Palermo or Syracuse, Sicily?

Both have good summer swimming, but it works differently. From Palermo you take a bus to Mondello, a shallow, sandy bay that fills with cabins and families at weekends. For quieter swims you can head north to the flat rocks near Sferracavallo and Capo Gallo.

Syracuse brings the sea closer. On Ortigia you swim off the rocks and wooden platforms below the sea walls without leaving the old town. Its sandy bays lie south of the city, and the best of them, the undeveloped beaches of the Vendicari reserve, are a drive away.

Palermo is the better place to eat, above all on the street. The stalls of Ballarò, the Capo and the Vucciria turn out panelle, crocchè, arancine and spleen sandwiches, and sfincione is sold from vans. Sweet-and-sour Arab-influenced dishes and convent pastries give the city a cuisine of its own.

Syracuse eats well too, but in a narrower range, built around the Ortigia market and its fish: sea urchin pasta, raw prawns and rolled swordfish. It is more a place for a good seafood lunch than for grazing from stall to stall, and the piazza tables with the best views are not always the best food.

Here the two cities match, but with very different pasts. Palermo's treasure is its Arab-Norman twelfth century: gold mosaic in the Palatine Chapel, the red domes of San Giovanni degli Eremiti, and Serpotta's white stucco in the oratories, with Palazzo Abatellis and the Salinas museum alongside.

Syracuse goes back further, to the Greek city. It has temple columns built into the cathedral, the rock-cut theatre in the Neapolis park and the Paolo Orsi museum, plus a Caravaggio. Palermo's sights are spread through a larger, partly crumbling centre, while Syracuse's are concentrated on Ortigia and one archaeological park.

Palermo has much livelier evenings. After dark the Vucciria becomes an open-air bar with smoking grills and music, and the wine and cocktail bars in the Kalsa and off Via Maqueda fill up after a late dinner. Neither city has much in the way of clubs.

Syracuse is gentler. Evenings mean an aperitivo on the sea walls and a few small bars in Ortigia's lanes, and from November most nights end early. Anyone after a real night out goes to Catania.

Both are equally rewarding, with very different landscapes. Palermo's mountains rise right over the city, with an old path up Monte Pellegrino. Inland are the beech woods and peaks of the Madonie, close to 2,000m, and to the west is the coastal trail through the Zingaro reserve.

Around Syracuse the scenery is gorges, wetlands and rivers. You can walk down to the pools of Cavagrande del Cassibile, see flamingos at Vendicari or take a boat past the papyrus on the Ciane, and Etna is within a day's reach. Each city also has a marine reserve for snorkelling: Capo Gallo for Palermo, Plemmirio for Syracuse.

Palermo's day trips lead west into the island's Greek and Norman past. Monreale's golden mosaics and cloister are half an hour up the hill, Segesta's Doric temple stands alone in open country, and Erice looks down on the salt pans from its rock. Cefalù pairs a Norman cathedral with a town beach, and Agrigento's Valley of the Temples and Selinunte make longer days.

Syracuse points instead to the baroque south-east, the towns rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693. Noto is about forty minutes away, with Modica, Ragusa Ibla and Scicli beyond, and the fishing village of Marzamemi makes a lighter outing. To the north lie Catania's lava-stone baroque and Taormina's theatre above the sea. From either city, a hire car makes the outlying sites far easier to reach.

Syracuse is the easier choice with children. Its sandy southern beaches shelve gently, Ortigia's largely car-free lanes are pleasant to wander, and the echoing Ear of Dionysius and the papyrus boat trips give children something of their own.

Palermo has Mondello's shallow bay and its puppet theatres. Beyond those, the narrow lanes without pavements, the scooters and the uneven stone make the old town hard work, especially with a pushchair.

Both cities are easy on foot in the centre and hard work beyond it. Palermo's main sights lie along two long, mostly flat streets. A bus to Mondello and regional trains to Cefalù and Bagheria cover some trips without a car.

Syracuse's walkable core is smaller, since you can cross Ortigia in a quarter of an hour. Its beaches, gorges and baroque towns depend much more on a hire car, because buses and trains are sparse.

Palermo has more to browse. Via Libertà has Italian fashion and a few luxury labels, there is a flea market near the cathedral, and the puppet workshops sell handmade marionettes. Syracuse's shopping is smaller in scale: craft shops on Ortigia selling ceramics, linen and papyrus paintings, and ordinary chains around Corso Gelone. In both cities, the food markets are the place for capers, almonds and pistachio to take home.

Palermo is the cheaper of the two. You can make a meal from several market stalls, and guesthouses in the old centre stay fairly priced for most of the year. Eating in Syracuse is good value too, but rooms on Ortigia are in heavy demand from June to September, so staying on the island costs more. In both, a hire car adds noticeably to the bill.

Palermo has a proper evening programme. The Teatro Massimo runs a full season of opera, ballet and concerts, the Sicilian symphony orchestra plays at the Politeama, and family puppet theatres stage the Opera dei Pupi's battles of knights and Saracens.

Syracuse has one great event: Greek tragedy and comedy performed in the ancient theatre each late spring and early summer, a tradition since 1914 that is worth planning a trip around. Outside that season there are puppet shows on Ortigia and not much else, with no opera company or orchestra.

Neither city has a spa culture worth travelling for, so the difference lies in the surroundings. Ortigia is a small island with the sea on every side and lanes that are mostly free of cars. Once the August heat and crowds have passed, it is quiet enough to slow right down without leaving town.

Palermo gives you scooters, market shouts and traffic, and calm comes only in pockets: the palms of the Orto Botanico, a cloister, the Foro Italico at dusk. What it has that Syracuse lacks is thermal water within easy reach, at Termini Imerese about forty minutes east by train.