Pisa or Sorrento?

The two are about level for swimming, but the experience is entirely different. Pisa has sand. A bus ride out from the centre takes you to the long, wide beaches of Tirrenia and Calambrone, backed by pine woods and with shallow water that is easy for paddling, though near the Arno mouth the sea is rarely clear.

Sorrento has almost no beach in the usual sense. You swim off wooden piers at Marina Piccola and Marina Grande into deep, clear water, or sunbathe on the rocks at the Bagni della Regina Giovanna. For pebbles you go by bus or boat to Marina del Cantone or the coves of Capri.

Both eat well and simply, but from different kitchens. Pisa cooks plain Tuscan dishes, ribollita, game and salt cod, plus its own hot cecina. The best tables are the student-priced trattorias around the Piazza delle Vettovaglie market.

Sorrento has the southern larder: gnocchi alla sorrentina, fish cooked all'acqua pazza, dairy from the hills and lemons in everything. Its fish restaurants at Marina Grande and the fine dining in the peninsula's hill villages give it the edge for a special meal. In both, skip the menus aimed at day-trippers near the main sights.

Pisa is far the richer of the two. The Piazza dei Miracoli alone, with its cathedral, baptistery, cemetery and climbable tower, outweighs everything in Sorrento's old town. Beyond the square there are the Piazza dei Cavalieri, Santa Maria della Spina and the Museo Nazionale di San Matteo.

Sorrento's own sights are pleasant but modest: the Roman street grid, the cloister of San Francesco, the Museo Correale and the ravine of the Vallone dei Mulini. A gentle day covers them. The area's real heritage lies out of town.

Neither is a place to come for nights out, but Pisa has more life after dark. During term, students fill the small squares around the old market with drinks and talk until past midnight, and Borgo Stretto and the riverbanks draw the aperitivo crowd.

Sorrento's evenings are a stroll along Corso Italia, a drink on a terrace over the bay and perhaps a piano bar with Neapolitan songs. Since the last trains and ferries leave early, a real night in Naples or on Capri means staying over.

Sorrento has much the more dramatic outdoors. The peninsula is a steep ridge of olive and lemon terraces dropping to sheer coast. You can walk out to Punta Campanella or down to the protected bay of Ieranto, and the Path of the Gods, Monte Faito and Vesuvius are within reach. On the water there are kayaks and boat trips around Capri's grottoes.

Pisa's nature is gentler and flatter. It has the pine forest, wetlands and dunes of San Rossore with its fallow deer, birdwatching on Lake Massaciuccoli and olive-terrace paths on Monte Pisano. Real mountain hiking means going out to the Apuan Alps.

Both are superb bases, and the difference is what you go to see. From Pisa the excursions are mostly Renaissance and medieval and mostly by rail: Florence in about an hour, walled Lucca in under half that, the Cinque Terre a little further. A car opens up Volterra, San Gimignano and Siena.

From Sorrento they are Roman, volcanic and maritime. Pompeii and Herculaneum are close on the Circumvesuviana, and there are ferries to Capri and boats along the Amalfi Coast. Naples is an hour away with its archaeological museum, and Paestum makes a longer day.

Pisa is the easier choice with children. The centre is flat and compact, the tower lawn gives them room to run, and the beaches at Tirrenia and Calambrone shelve gently into shallow water. San Rossore adds cycling and riding.

Sorrento is warm towards children, and boat trips and Pompeii go down well. But the swimming is off piers and rocks into deep water, many hotels sit on steep lanes without pavements, and the coastal bus rides are long. Families with small children usually rely on a hotel pool.

Pisa is simpler in every way. You can walk from the station to the cathedral square in about half an hour, an automatic shuttle train links the airport to the station, and frequent trains make car-free day trips easy.

Sorrento's centre is just as walkable, with lifts down to the marinas, but leaving town is harder. The Circumvesuviana is cheap but crowded and unreliable, the Amalfi buses crawl round the hairpins in summer, and ferries are often the most comfortable option. Hotels in the hills depend on shuttles or taxis.

Neither is a shopping destination, but they offer different things. Pisa has ordinary Italian high-street shopping on Corso Italia, smarter clothes and old pastry shops under the arcades of Borgo Stretto, and a monthly antiques market by the river.

Sorrento is about local crafts and souvenirs: intarsia boxes and trays, leather sandals made to measure while you wait, linen, cameos and endless limoncello. For fashion, Pisa shoppers go to Florence, and Sorrento's go to Naples or Capri.

Pisa is clearly the cheaper stay. Rooms are mid-range rather than premium, student trattorias keep meals good value, and walking costs nothing. The main expenses are the tower climb and summer sunbeds on the coast.

Sorrento sits on one of Italy's most sought-after coasts, and in summer sea-view rooms, terrace dinners, lido sunbeds and private boats all cost a lot. Cheap trains and buses help, and spring or late autumn bring hotel rates down considerably.

Pisa has the stronger offer, mainly thanks to the Teatro Verdi. Its horseshoe auditorium runs an autumn-to-spring season of opera, concerts, ballet and drama, and university chamber music and church recitals add to it.

Sorrento's performances are mostly Neapolitan song and tarantella shows staged for visitors, along with summer concerts in the cloister of San Francesco. For opera you take the train to the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples.

For a restful stay they are broadly level, though the calm comes from different places. Pisa has genuine thermal waters on its doorstep: San Giuliano Terme, used since Roman times, with a spa in its 18th-century bath palace, and the larger public pool at Casciana Terme. The city itself is quiet once you leave the cathedral square.

Sorrento has no spring of its own. Its restfulness is in the cliff-top hotel spas, the pools and terraces over the bay and the old villa gardens, with Ischia's thermal gardens a ferry ride away. It is best in spring or autumn, since midsummer crowds make the centre noisy.