San Marino or Trieste?

In Trieste the sea is part of the city. People swim every day from Barcola's concrete platforms and pine lawns, from the old bathing establishments and from the pebble coves at Sistiana and Duino. San Marino has no shore of its own, so swimming means a trip of about half an hour down to Rimini or Riccione.

What you find at the bottom differs in kind. The Romagna shore is soft sand, rows of umbrellas and shallow water that toddlers enjoy. Trieste means climbing down ladders into clear water off rocks. For regular swimming Trieste wins, though families who want sand will find it on San Marino's side.

Trieste gives you far more to eat. Its buffets serve boiled meats with horseradish and sauerkraut, and you also find jota, sardoni and Central European cakes, plus a coffee culture with its own vocabulary and Karst farmhouses pouring Vitovska and Terrano.

San Marino's Romagna cooking of piadina, passatelli and hand-rolled pasta is honest. However, the summit restaurants live off day visitors, so the better meals mean heading down to Borgo Maggiore or over the border. Trieste is the place to plan meals around, though even there fine dining is thin.

San Marino is a single striking sight: a walled ridge town with climbable towers, the Palazzo Pubblico and the story of an ancient republic, all seen in half a day. Trieste needs several days. It has the Habsburg grandeur of Piazza Unità and the Borgo Teresiano, the cathedral and castle on San Giusto, a Roman theatre, Miramare and a major synagogue.

Trieste also offers sombre history at the Risiera di San Sabba and the literary memory of Joyce and Svevo. San Marino has nothing of comparable range, so Trieste is the clear choice for a sightseeing trip.

Neither is a party town, but Trieste at least has evenings worth going out for. There is spritz on Piazza Unità, wine bars in Cavana kept busy by students, and summer kiosks along Barcola open late into warm nights.

On San Marino's summit, a glass of wine with the coast lights below is about all there is. Anyone wanting clubs has to drive down to the Riviera.

San Marino's landscape is one limestone ridge with cliff views and gentle paths through woods, plus rolling Montefeltro farmland for drives and cycling. It is lovely for a morning but soon walked.

Trieste reaches much further. The Karst rises straight from the city, with the Strada Napoleonica, the Rilke Path at Duino and climbing in Val Rosandra. There are enormous caves at Grotta Gigante and Škocjan, a marine reserve for kayaking and serious sailing water in the gulf, and the Julian Alps for full mountain days.

Both are good bases, but they open onto different worlds. From San Marino you reach the Italian Renaissance and medieval heartland: Urbino, San Leo, Gradara, Ravenna's mosaics and Rimini, with most hill towns needing a car.

Trieste has the edge in range and ease. It offers three countries: Aquileia, Cividale and star-shaped Palmanova in Friuli, then Piran, Ljubljana and Postojna in Slovenia, and Istria beyond. Venice is a long but realistic day by train.

Trieste is a little easier with children. The flat waterfront and buses make days simple, and it has an aquarium, a science centre, Miramare's gardens and the giant cave. The catch is that swimming is off rocks and steps, and the upper town is steep.

San Marino delights children with its battlements and cable car, but little on the summit is built for them, and the pushchair-unfriendly lanes get crowded. Its strength lies down the hill, in the theme parks, waterparks and sandy shallows around Rimini, which work best with a car.

Trieste's centre is flat and compact along the sea, and a dense bus network and bay ferries cover Barcola, Miramare, the Karst and Muggia, so a car is optional. Only the walk up San Giusto involves real climbing.

San Marino is tiny but almost all slope and steps. Without a car you rely on one bus line from Rimini and infrequent village buses, which leaves the surrounding hill towns effectively out of reach.

San Marino's shops are driven by lower taxes. The main streets sell perfume, watches, leather goods and spirits more cheaply than in Italy, and an outlet centre on the valley floor adds fashion brands. Souvenirs make up the rest: ceramics, decorative crossbows, and the republic's stamps and coins for collectors. It suits bargain hunting more than browsing.

Trieste is the more rewarding place to wander with a bag. The antique and second-hand shops in the old town lanes recall its merchant past, and the best things to carry home are edible: coffee from the city's roasters, Karst wine and honey, and presnitz. Neither is a fashion destination, but Trieste's finds have more character.

The two cost much the same, and both are fairly priced for northern Italy without being cheap. The difference is where the money goes. In San Marino you pay extra for a view terrace or a summit hotel, while fuel and spirits are cheaper thanks to lower taxes. In Trieste the buffets, bar coffee, buses and free swimming at Barcola keep everyday spending low, and seafood restaurants charge normal city prices.

Trieste has a real stage life. The waterfront Teatro Verdi runs a full opera and ballet season with a rare taste for operetta, and there is also the Politeama Rossetti, a Slovenian-language theatre and summer concerts in the San Giusto castle courtyard.

San Marino has a small theatre and the costumed Medieval Days festival. That is fun as a spectacle, but for opera you would have to travel to Bologna or Pesaro.

San Marino is only calm once the day is over. On summer days the lanes around the towers fill with day visitors. The quiet comes when the coaches leave, with evening walks along the walls and long views over the plain.

Trieste is unhurried from morning to night. You can spend long mornings in old coffee houses over a newspaper, swim off Barcola in the afternoon and end the day on the Molo Audace as the sun sets over the gulf. Neither city goes beyond hotel spas, and thermal baths mean a separate outing, so Trieste is the more restful place to stay.