Pisa or Venice?

The two are close here, and in both the sea is something for a hot afternoon, not the reason to come. Pisa's coast is about 12km out of town. Tirrenia and Calambrone have long sandy beaches backed by pine woods, and Marina di Pisa has smaller coves between rocky breakwaters.

Venice's Lido is closer in spirit, a vaporetto ride from San Marco, with fine Adriatic sand lined with rows of cabanas. Both have shallow, warm water that is fine for children but not especially clear. Wilder Pellestrina gives Venice a quieter option, while Pisa can easily reach the Versilia resorts by train.

Venice has the slightly more distinctive table, built around standing at a bacaro counter with cicchetti and a spritz, and lagoon cooking such as black cuttlefish risotto supplied from the Rialto market. Getting good meals there takes effort, because the picture-menu places crowd the main routes.

Pisa is plainer and more reliable: Tuscan soups, game and salt cod, and hot cecina from wood ovens. The trattorias round the Vettovaglie market keep standards and prices steady because they feed students. Neither city is a place for ambitious dining.

This is where Venice pulls far ahead. The whole city is the monument, and beyond San Marco and the Grand Canal there is a depth of painting in the Accademia, the Frari and San Rocco, plus modern art at the Guggenheim and Punta della Dogana. You could spend a week and still miss churches worth seeing.

Pisa has one superb set piece in the Piazza dei Miracoli, and quieter rewards along the Lungarni, at Piazza dei Cavalieri and in the medieval collection of San Matteo. Two unhurried days cover it, which is why many visitors pair it with Florence.

Neither is a party town, but Pisa stays up later. In term time the student crowd fills the little squares around the old market until past midnight, and in summer evenings move to the beach bars on the coast.

Venice's evening peaks at aperitivo along the Fondamenta della Misericordia, and only Campo Santa Margherita keeps going afterwards. By midnight the canals are silent. Anyone after clubs from Venice has to travel to the mainland or Jesolo.

Pisa has more on its doorstep and more variety. The San Rossore forest, with its wetland and dunes, starts at the city's edge and can be explored by bike or on horseback. Monte Pisano rises just to the east, and the Apuan Alps offer serious mountain walking.

Venice's outdoors is the lagoon itself: salt marshes around Torcello with flamingos and egrets, kayaking and Venetian rowing. It is lovely, but it is flat, and real mountains are more than two hours away.

Both are outstanding bases, with Pisa a little stronger. Florence is about an hour away and Lucca under half an hour. The Cinque Terre, the marble towns and, with a car, Volterra and San Gimignano are all within reach, so you can see the best of Tuscany without moving hotel.

From Venice, the Veneto towns follow one another along the railway: Padua for Giotto, Vicenza for Palladio, then Verona. The lagoon islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello add a boat-based day that Pisa has no equivalent for.

Pisa is the more practical of the two with children. The centre is flat and compact, the tower lawn gives children room to run, and the shallow beaches and park rides are close. Younger children can't climb the tower, though.

Venice has more wonder, with boats for buses and glass-blowing on Murano, but every outing means carrying a pushchair over stepped bridges through summer crowds. It works best as a short stay with older children.

Pisa is the easier city to move about. It is flat and walkable, its airport is linked to the station by a shuttle train only minutes away, and the station is a main rail hub for western Tuscany. Bikes and buses fill the gaps.

Venice is entirely on foot or by water. That is part of its charm, but the alleys confuse people, the steps on the bridges punish anyone with wheeled luggage, and the vaporetto lines are slow and crowded.

Venice gives shoppers far more reason to browse. Murano glass, Burano lace, papier-mâché masks, marbled paper and furlane slippers are still made in workshops in Dorsoduro and Castello, and the big fashion names line the streets between San Marco and the Rialto. The main routes, though, are crowded with imported fakes.

Pisa offers everyday Italian shopping on Corso Italia and the arcades of Borgo Stretto, plus a monthly antiques market by the river. Anyone after crafts or fashion goes on to Florence or Lucca.

There is a wide gap here, and it favours Pisa. Central rooms are mid-range, student trattorias are cheap, and walking costs nothing, so the tower climb and the summer beach loungers are the main extra costs.

Venice is among the dearest stays in Italy. Hotels, water transport and church entry all add up, and coffee at a table on San Marco is notoriously steep. Staying in Mestre or a quiet sestiere, and eating cicchetti at the counter, softens the bill.

Venice has far more for an evening out. La Fenice is one of Italy's great opera houses, where Verdi and Rossini premiered works, and the Biennale adds festivals of contemporary music, theatre and dance. On most nights there is Vivaldi in a church or scuola grande, which varies in quality but is memorable in his own city.

Pisa's stage is the Teatro Verdi, a relaxed historic house with a season running from autumn to spring, plus university chamber concerts. For anything bigger you go to Florence.

Neither city has a bathing culture of its own, so the difference is in the setting. Pisa's thermal springs are closer: San Giuliano Terme's 18th-century bath palace is just outside town, with the larger pools of Casciana Terme further inland, and the small city sets a calm pace in its own right.

Venice's calm comes from having no traffic. Early mornings in Castello, Cannaregio or on Giudecca are hushed, and its spas are in palazzo hotels, while the Euganean thermal towns are about an hour away.