Palermo or Pisa?

Palermo has the better swimming. Mondello's pale sand and shallow, clear water under Monte Pellegrino is a real beach resort within the city's reach, and the rocks and ladders towards Sferracavallo and Capo Gallo give deep, clean water for stronger swimmers.

Pisa's coast is closer to the centre but less rewarding: the long sandy beaches of Tirrenia and Calambrone are easy for paddling, yet the water near the Arno mouth is rarely clear. Most visitors there use the sea as a summer afternoon off rather than a reason to stay.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Palermo's markets at Ballarò, the Capo and the Vucciria are a meal in themselves, and its cooking carries Arab flavours of saffron, raisins and sweet-and-sour sauces, followed by serious pastry and granita for breakfast.

Pisa eats honestly but simply: Tuscan soups, game, salt cod and hot cecina, best around Piazza delle Vettovaglie. Outside that pocket, and especially near the tower, the choice is limited, and neither city offers much fine dining.

Pisa has one perfect ensemble in the Piazza dei Miracoli, but Palermo has more to see and greater variety. Its Arab-Norman churches, led by the mosaic-covered Palatine Chapel, sit among baroque oratories, Serpotta's stucco and two strong museums, the Salinas and Palazzo Abatellis, and the list keeps going for days.

Pisa's sights beyond the cathedral square, from Piazza dei Cavalieri to the San Matteo museum and Santa Maria della Spina, fill a pleasant second day. It is tidier and quicker to cover, where Palermo's old centre is grander but visibly crumbling in places.

Neither city is a clubbing destination, but Palermo has far more going on after dark. The Vucciria becomes an open-air drinking spot with grills and music, and the bars of the Kalsa and the streets off Via Maqueda keep people out well past midnight on warm nights.

Pisa's evenings depend on the students: lively squares around the old market in term time, an aperitivo along Borgo Stretto and the river, and an early, quiet city otherwise. Both move to the beach bars in summer.

Palermo's setting is more dramatic. Limestone mountains ring the city, Monte Pellegrino can be climbed straight from town, and the Zingaro coastal trail and the Madonie peaks near 2,000m give real hiking, though a car helps.

Pisa's outdoors is gentler and closer to hand: the pine forests, wetlands and empty dunes of San Rossore start at the city's edge and suit cycling, riding and deer-spotting. The Apuan Alps and the Cinque Terre paths are further afield.

Both cities are fine bases, but Pisa has the edge, mostly because of its trains. Florence is an hour away, Lucca under half an hour, and the Cinque Terre a little over an hour, all without a car, with Volterra, San Gimignano and Siena reachable by road.

Palermo's day trips are superb in quality: Monreale's mosaics, Cefalù, the lonely temple at Segesta, Erice and the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento. The difference is effort, since most of the ancient sites are far easier with a hire car.

Pisa is the easier city with children, mainly because it is small and flat, the tower lawn gives them room to run, and the beaches and the San Rossore park are close by. Older children can climb the tower, although younger ones are not allowed up.

Palermo is warm towards children and Mondello's shallow bay is ideal, and the puppet shows appeal to older ones. Narrow lanes without pavements, scooters, uneven stone and long summer heat make the old town harder work with a pushchair.

Pisa is much simpler. You can walk from the station to the cathedral square in about half an hour, the airport shuttle train is quick, and the station is a hub for western Tuscany.

Palermo's main sights are also walkable along Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele, but beyond that the buses crawl through traffic, driving is stressful and parking is scarce. Even so, you will still want a car for Segesta and the interior.

Palermo has more worth carrying home. Painted ceramics, including the moor's-head vases, marionettes from the puppet workshops, coral and filigree jewellery, and market goods such as capers and pistachio pesto give an afternoon's browsing a local character. Via Libertà adds Italian fashion among nineteenth-century buildings.

Shopping in Pisa is everyday: chains along the pedestrian Corso Italia, smarter clothes and old pastry shops under the arcades of Borgo Stretto, and a monthly antiques market by the river. For fashion or crafts of any depth, people take the train to Florence or Lucca.

Palermo goes further for the money. Street food can replace sit-down meals, trattorie and pastries are cheap by Italian standards, and many churches charge little. July and August at the coast, and a hire car, are where costs climb.

Pisa is moderately priced, with student trattorias and walking that costs nothing, but the tower climb and the cafés beside the monuments add up, and the beach establishments charge seaside rates.

Palermo is the stronger stage. The Teatro Massimo is one of Italy's great opera houses, with a full season of opera, ballet and concerts, the Politeama hosts the Sicilian symphony orchestra, and the Opera dei Pupi offers puppet shows of knights and Saracens you will not see in Tuscany.

Pisa's Teatro Verdi gives a pleasant, unfussy night of opera from autumn to spring, backed by university chamber concerts, but bigger productions mean a trip to Florence.

Pisa is the more restful choice. Away from the tower it is quiet and slow, and the Roman-era springs of San Giuliano Terme, with a spa in an eighteenth-century bath palace, lie just outside town, with Casciana Terme's thermal pool further inland.

Palermo is loud with scooters and markets, and its nearest thermal waters are a train ride away at Termini Imerese. Rest there comes from the Orto Botanico, the cloisters and the evening walk on the Foro Italico, or from a stay outside the city.