San Marino or Sorrento?

Neither town has a beach of its own, but they solve the problem differently. From San Marino you drive or take the bus down the mountain to the wide sandy Riviera at Rimini and Riccione, with its rows of umbrellas and shallow water, which makes it a day out rather than part of daily life.

In Sorrento the sea is right below the town. You take the lift to the piers at Marina Piccola and Marina Grande and swim off ladders into clear, deep water, or walk to the rocks at Bagni della Regina Giovanna. There is no sand, but the water is much closer and the season runs longer.

San Marino eats the solid hill cooking of Romagna, such as tagliatelle, passatelli and piadina, but the summit restaurants live off the view, and good meals mean heading down to Borgo Maggiore or over the border.

Sorrento eats much better. Gnocchi alla sorrentina, fish cooked all'acqua pazza, lemons from the groves and fresh mozzarella from the hills are all on hand, and the peninsula villages add serious fine dining. Avoid the tourist menus on Piazza Tasso and you will eat better here than anywhere on the Titano.

San Marino has the stronger sights in town. The whole summit is the attraction: three towers on the cliff edge, the Palazzo Pubblico and a republic that has survived for centuries. It is compact, but it adds up to a real place with its own history.

Sorrento's own sights are quieter: a Roman street grid, the cloister of San Francesco, the Museo Correale and the ravine of the Vallone dei Mulini. Its great antiquities, Pompeii and Herculaneum, lie outside the town, so they belong with the day trips.

San Marino has almost nothing after dark: a dinner terrace, a glass of Sangiovese and the coast lights below, with any real night out a drive away in Rimini. Sorrento offers more, with the evening stroll along Corso Italia, cocktail terraces over the bay, piano bars with Neapolitan song and a club or two in summer. It is still an early town for most of the year.

San Marino's outdoors is Monte Titano itself, a limestone ridge of about 740m with cliffs on its eastern face and views across the Romagna plain to the Adriatic. Woodland paths drop to Borgo Maggiore and circle the mountain, and the quiet roads of the Marecchia valley suit a gentle bike ride. It fills a pleasant morning, but you will not find long trails or anything to paddle.

Sorrento gives you far more to do outside. Behind the town, olive and lemon terraces climb a steep ridge that runs out to Punta Campanella and the protected bay of Ieranto. The Path of the Gods, the beech woods of Monte Faito and the crater of Vesuvius are all close enough for a day's walking, and kayaks and boats explore the coves and grottoes around Capri. Walk in spring or autumn, because the exposed paths get hot in midsummer.

Both towns are good bases for exploring, and Sorrento is the stronger one. From San Marino you can reach the fortress of San Leo, ducal Urbino, Ravenna's mosaics and Rimini's Roman bridge, but apart from the coast you need a car.

From Sorrento the train goes to Pompeii and Herculaneum, ferries run to Capri and along to Positano and Amalfi, and Naples is about an hour away, with its archaeological museum. Most of it can be done without driving, and it adds up to a list of famous places that the Montefeltro cannot match.

The two are close for families, with San Marino slightly ahead. Its battlements, cliff edges and cable car please children, and below it are the shallow sandy beaches, Italia in Miniatura and the waterparks of the Riviera. The steep, stepped streets are hard work with a pushchair, though.

Sorrento's flat centre is the easier place to push a buggy, and the boat to Capri and the ruins at Pompeii work well with older children. Swimming from piers into deep water is less suited to toddlers, which is why many families book a hotel with a pool.

Sorrento is easier without a car. Its centre is flat, and trains, buses and ferries leave from the town, even if the Circumvesuviana is crowded and the coast buses are slow in summer.

San Marino's centre is small and car-free but climbs on every street, and your only regular link is the bus up from Rimini. To reach the hill towns around it, you realistically need to hire a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, though Sorrento has more local character. Its intarsia woodwork, sandals made to measure, linen and cameo carving are real crafts, alongside all the lemon souvenirs. San Marino sells crossbows, stamps and coins, plus tax-friendly perfume, watches and spirits in the main streets and an outlet centre on the valley floor. It is a place for bargains rather than craft.

San Marino is the cheaper stay by a clear margin. Away from the summit terraces it is priced like ordinary provincial Italy, and lower taxes help on fuel and spirits.

Sorrento is a resort on a famous coast and charges for it in summer, with sea-view rooms, lido sunbeds and private boats all expensive. Cheap trains, pizza and visits in spring or late autumn soften the bill.

Both are thin, and Sorrento has a little more. It has nightly Neapolitan song and tarantella shows, chamber concerts in the San Francesco cloister and the San Carlo opera house an hour away in Naples. San Marino's high point is its Medieval Days festival of crossbows and flag-throwers. For anything more formal you go to Bologna or Pesaro.

Sorrento is the better place to unwind. Clifftop hotels have spas and pools over the bay, the villa gardens set a slow pace and the thermal gardens of Ischia are a ferry ride away.

San Marino's calm is mostly in the evenings, with walks along the empty walls after the day crowds leave, and there is little beyond a few hotel spas. In both, July and August are the busiest months.