Positano or Amalfi?

Positano is the stronger choice for a trip built around swimming. Spiaggia Grande is a broader curve than Amalfi's Marina Grande. Fornillo is a cliff-path walk away, with Arienzo and Laurito further on, so there is more shore to choose from, though it is coarse grey sand and pebble that shelves steeply.

Amalfi's town beach is a narrower pebble strip, mostly taken up by beach clubs. The better swimming means walking to Atrani or taking stairs and shuttle boats to Santa Croce and Duoglio. The water is just as clear and warm off both towns. The difference is how much beach is right on your doorstep.

Both towns cook from the same coastal larder: scialatielli with seafood, thick-skinned lemons and limoncello. Amalfi has rather more to it, though. More careful trattorias hide in its alleys and up the valley, Cetara's anchovies and colatura are close by, and the wines of Furore and Tramonti come from the hills above.

In Positano the setting matters more than the cooking: long terrace lunches over the sea and a few hotel dining rooms aiming high. The menus repeat one another, there is little everyday or market food, and many kitchens close between November and Easter.

Amalfi still shows the heritage of its medieval maritime republic. There is the Arab-Norman Duomo, with bronze doors cast in Constantinople and the crypt of St Andrew, along with the Chiostro del Paradiso, the old Arsenale and the paper museum up the Valle dei Mulini. Together they fill a good half-day.

Positano has less to see: the majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta and, beneath it, the painted rooms of a Roman villa buried by Vesuvius. A couple of hours covers both. Here the stacked pastel town is itself the sight, and anyone wanting monuments ends up taking the ferry to Amalfi.

Neither town suits a big night out, but Positano has a little more going on after dinner. In summer its bars near the beach stay busy, and a club in a cave at the end of Spiaggia Grande keeps a dressed-up crowd out late.

Amalfi winds down earlier. After dinner there is a drink or a gelato on Piazza Duomo or by the harbour, and the town goes quiet once the last buses and ferries leave. For anything more you have to go to Salerno or Naples.

Both towns sit where the Lattari mountains drop into the sea, and both have the Path of the Gods within reach, so the scenery is equally strong. The difference is what starts at your door. From Amalfi you can walk straight into the Valle delle Ferriere, a shaded gorge of waterfalls and ferns, or climb the old mule stairways to Pontone and Ravello.

Positano sits below Nocelle, where the Path of the Gods ends, and its steeper trails climb through chestnut woods to Montepertuso and ridges above 1,000m. Out on the water, boats from Positano head for the Li Galli islets, while those from Amalfi go to the Emerald Grotto.

Both make excellent bases for the coast, and the difference is which way the trips point. Amalfi looks east and up the hill. Ravello is a short bus ride away, the villages run on towards Vietri sul Mare and Salerno, and trains from Salerno reach Paestum.

Positano looks west. Sorrento is a short ferry or bus ride away, which makes Positano the easier start for Pompeii and Herculaneum, and Capri is about half an hour by boat. From either town, most ferries stop in winter and the coast road is slow in summer.

Stairs rule out pushchairs in both towns, and neither has anything built for children. Amalfi's beach is a crowded pebble strip and the winding buses can upset small stomachs, but older children enjoy the walk up the valley past the old paper mills and boat trips to the sea caves.

Positano's beach shelves steeply, though the water is usually calm and warm in summer. Beyond swimming and boat trips there is little to keep children busy, so toddlers are better off on a flatter stretch of coast.

Amalfi is the easier town to move around from. It is the hub of the coast, with buses for Ravello, Positano and Salerno leaving from the harbour front, and the seafront is manageable on foot before the stairs begin.

Positano is harder going. Almost every walk means hundreds of steps, a single bus loop serves the upper town, and coastal buses fill up and crawl in summer. Ferries from the main beach are the easy option, mostly in season. In both towns a car is more trouble than it is worth.

Positano is the town to shop in. The lanes down to the beach are lined with boutiques selling moda Positano, the loose white linen and printed resort wear the town is known for, and sandal makers cut pairs to fit. It is one look only, but it is its own.

Amalfi's shopping is a single main street of limoncello, lemon soap and ceramics, much of it the same from shop to shop. The one real speciality is the handmade cotton paper from the valley mills, worth taking home as notebooks.

Both are among the most expensive places to stay in Italy, but Amalfi is a little easier on the wallet. Its local buses are a genuine bargain, and staying in the hill villages and eating in back-street trattorias takes the edge off the cost.

Positano charges more for almost everything, from sea-view rooms and loungers to terrace meals and boat transfers. The usual way to save is to sleep in Praiano or Sorrento and come in by bus or ferry.

Neither town has a theatre or concert hall, and both rely on the Ravello Festival for serious music. Amalfi has the edge because Ravello is a short bus ride up the hill, which makes a concert on the Villa Rufolo terrace an easy evening. Its feast of Sant'Andrea also brings processions and band music.

From Positano, Ravello is a longer trip along the coast for an evening out. The town itself offers only occasional summer concerts in churches and squares, and for opera or theatre you need to go to Naples.

Spas on this coast belong to the cliff hotels, as there is no bathing tradition in either town, and Positano has more of them. In Amalfi the hotel spas are kept mainly for their own guests, so rest comes from swims off the rocks and quiet mornings in the hill hamlets.

Several of Positano's hotels have treatment rooms and pools cut into the rock, and its terraces make slow afternoons the point of a stay. July and August bring crowds and noise to both towns, and late spring or early autumn is calmer.