Palermo or Venice?

Palermo has the better swimming. Mondello's pale sand and clear turquoise water are half an hour away by bus, the rocks around Sferracavallo and Capo Gallo offer swims in deep water, and Cefalù's town beach is an hour along the coast by train.

Venice's Lido is easy to reach by vaporetto, and its long, shallow Adriatic beach is gentle enough for children. But the water is greenish rather than clear, and much of the sand is taken up by rows of private cabanas. Few visitors give it more than a hot afternoon.

Palermo is the more rewarding city to eat in. The markets at Ballarò, the Capo and the Vucciria are a meal in themselves, and the cooking carries Arab flavours of saffron, raisins and pine nuts. Cannoli, cassata and brioche with granita make the pastry counters a reason to come in their own right.

Venice has its own pleasures: cicchetti eaten standing at the counter of a bacaro, and lagoon dishes such as black cuttlefish risotto. But tourist restaurants line the main routes, and a good meal takes some searching in the quieter sestieri. Neither city offers much beyond its own cooking.

Venice goes deeper. The whole city is the monument, and beyond San Marco and the palazzi of the Grand Canal there is the Accademia, Titian in the Frari, Tintoretto at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and modern art at the Guggenheim. That is easily enough for a week.

Palermo has something Venice lacks: the blend of Norman, Byzantine and Arab work in the Palatine Chapel, La Martorana and San Giovanni degli Eremiti. Add Serpotta's stucco oratories and the Selinunte metopes at the Salinas museum. Even so, it is a shorter and rougher-edged circuit, set in an old centre that is partly crumbling.

Palermo is clearly the livelier city after dark. Evenings carry on late in the street, from the grills and cheap beer of the Vucciria to the wine bars of the Kalsa, and in summer the dancing moves out to the coast near Mondello.

Venice is at its liveliest during the aperitivo, with spritzes along the Fondamenta della Misericordia, and only Campo Santa Margherita keeps going much later. Neither city has a real club scene, but Venice is dark and silent by midnight.

Palermo has real landscape on its doorstep. Monte Pellegrino rises straight above the city, Capo Gallo and the Zingaro reserve have cliff paths and coves, and the Madonie peaks reach close to 2,000m, which means proper hiking.

The outdoors in Venice is flat and watery: herons and flamingos in the northern lagoon, kayaking or a lesson in Venetian rowing, and cycling along the sea walls of the Lido and Pellestrina. For hills you go to the Euganean or Prosecco country, and the Dolomites mean a long day.

Both cities are excellent bases, but the trips are of different kinds. From Palermo they lean towards the ancient world and the coast: Monreale's mosaics, Cefalù, the lone temple at Segesta, Erice, and the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento about two hours away. A car makes most of these easier.

From Venice the fast trains do the work, reaching Padua's Scrovegni Chapel, Palladio's Vicenza and Verona in about an hour or less. The lagoon islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello need only a boat.

Neither city is easy with children, and the difficulties are different. Palermo is warm towards families and has the shallow sand at Mondello and its puppet shows, but cars and scooters squeeze through lanes without pavements, and the summer heat lasts for months.

Venice has no cars, which removes one worry, and boat rides, glass-blowing on Murano and the Lido please most children. Its stepped bridges are a constant struggle with a pushchair, though. Both work better with older children than with toddlers.

Venice is the easier city for a visitor to get around, even with no roads. Everything is within walking distance, vaporetti link the Grand Canal with the Lido and the islands, and trains arrive at Santa Lucia, right on the edge of the centre. The price is steps on every bridge and crowded boats.

Palermo's main sights are also within a compact, flat walk along Via Maqueda and Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Beyond that, buses are slow in traffic, the side lanes are full of scooters, and a hire car becomes almost essential for Segesta and Erice.

Venice has more to buy, mostly crafts with centuries of history behind them: Murano glass, Burano lace, papier-mâché masks and marbled paper, with the big fashion names along Calle Larga XXII Marzo. Cheap imitations on the main routes mean it pays to find the real workshops.

Palermo's best things to take home are edible: pistachio pesto, capers and almond paste from the markets. It also has painted ceramics, puppets and coral jewellery, and Italian fashion along Via Libertà.

The gap here is wide. Palermo is one of Italy's cheaper big cities, where market food, trattorie and guesthouses in the old centre keep daily costs low. Only high summer by the sea and a hire car push them up.

Venice is among the most expensive places to stay in Italy, with hotels, water transport and most church entries priced for visitors. Eating cicchetti at the counter, staying in Mestre or coming in winter will soften the cost, but rarely to Palermo's level.

Each city has a grand opera house with a full season: the Teatro Massimo in Palermo and La Fenice in Venice, where Verdi and Rossini premiered works. The difference is in the local tradition. Palermo's is the Opera dei Pupi, armoured marionettes fighting Charlemagne's battles in small family theatres, and the city also has a loyal jazz following.

In Venice, Vivaldi is played in churches and scuole grandi most evenings, though the quality varies, and the Biennale runs its own festivals of contemporary music, theatre and dance.

Venice is the calmer place to rest, mainly because it has no traffic. Early mornings in Castello, Cannaregio or on Giudecca are hushed, there are spas in palazzo hotels, and the thermal pools of Abano Terme are about an hour away.

Palermo is loud with scooters and market calls, and its quiet comes in pockets: the Orto Botanico, the cloisters and the evening walk along the Foro Italico. The nearest thermal waters are at Termini Imerese, forty minutes away by train.