Palermo or Taormina?

Both give you clear, warm water from June into October, and neither lets you walk out of the hotel onto the sand. Palermo has the slightly better beach day. Mondello is a wide arc of pale sand with shallow turquoise water, half an hour away by bus, and the rocks and ladders along Capo Gallo offer deeper swimming.

Taormina's bays at Mazzarò and Isola Bella are lovelier to look at and better for snorkelling, but they are narrow pebble strips reached by cable car or steep paths, and they fill early. For proper sand you take a bus to Giardini Naxos or Letojanni.

Palermo is one of Sicily's great places to eat, and most of it happens standing up. In the markets of Ballarò, the Capo and the Vucciria you can graze on panelle, arancine and sfincione, and dishes such as pasta con le sarde carry the city's Arab past. Pastry shops and family trattorie fill in the rest.

Taormina eats well at the top end, with refined Sicilian cooking on sea-view terraces and Etna wines on every list. Below that, though, Corso Umberto leans on tourist menus, and the choice in a town this small runs out quickly.

There is far more to see in Palermo. The UNESCO-listed Arab-Norman churches, from the Palatine Chapel to the red domes of San Giovanni degli Eremiti, sit alongside baroque oratories, the Quattro Canti and two strong museums, the Salinas and Palazzo Abatellis. You could fill a week here.

Taormina has one world-class sight, the Greek theatre framing Etna and the coast, plus a pleasant walk of medieval palazzi along Corso Umberto. A day of slow wandering covers it, and there are no major museums.

Palermo has the livelier evenings by a wide margin. The Vucciria turns into an open-air drinking spot with grills and small bars, the Kalsa and the lanes off Via Maqueda fill after late dinners, and on warm nights people stay out well past midnight.

Taormina's evenings are an aperitivo in Piazza IX Aprile, a stroll along the Corso and a glass in a piano bar above the sea, mostly among couples and older visitors. Neither town has a real club scene. Taormina goes quiet soon after dinner out of season, while Palermo only quietens on winter weeknights.

Taormina has the bigger outdoors. Etna is within about an hour, where you can walk the Silvestri craters and old lava flows, go towards the summit areas with a guide or ski in winter. The basalt Alcantara gorges are closer still, and the Isola Bella marine reserve is right below the town for kayaking and snorkelling.

Palermo's landscape is good too. Monte Pellegrino rises straight above the streets, Capo Gallo has cliff paths and diving, and there are the coastal trail of the Zingaro and the Madonie peaks. Most of these are further away, though, and much easier with a car.

Both are strong bases, and Palermo's choice is a little richer and closer. Monreale's mosaics are half an hour up the hill, Cefalù is an hour by train, and Segesta, Erice and the salt pans lie to the west. Agrigento's Valley of the Temples and Selinunte are both within about two hours.

Taormina looks down the east coast instead. It has lava-stone Catania, Ortigia and the Greek quarries of Syracuse, Noto if you start early, and the Etna wine villages and film-set hill towns such as Savoca close by. From both towns, the ancient sites are much easier with a hire car.

Neither is an easy family base, and the difficulties differ. In Palermo the reward is Mondello's shallow sandy bay and the puppet shows of knights and Saracens. The cost is narrow lanes without pavements, scooters and a hot, crowded old town.

Taormina's pedestrian centre feels safer, and a trip up Etna or snorkelling at Isola Bella suits school-age children. Its steep steps and pebbly beaches are hard work with toddlers. In both places, families tend to do better staying on the coast, at Mondello or down at Giardini Naxos.

Both centres are walkable, but in different ways. Palermo's sights lie on a flat, compact grid between the Norman Palace and the sea, but the side lanes mean dodging scooters, and buses beyond the centre crawl through traffic.

Taormina is smaller and mostly pedestrian, but every outing involves stairs and slopes, with a cable car down to Mazzarò. Its station is down by the sea on the coastal line to Catania, Messina and Syracuse. In both places, the inland sights realistically need a car or a tour.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Palermo has a little more range. Via Libertà has Italian fashion in nineteenth-century buildings, the markets sell capers, spices and pistachio pesto, and the flea market near the cathedral turns up antiques.

Taormina is a single street of jewellers, coral and cameo dealers, linen and Caltagirone ceramics. It is pretty, but the stock is aimed squarely at visitors, and for real fashion you go to Catania.

Palermo is much the cheaper stay. You can eat well by grazing through the markets, and trattorie, local wine and old-town guesthouses are fairly priced most of the year. Costs only climb in July and August, around Mondello.

Taormina is the priciest place in eastern Sicily, set by its grand sea-view hotels and the resort prices on the Corso. Granita and buses stay cheap, but the usual way to save is sleeping in Giardini Naxos or Letojanni and coming up in the evening.

Palermo has a proper music life all year. The Teatro Massimo runs a full season of opera, ballet and concerts, the Politeama hosts the Sicilian symphony orchestra, and the small family-run Opera dei Pupi theatres keep the armoured-marionette tradition alive.

Taormina has one spectacular stage: concerts, opera and big-name acts in the Greek theatre on summer nights, with Etna behind. Outside summer, little remains beyond the odd chamber concert, and serious opera means a trip to Catania.

Taormina is the more restful place. Its large hotels have good spas with terrace pools over the sea and treatments using volcanic mud and citrus. In May, June and late September the long lunches and the shade of the Villa Comunale set a gentle pace, though August crowds break it.

Palermo is loud and busy, and wellness there means a hotel spa or a train to the thermal waters at Termini Imerese. Its calm moments are the Orto Botanico and the evening walk along the Foro Italico.