Positano or Tirana?

Positano is built on the sea. Spiaggia Grande lies right below the houses and Fornillo is a short cliff walk away, with Arienzo, Laurito and other coves reached by stairway or boat. The water is clear and deep blue, though the shore is steep, coarse pebble and packed by mid-morning in high summer.

From Tirana the sea is a separate outing. Durrës is under an hour away and has long, shallow sandy beaches that are easier for children, but they are lined with hotels and beach clubs and the water is cloudier near the port. Albania's famous clear coves in the south are too far away to visit from Tirana.

Tirana gives you more variety and more everyday eating. You get flaky byrek from corner bakeries in the morning, fërgesë and slow-baked lamb at taverns around Blloku and the Pazari i Ri, and farm restaurants in the hills that serve what grows around them. The coffee habit and the raki after dinner are part of daily life, though there is little fine dining.

Positano's food is narrower but beautifully placed. Clams, grilled fish, scialatielli and lemon desserts are eaten on terraces over the sea, and much of what you pay for is the view. Menus repeat one another, there is almost no street food, and many kitchens close through the winter.

Neither city is a museum destination, but Tirana gives you more to visit. The communist era is told vividly at the Bunk'Art bunkers and the former secret police building, and Skanderbeg Square brings together the mosaic-fronted history museum and the painted Et'hem Bey Mosque. Two days covers it all.

In Positano, the main sight is the town itself, a stack of pastel houses below the majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta, with a Roman villa preserved under the church. That takes a couple of hours. For serious history you go to Pompeii or Naples.

Tirana has a real night out. Blloku, once the closed quarter of the communist leaders, is packed with lounge terraces, cocktail bars and small clubs where a young local crowd dresses up and stays out late. Larger clubs near the Grand Park lake go on into the early hours.

Positano's evenings are about aperitivo with a view and a long dinner. A few bars near the beach and one cave club at the end of Spiaggia Grande make up the whole summer scene, and even that fades once the season ends. It is ideal for couples and too thin for anyone who wants to go out properly.

Positano has the more spectacular landscape. The Lattari mountains drop straight into the sea, and the Path of the Gods runs along the cliffs above lemon terraces with Capri on the horizon. Steep trails climb through chestnut woods to ridges over 1,000m, and you can kayak to grottoes and the Li Galli islets.

Tirana's outdoors are greener and closer to ordinary city life. The cable car lifts you onto Mount Dajti for forest trails and views across the plain, and the Grand Park is good for an easy walk or run. The turquoise Bovilla reservoir and the hikes around Gamti are within reach for a day.

Positano has some of the best day trips in southern Italy. Ferries reach Amalfi, Ravello and Capri, while Pompeii, Herculaneum and Paestum are all manageable in a day. The drawback is that boats mostly stop outside the season and the coast road is slow.

Tirana's outings are good too, but they mean more time on the road. Kruja's castle and bazaar are close, and Berat's white Ottoman houses, Shkodra's lakeside castle and Apollonia are each about two hours away by car, minibus or tour.

Tirana is the easier choice with children, though neither city does much for them. Children are welcome in cafés late into the evening, and the Grand Park playgrounds, the Dajti cable car and the open space of Skanderbeg Square make good outings. Heavy traffic and broken pavements make pushing a buggy tiring.

Positano is almost all stairs, so a pushchair is useless, and the beaches shelve steeply. Older children who love swimming and boats will be happy there, but families with toddlers will struggle.

Tirana's centre is flat and compact. Most of the sights, Blloku and the market are within a twenty-minute walk of each other, and cheap taxis cover the outlying places. There is no metro, the buses are confusing, and crossing busy roads takes care.

In Positano, every walk means hundreds of steps. One local bus loops up the only road, and buses along the coast fill up and crawl in summer. Ferries are the easiest way to reach the next towns, and a car is more trouble than it is worth.

Positano has the more distinctive shopping. Its lanes are lined with boutiques selling the loose white linen and printed resort wear known as moda Positano, along with sandals made to fit while you wait and hand-painted ceramics. It is all one look, though.

Tirana's best buys are found at the Pazari i Ri market: cheese, honey, raki, felt hats and filigree silver. Beyond that, fashion means international chains in the malls and a few boutiques around Blloku.

This is where the two differ most. Tirana is one of the cheapest capitals in Europe. Meals, local wine, taxis and museum entry hardly dent a budget, and even the smart Blloku bars cost less than in most other European cities.

Positano is one of the most expensive places to stay in Italy, and sea-view rooms, beach loungers, terrace dinners and boat transfers all add up. Staying in Praiano or Sorrento, or going in May or October, cuts the cost a lot.

Tirana has a regular stage. The National Theatre of Opera and Ballet on Skanderbeg Square puts on opera, ballet and concerts through the season, and summer adds open-air festivals. The range is still limited, and spoken theatre is in Albanian.

Positano itself has only a few summer concerts in churches and squares. Its best evening out is along the coast at Ravello's classical music festival, with concerts on a terrace high above the sea.

Positano is the better place to slow down. Its upscale hotels have spas and pools cut into the cliff, and long lunches overlooking the sea are restful in themselves. Go in May, June or late September, because July and August bring crowds and noise.

Tirana's calm comes from its coffee terraces and the evening xhiro stroll. Its spa options are mostly hotel facilities, and the simple sulphur springs at Llixha are about an hour away. Traffic noise fills much of the centre, so the Grand Park and the slopes of Dajti are where you go for quiet.