Salerno or San Marino?

Salerno is the beach city of the two because the sea is right in town. Its own grey-sand beaches are fine for a quick swim, and the clear coves of the Amalfi Coast and the wide sandy shore towards Paestum, backed by pine woods, are a short trip away.

From San Marino, the beach is a day out: about half an hour down to Rimini or Riccione, where you'll find neat rows of umbrellas, beach clubs and shallow water. You can't step out of your hotel for a morning swim.

Food is a real reason to choose Salerno. It has wood-fired pizza, pasta with clams, buffalo mozzarella eaten fresh on the day it is made, and sfogliatelle from old-town pastry shops, all at local prices.

San Marino's cooking comes from the Romagna hills: piadina, passatelli in broth, tagliatelle, grilled meat and Tre Monti wafer cake. The cooking is honest, but many summit terraces sell the view more than the food. The better meals are down in Borgo Maggiore or across the border.

The two are broadly level, but the heritage differs in kind and in the time it asks of you. Salerno's is spread through a lived-in old town of stepped lanes and palazzi. The Norman cathedral keeps the relics of Saint Matthew in its crypt, the Giardino della Minerva recalls Europe's earliest medical school and the Arechi Castle looks down on the gulf. Together with the small museums, they fill one or two unhurried days.

San Marino is a single sight: a fortified ridge with three towers above sheer drops, and the Palazzo Pubblico telling the story of one of the world's oldest surviving republics. It feels more theatrical than Salerno, but it is compact enough that most visitors see it well in half a day.

Salerno has a sociable if modest night out. Young locals fill the squares around Largo Campo and Via dei Mercanti with drinks until late, and the seafront passeggiata carries on into the evening. There are no big clubs, though, and serious nights out mean Naples.

San Marino has almost nothing after dark beyond dinner and a glass of wine above the lights of the coast. For anything livelier, you have to drive down to the Riviera.

Salerno has some of Europe's most dramatic scenery close by. Limestone cliffs drop into the sea, lemon terraces climb the slopes and old mule tracks cross the Lattari mountains, including the Path of the Gods. To the south lie the Cilento's wooded hills and the headlands of Palinuro, and kayaking and sailing fill the summer.

San Marino's landscape is gentler. Monte Titano gives wide views to the Adriatic and the Apennines, with woodland paths and quiet cycling roads in the Montefeltro, but it is suited to a morning walk rather than a whole outdoor trip.

Both make good bases, but Salerno is exceptional. The Greek temples of Paestum and the ruins of Pompeii are each about half an hour away by train, ferries cross to Amalfi and Positano, and Naples, Herculaneum and Caserta are easy days out without a car.

San Marino has a fine list of its own: the fortress of San Leo, Renaissance Urbino, the mosaics of Ravenna and the castle at Gradara. Most of these really need a car, because the only regular public link is the bus down to Rimini.

Salerno is slightly the easier of the two with children. It has a long, flat, car-free promenade with playgrounds, shallow sandy beaches to the south and the Luci d'Artista Christmas lights in winter, though the old town's steps and the winding Amalfi roads are hard going.

Children love San Marino's towers, battlements and cable car, but the summit has little else for them. The theme parks, waterparks and beaches are down near Rimini, which suits families with a car.

Salerno is the simpler place to get about. The station, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, the seafront and the old town lie along one walkable strip. Regional trains run to Naples, Pompeii and Paestum, and in summer ferries are the easy way along the coast.

San Marino's core is small and car-free but almost all steps and slopes, with a cable car down to Borgo Maggiore. Beyond the bus to Rimini, public transport is thin, so a car makes the most difference here.

Salerno offers the better browsing. Corso Vittorio Emanuele is a long pedestrian street of Italian clothing shops, and the most characterful buys come from nearby: hand-painted Vietri majolica, lemon products and colatura.

San Marino's shops are mostly souvenirs, decorative crossbows and the republic's own stamps and coins, which collectors seek out. Lower taxes bring Italian visitors for perfume, watches and spirits, and there is an outlet centre in the valley.

Salerno is somewhat kinder on the budget. It is an ordinary southern city with local-priced trattorias, cheap trains and rooms that cost far less than on the cliffside coast. Summer ferries, beach sunbeds and archaeological site entry fees soon add up, though.

San Marino sits in the middle. Its sights are inexpensive and fuel and spirits are cheaper than in Italy, but the summit hotels and view terraces charge extra. Staying in the lower villages helps.

Salerno has a proper stage in the Teatro Verdi, a gilded opera house modelled on the San Carlo in Naples. It runs a season of opera, concerts and ballet, and the Ravello Festival's clifftop concerts are within reach in summer.

San Marino has only a small theatre and occasional local concerts. Its highlight is the Medieval Days festival, with costumed musicians, flag-throwers and crossbow contests. For opera, people look to Pesaro or Bologna.

Neither is a spa destination, and in both, wellness means hotel spas. Salerno has a slight edge, with open-air sulphur pools at Contursi Terme about an hour inland and a palm-lined promenade made for slow sunset walks, though its main roads carry port traffic and noise.

San Marino's calm comes in the evening, when the day visitors have gone and the walls look out over a quiet plain. Daytime around the towers in summer is anything but restful.