Palermo or Siena?

Palermo has a real beach within easy reach, and Siena does not. From central Palermo, a bus gets you to Mondello in about half an hour. Its pale sandy bay has shallow, clear water, so you can swim in the morning and still spend the afternoon sightseeing. If you prefer deep water and fewer people, head up the coast to the rocks at Sferracavallo and Capo Gallo, and Cefalù has a longer town beach a train ride away. You cannot swim at the harbour itself, so every swim means a short trip out.

From Siena, getting to the sea is a day out in itself. The nearest good sand is on the Maremma coast near Castiglione della Pescaia and Follonica, more than an hour's drive away, so a swim takes the whole day. Most visitors make do with the pool at their hotel or agriturismo, or spend a few nights by the sea.

In Palermo, eating is one of the main reasons to go. The markets fry panelle and arancine all day, sfincione is sold from vans, and the cooking keeps the Arab flavours of raisins, saffron and pine nuts in dishes such as pasta con le sarde. The pastry tradition, from cannoli to convent almond sweets, is just as strong.

Siena eats well, but more simply: hand-rolled pici, ribollita, cinta senese pork and the panforte and ricciarelli of its bakeries. Its real strength is wine, with Chianti Classico, Brunello and Vino Nobile all grown close by. Neither city offers much fine dining or food from outside Italy.

The two are level, but their heritage is very different. Palermo is a layered, rough-edged city where Byzantine gold mosaics sit under Islamic wooden ceilings in the Palatine Chapel, and Serpotta's stucco fills the baroque oratories. The Salinas and Palazzo Abatellis museums add depth, though parts of the old centre are falling apart.

Siena is the more complete and better-kept picture of a single age. It is a whole medieval town built around the Campo, with Lorenzetti's Good and Bad Government frescoes, the inlaid floor of the Duomo, Duccio's Maestà and the seventeen contrade still running their own neighbourhoods. Its main sights fit comfortably into two or three days.

Palermo has much more going on after dark. The Vucciria turns into an open-air drinking spot with grills and small bars, the Kalsa and the streets off Via Maqueda fill after a late dinner, and in summer the dancing moves to beach venues near Mondello. Clubs are few, and winter weeknights can be quiet.

Siena's evenings are a long dinner, a glass of wine on the Campo and a stroll home. Apart from a few student pubs and the nights around the Palio, the centre goes quiet before midnight.

Palermo's outdoors is wilder and more varied, because the mountains meet the sea right at the edge of the city. You can climb Monte Pellegrino from town for the view over the bay, snorkel or dive off the rocks at Capo Gallo, follow the Zingaro trail past coves and dwarf palms, or walk in the beech woods of the Madonie, where peaks rise to almost 2,000m and winter sometimes brings snow.

Siena's landscape is gentler and farmed: the bare clay hills of the Crete Senesi and the cypress lanes of the Val d'Orcia. It is best seen by bike on the white gravel strade bianche that start just outside the walls, and it has no coast and no high peaks. Around both cities, spring and autumn are the times to be outdoors, when the Tuscan hills turn green or gold and Sicilian walks escape the summer heat.

Siena has the advantage, because so much lies so close. Florence, San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, the Chianti villages, Volterra, Pienza, Montalcino and Montepulciano are all near, along with abbeys such as Sant'Antimo and the roofless San Galgano. You could fill a fortnight without repeating a trip.

Palermo's day trips are excellent too, but more spread out. Monreale and Bagheria are close, Cefalù and Segesta take longer, and Agrigento's Valley of the Temples is about two hours each way. From either base, a hire car makes the smaller places far easier to reach.

Palermo comes out slightly ahead, mostly because of Mondello's shallow, sandy bay and the short puppet shows of knights and Saracens. Against that, the old town has scooters in lanes without pavements, uneven stone underfoot and long hot summers.

Siena is safer and quieter, and older children enjoy climbing the Torre del Mangia. But it has nothing built for children and no beach, and its steep streets are hard with a pushchair. In both places, families usually do best staying outside the centre, at the seaside near Palermo or on a farm with a pool near Siena.

Siena is the easier town on foot. The centre is largely closed to traffic, the Campo and the Duomo are minutes apart, and escalators lift you from the station to the upper town. The catch is the steep climbs over its three ridges. Buses run to Florence.

Palermo's centre is flatter, and the main sights line up along Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele. But side lanes full of scooters, slow buses and stressful driving make getting around more tiring. In both places, the countryside is really a job for a hire car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Palermo has a bit more choice. Italian fashion lines Via Libertà, the markets sell capers, pistachio pesto and spices, and the crafts include moor's-head ceramics, puppet-workshop marionettes, coral jewellery and a flea market near the cathedral.

Siena's shopping centres on Banchi di Sopra and Via di Città, with leather and stationers, majolica, contrada scarves and the weekly market by the Fortezza Medicea. Most of what is worth taking home is edible: panforte, pecorino and wine.

Palermo goes noticeably further for the money. A market crawl of street food makes a cheap meal, trattorie and local wine cost less than in the north, and old-town guesthouses are fairly priced for most of the year, although rates rise at Mondello in high summer.

Siena has few rooms inside its walls, and they get more expensive through the summer and around the Palio. The separate entry fees for the cathedral and the civic museums add up. An osteria lunch is still good value, and staying in an agriturismo saves money.

Palermo has a big-city stage. The Teatro Massimo runs a full season of opera and ballet, the Politeama is home to the Sicilian symphony orchestra, and the hour-long Opera dei Pupi puppet shows are a tradition worth seeing in their own right.

Siena's music is serious for a small town, but limited. The Accademia Chigiana gives summer concerts in palaces and churches, Siena Jazz adds performances, and the Rinnovati and Rozzi theatres stage drama in winter. For opera or a major orchestra you would need to go to Florence.

Siena is much the better place to unwind. Rapolano Terme is about half an hour away, and further south you will find the medieval bath at Bagno Vignoni, the white limestone pools of Bagni San Filippo and Petriolo's hot river. Many visitors pair these with a quiet farmhouse stay.

Palermo is loud and has no bathing tradition. Rest there means a hotel spa, the thermal town of Termini Imerese by train, or a quiet hour in the cloisters and the Orto Botanico.