Rome or Split?

Split is the better place for swimming. You can walk from the palace to Bačvice, a shallow sandy bay where locals play picigin, or to the pine-shaded coves and rocks around Marjan, where the water is deeper and clear. Most of the shore is pebble or concrete, but the islands of Brač, Šolta and Hvar are a short ferry ride away for longer beaches.

Rome's sea is a separate outing. Ostia is half an hour away by train and has dark volcanic sand, mostly divided into paid lidos, and the water is rarely clear. Fregene is calmer, and for really good coves you have to go as far as Sperlonga. Rome works for a hot afternoon away from the ruins. Split works as a beach base.

Rome is the better food city. Its cooking is distinctive and found nowhere else: carbonara, cacio e pepe, amatriciana and gricia, artichokes fried the Jewish way in the Ghetto, the offal dishes of Testaccio, and supplì and pizza al taglio on the street. Avoid the menus next to the big sights and walk to Trastevere, Monti or Testaccio.

Split's Dalmatian cooking is simpler and centred on the sea: grilled fish and squid, black risotto, pašticada, and peka, which usually has to be ordered ahead. It eats best in the konobas of Varoš. Its wines, Plavac Mali and Pošip, are better than anything Rome pours from its own hills. There is less variety, though, and many kitchens go quiet in winter.

There is no real contest here. Rome has two thousand years of history standing in its streets: the Forum, the Palatine, the Pantheon, early Christian mosaics, Bernini's piazzas, and the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. A week is not enough to see it all.

Split is built around one extraordinary monument. Diocletian's Palace is the retirement home of a Roman emperor, and people still live inside its walls. Its Peristyle leads to a cathedral that was once his mausoleum. Add the Meštrović Gallery and the Archaeological Museum and you have seen most of the city in two days. That is enough for a coastal break, but it is not a reason to choose Split over Rome.

Neither city is a clubbing destination, and in both the evening happens outdoors with a drink in hand. Rome's evenings run all year: aperitivo, then the wine bars of Trastevere, the cocktail bars of Monti, cheap drinks in San Lorenzo and the arty crowd in Pigneto, with a few clubs in Testaccio and Ostiense.

Split depends on the season. In summer, bars fill the stairways inside the palace and the clubs at Bačvice stay open into the early hours, although much of the party crowd moves on to Hvar. From October to May a night out usually means a quiet glass of wine with locals.

Split has the better outdoors, and it starts at the edge of town. Marjan's pine forest, cliffs and hermitage chapels are a short walk from the old town, and the ridges of Mosor and Kozjak sit just behind the city. Within an hour you can reach Biokovo, raft or canyon on the Cetina at Omiš, or see the waterfalls at Krka. Kayaking and island sailing are also easy to arrange.

Rome's green spaces are mostly parks: the villa grounds of Borghese, Pamphili and Ada, and the Appian Way, a fine bike ride past tombs and aqueducts. For real countryside you head to the crater lakes of the Alban Hills or the Apennines, which are about ninety minutes away.

Rome is the stronger base, mainly because so much of Italy is within a day. Ostia Antica, Tivoli's Villa d'Este and Hadrian's Villa are close, and Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio and the Etruscan tombs of Tarquinia lie to the north. High-speed trains reach Florence or Naples in about ninety minutes.

Split's day trips are mostly by sea and along the coast. Medieval Trogir and the Roman ruins of Salona are close, Šibenik's cathedral is about an hour away, and ferries go to Hvar, Brač and Vis. These trips are very easy in summer and need more planning once the ferry timetable thins out in winter.

Children will find both cities about equally manageable, but in different ways. Rome has more to show them: gladiators, catacombs, the Mouth of Truth, and the Bioparco zoo and rowing boats in Villa Borghese. Getting to those things means queues, cobbles that are hard on pushchairs and busy roads.

Split has almost nothing built for children, but it is simpler. Bačvice is shallow enough for small children to paddle, Marjan has shade and space to run, and the ferry to an island is often the highlight of the trip.

Both cities are best seen on foot, but Split is easier. Its car-free centre puts the palace, the Riva, Varoš and Bačvice within about fifteen minutes' walk of each other. The ferry port, the bus station and the railway station are side by side at the harbour, so leaving town for the islands or the coast takes no effort.

Rome's centre is walkable too, from the Colosseum to the Pantheon and across the river to Trastevere, but the distances are longer. The metro barely reaches the historic core, and buses get stuck in traffic. In both cities the old streets are hard on luggage: cobbles in Rome, polished stone steps in Split.

Rome is far better for shopping. The big Italian fashion houses line Via Condotti and the streets near the Spanish Steps, Monti has young designers and vintage shops, and antique dealers and artisan workshops cluster around Via Margutta and Via dei Coronari. Leather goods and handmade shoes are worth buying.

Split's shops inside the palace mostly sell lavender, coral and Croatian ties, and the chain stores are on Marmontova. The most enjoyable place to browse is the Pazar market, where dried figs, honey, olive oil and local brandy make better souvenirs than anything in a boutique.

Split costs a little less, but timing makes a big difference. In July and August, rooms near the old town cost about as much as in a large Western European city, and fish sold by weight on the Riva quickly gets expensive. In May, June, late September and winter, prices drop a long way.

Rome is expensive all year, mainly because central rooms are small and costly and the big museums charge substantial entry fees. Some things are cheap or free: coffee standing at the bar, pizza al taglio, water from the drinking fountains and churches full of masterpieces.

Rome has a much fuller calendar. The Teatro dell'Opera stages opera and ballet through the winter and moves to the Baths of Caracalla in summer. The Santa Cecilia orchestra plays at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, and there are church organ concerts and a long-established jazz club scene as well.

Split's stage life is smaller and mostly happens in summer. The Croatian National Theatre puts on opera and ballet, and the Split Summer Festival performs in the palace's Peristyle. Its most distinctive sound is klapa, unaccompanied male harmony singing, which is often heard under the dome of the palace vestibule.

Neither city has a living bathing culture, and in both a spa usually means a hotel spa. Rome does have real thermal water within reach: the sulphurous pools of Bagni di Tivoli, and free open-air hot springs near Viterbo. In town, the villa gardens and the Aventine are the quiet places to stop.

Split's way of relaxing is fjaka, the Dalmatian habit of unhurried idleness, seen in long coffees on the Riva and empty streets in the afternoon heat. It is easiest to find in the shoulder months or in the pine woods of Marjan. In midsummer, a quiet island suits real rest better than the noisy old town.