Rome or Athens?

Athens has a real coastline within reach. The Riviera runs from Faliro down to Vouliagmeni and Varkiza, the tram and coastal buses take you there, and the water gets clearer the farther south you go. Ferries to Aegina and Agistri add an island swim without a night away.

Rome's sea is at Ostia, half an hour away by suburban train. The beach there is dark volcanic sand, mostly paid lidos, and the water is rarely clear. Fregene is more relaxed, but for a pretty cove you need a longer trip to Sperlonga or Sabaudia. Neither city is a beach vacation, but in Athens a swim fits into an ordinary afternoon.

Both cities eat well and simply, so the difference is in style. Athens eats in shared plates: grilled octopus, fava and keftedes set in the middle of the table in Psyrri or Pangrati. They come with ouzo, tsipouro or a glass of assyrtiko, and souvlaki is the everyday fallback.

Rome eats one plate at a time. Its cooking rests on the four classic pastas, artichokes fried the Jewish way in the Ghetto and the offal dishes of Testaccio, with pizza al taglio and supplì on the street. Its wine is modest, so Athens gives you the better glass. In both cities, the restaurants by the big sights and in Plaka are the ones to skip.

Athens has one of the great ancient landscapes: the Acropolis above everything, the Agora and Kerameikos below it, and the Acropolis Museum and National Archaeological Museum to match. Outside that classical core, though, the modern city is mostly postwar apartment blocks.

Rome keeps going where Athens stops. Imperial ruins, early Christian mosaics, Renaissance palaces and Bernini's Baroque piazzas sit on top of one another. The Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel and the Borghese Gallery are collections Athens cannot match. A few days cover Athens well, while in Rome you are still choosing what to leave out after a week.

Athens is the city that goes out. Bars fill around midnight and stay open until dawn in Psyrri, Monastiraki and Gazi, with rooftop terraces facing the lit Acropolis. In summer the clubs move to open-air venues on the coast, and the bouzouki clubs, where people throw flowers and dance until morning, have no equivalent in Rome.

Rome's evenings are gentler: aperitivo, a long dinner, then wine bars in Trastevere and Monti and a drink outside on a piazza. There are clubs around Testaccio and Ostiense, but not many, so anyone who wants to dance will be happier in Athens.

Athens has the edge outdoors, because it has both sea and mountains close by. You can sail, paddleboard or charter a boat for the day on the Saronic Gulf, or climb Lycabettus or Filopappou for the view. For proper hiking there are the fir forests of Parnitha, about an hour north. By high summer the hills are dry and brown.

Rome's outdoors is gentler and full of history. Villa Borghese and Villa Pamphili give it green space inside the city, and the Appian Way makes a fine bike ride past tombs and aqueduct arches. Farther out are the crater lakes of the Alban Hills, and the Apennines, about ninety minutes away, have hiking and winter skiing at Terminillo.

Both are excellent bases, but Rome reaches further with less effort. Ostia Antica, Tivoli and the Castelli Romani are close by, and Orvieto, Viterbo and the Etruscan tombs lie to the north. Fast trains put Florence and Naples within about ninety minutes, so whole other cities become a day out.

Athens answers with some of the most famous names of the ancient world: Delphi, Mycenae, Epidaurus and Sounion. It also has island trips to Hydra and Aegina. The mainland sites mostly need a car or an organised tour, which makes planning harder than in Rome.

Neither city is built for children, but Athens is a little easier. Its calm Riviera beaches give younger children a break from sightseeing that Rome cannot easily match. The park and lake at the Stavros Niarchos centre, the planetarium and the zoo fill other days.

In Rome, gladiators, catacombs, the Bioparco in Villa Borghese and daily gelato have to hold children's interest between sights aimed at adults and long queues at the Vatican and Colosseum. In both cities, uneven pavements make pushchairs hard work, so spring and autumn are kinder.

Both centres are best explored on foot, but Athens has slightly better transport behind it. The metro runs from the airport and Piraeus right into the centre, with antiquities on show in its stations, and a tram goes down to the coast. The catch is the street itself: narrow, broken, hilly pavements and heavy traffic.

Rome's historic centre is a beautiful walk, from the Colosseum past the Pantheon to Trastevere. Its metro, though, barely reaches the core because of the archaeology underground, so you rely on buses and trams that get stuck in traffic.

Rome is clearly the better shopping city. The streets running off the Spanish Steps hold the big Italian fashion houses, and Monti has independent and vintage boutiques. Leather goods and handmade shoes are worth taking home, and the Sunday market at Porta Portese is a flea market on a huge scale.

Athens is more modest. It has chains on Ermou, some designer labels in Kolonaki and the weekend flea market at Monastiraki. Its best buys are local rather than fashion: leather sandals, olive oil, mountain herbs and jewellery based on ancient designs.

Athens is the cheaper stay, mainly because of rooms. In Rome the centre is costly and the rooms are small and hard to find in spring and autumn. In Athens, souvlaki, taverna meals and the metro keep daily costs low, though Acropolis-view hotels in summer are another matter.

Rome's day-to-day spending is easier than its hotel bills suggest. Espresso at the counter and pizza al taglio are fair value, water from the city's fountains is free, and churches full of masterpieces cost nothing to enter. In both cities, entry fees to the major sites add up over several days.

Both cities stage their best performances outdoors among ruins in summer: Athens in the Odeon of Herodes Atticus beneath the Acropolis and at Epidaurus, Rome with opera at the Baths of Caracalla. Through the rest of the year, Rome offers more variety, with the Santa Cecilia orchestra, jazz clubs and frequent church concerts.

Athens has something more distinctive: rebetiko, played late at night in small tavernas, a living tradition with no counterpart in Rome. In both cities, theatre is almost entirely in the local language.

Neither capital is a place to unwind, and the difference lies in where the water is. Athens has Lake Vouliagmeni on its own Riviera, a lake fed by warm springs where you can swim in mild water all year.

Rome's thermal water is outside the city, at the sulphurous pools of Bagni di Tivoli and the free hot springs around Viterbo, about ninety minutes away. In town, calm in Rome means the villa gardens and the Aventine. In Athens it means a long coffee in a shaded square.