Syracuse, Sicily or Trieste?

Syracuse offers both kinds of swimming. You can climb into the clear Ionian from the platforms below Ortigia's sea walls, or lie on real sand at Arenella, Fontane Bianche and the reserve beaches of Vendicari. The water stays warm well into October.

Trieste swims in a city way: towels on the stepped concrete and lawns of Barcola, ladders into the Adriatic and old bathing establishments with changing cabins. The pebble coves at Sistiana and Duino are prettier, but there is almost no sand.

The two eat in very different directions, and neither has a wide restaurant range. Syracuse cooks from the sea and the citrus groves: the Ortigia market, pasta with sardines or sea urchin, granita and brioche for breakfast, and Nero d'Avola to drink.

Trieste's table is half Austrian. Boiled pork is carved at the counter of a buffet, jota soup sits alongside fried sardoni, and strudel and presnitz follow. Its real speciality is coffee, with its own ordering vocabulary, plus Karst wine at the farmhouse osmize.

Syracuse carries the weight of a major Greek city. The Doric columns in its cathedral, the rock-cut theatre and the Ear of Dionysius at Neapolis, the Paolo Orsi museum and Caravaggio's Burial of Saint Lucy add up to two or three full days of first-rate sightseeing.

Trieste is more about atmosphere than great sights. Piazza Unità opening onto the sea, the Canal Grande with San Spiridione, San Giusto's mosaics and the white Miramare Castle show its Habsburg past well. The Risiera di San Sabba adds a sombre note. Its literary associations with Joyce and Svevo are felt more than seen.

Both are aperitivo towns where the evening ends with a drink, not a club. Syracuse's summer has a little more pull: Ortigia's lanes stay busy past midnight at weekends, and the beach clubs on the southern coast put on some dancing in July and August.

Trieste relies on students' wine bars and pubs, plus kiosks along Barcola on warm nights. In both cities serious clubbers have to travel, and Catania is the nearest option from Syracuse.

Both have a lot of good countryside, of different kinds. Around Syracuse you find gorges with green pools at Cavagrande, rock-cut tombs in the Anapo valley, flamingos at Vendicari, diving at Plemmirio and a day on Etna. Most of it needs a car, and the summer heat makes hiking hard.

Trieste's outdoors starts at the edge of town. The Strada Napoleonica and the Rilke Path run above the gulf, Val Rosandra is good for climbing and there are huge caves in the Karst. The gulf is a real sailing water, and the Julian Alps are close enough for mountain days.

Syracuse has the edge, mainly thanks to the Val di Noto. Noto, Modica, Ragusa Ibla and Scicli each make a fine baroque day out, and Taormina and the Villa Romana mosaics are further options, though buses are thin and a car helps.

Trieste's appeal is variety across borders. It has Aquileia's mosaics and Palmanova's star plan in Friuli, Piran and Ljubljana in Slovenia, and Venice by train for a long day.

Neither city is built for children, and they suit different ages. Syracuse is better for small children who mainly want the beach, with gently shelving sand at Arenella and Fontane Bianche, puppet shows and boat trips among the papyrus.

Trieste works better for older children. It has an aquarium and a science centre, and the vast Grotta Gigante impresses them, but the rock swimming and steep stepped streets are harder with toddlers.

In Syracuse, Ortigia itself is an easy fifteen-minute walk end to end. Beyond the island, infrequent buses and slow trains mean that Vendicari, the gorges and the baroque towns realistically call for a hire car.

Trieste is much easier without one. The centre is flat and compact, a dense bus network runs out to Barcola, Miramare and the Karst, and passenger boats cross to Muggia. The only real effort is the steep climb to San Giusto.

Neither city is a shopping trip, so the difference is in the souvenirs. Syracuse sells hand-painted ceramics, coral jewellery and papyrus paintings tied to the Ciane river, and its market has capers, almonds and pistachio.

Trieste has antique and second-hand shops that recall its merchant past, coffee from local roasters and Karst wine and honey.

Costs come out much the same, but they add up in different places. In Syracuse, market food and trattoria meals are cheap. Rooms on Ortigia get expensive in summer, though, and car hire adds to the bill.

In Trieste, a buffet plate and a coffee at the bar cost little and the buses are cheap. The waterfront, cathedral hill and Karst walks are free, so you rarely need to pay for a car.

Trieste has an evening programme to speak of. The Teatro Verdi runs a real season of opera and ballet, the city keeps a rare Habsburg fondness for operetta, and the Rossetti and a Slovenian-language theatre add straight drama.

Syracuse has one great event: classical Greek plays performed in the ancient theatre in late spring and early summer. Apart from that and Ortigia's puppet theatre, there is little to go to.

Ortigia's sea walls and Trieste's coffee houses offer two different kinds of slow time. In Syracuse it means long lunches and sunsets over the harbour. It is best in the mild, sunny months either side of summer, because the August heat and crowds take away much of the calm.

Trieste's quiet happens more indoors and has a literary feel: a newspaper in an old coffee house, then an evening walk out along the Molo Audace. Neither city has thermal baths, and spa treatments in both come down to hotel spas and a few day spas.