modest club scene in Testaccio and Ostiense.

Naples sits in a far more dramatic landscape. A short trail leads to the crater of Vesuvius, Astroni and Monte Nuovo are volcanic craters you can walk, the Gaiola underwater park is good for snorkelling, and the Path of the Gods and Monte Solaro are within a long day.

Rome's outdoors is gentler. There are the villa parks, cycling along the Appian Way, and the crater lakes of Albano and Nemi in the Alban Hills. Real mountain walking means going about ninety minutes out to the Apennines.

Naples packs its famous names into a tight ring. Pompeii and Herculaneum are each under an hour on the Circumvesuviana, with the quieter villas of Oplontis and Stabiae on the same line. The Bourbon palace at Caserta is a short train ride inland, and hydrofoils from Molo Beverello reach Capri, Ischia and Procida. Sorrento, the Amalfi Coast towns and the Greek temples of Paestum extend the list to the south.

Rome's trips spread wider and lean inland. Ostia Antica, Villa d'Este and Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli are close, and further out are the wine towns of the Castelli Romani, the Etruscan painted tombs of Tarquinia and Cerveteri, and cliff-top Orvieto. High-speed trains make Florence an easy day out, and Pompeii is possible in a long one.

Both welcome children at the table and both are tiring with a pushchair, so neither stands far ahead. Naples is the harder city on the street, with scooters in the lanes and broken pavements, but older children love its tunnels, funiculars and ferries. Many families sleep in Sorrento or on an island instead.

Rome holds attention with gladiators and the Mouth of Truth, and Villa Borghese gives them a zoo, rowing boats and space to run. Long queues at the big sights wear thin, though.

Rome is a little easier to get around. Its main sights lie on a short walk from the Colosseum to Trastevere, and the metro covers the Vatican, Termini and the Colosseum, though buses crawl and the metro barely enters the core.

In Naples, the old centre is walkable, and Metro Line 1 and four funiculars handle the hills. Beyond them, slow buses, a crowded, unreliable Circumvesuviana and nerve-testing road crossings make every journey more work.

Rome is the better shopping city. The big Italian fashion houses line Via Condotti and the streets off the Spanish Steps, Monti has independent boutiques and vintage shops, and Porta Portese is a vast Sunday flea market.

Naples is narrower but more particular. Its strengths are tailoring from the Chiaia workshops, nativity figures on Via San Gregorio Armeno, and coral and cameos from Torre del Greco. Come for a handmade suit or a craft piece rather than a long day of browsing.

Naples is clearly the cheaper stay. Modest B&Bs are easy to find in the historic centre, and pizza, street food and transport cost little. Costs only climb on the islands and the Amalfi Coast.

In Rome, the expense is the room: central hotels are small and costly, and the Vatican, Colosseum and Borghese all charge substantial entry fees. Free drinking fountains and free churches help, but a Roman stay costs noticeably more.

The two are evenly matched for music, but they give you different kinds of evening. In Naples, a night out for music usually means the San Carlo, where the gilded Bourbon hall is as much the draw as the opera or ballet on stage. The other choice is Neapolitan song, a tradition that belongs to the city, heard at small concerts or from players moving between trattoria tables. Beyond the opera house, the conservatory and the churches, there is not much else.

Rome has no single stage to match the San Carlo, but it gives you more choice night to night. The Santa Cecilia orchestra, jazz and world music all play at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, the city has long-established jazz clubs, and in summer there is open-air opera among the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. In both cities theatre is almost all in Italian, so for most visitors the evening is about the music.

Neither city is restful, and both find their thermal water outside town. From Naples, that water is much better: Ischia, about an hour by hydrofoil, is a true spa island with terraced thermal gardens above the sea, and Agnano is on the city's edge.

Rome offers the sulphur pools of Bagni di Tivoli and free hot springs around Viterbo, further out. Within the city, its villa gardens and the Aventine give it calmer corners than Naples has.