Taormina or Trieste?

Taormina has the better swimming. The coves at Mazzarò and facing Isola Bella have clear water that is good for snorkelling, and Giardini Naxos and Letojanni add longer stretches of sand and shingle a short bus ride away. The catch is that the beaches below the town are narrow pebble strips, reached by cable car, and they fill up in August.

Trieste swims from the Barcola promenade, off stepped concrete and ladders into clear water. It is easy and very local, but it does not feel like a beach. The prettier pebble coves are further out at Sistiana, Duino and Grignano, and there is almost no sand anywhere.

Trieste has the more distinctive everyday food. There are buffet counters carving boiled pork with horseradish, bowls of jota and plates of sardoni, Central European cakes, and a coffee culture with its own vocabulary. Up on the Karst, the osmize farmhouses pour Vitovska and Terrano. The catch is a narrow choice of restaurants and little fine dining.

Taormina's Sicilian cooking is the better-known cuisine, from pasta alla Norma and raw red prawns to granita with brioche and Etna wines, and it has a polished top tier of dining with sea views. Along Corso Umberto, though, tourist menus at resort prices take over, and the good everyday places are in the side streets and down in Giardini Naxos.

Trieste has much more to see. Piazza Unità, the Borgo Teresiano along the Canal Grande, the cathedral and castle on San Giusto, the Roman theatre, Miramare, the Revoltella museum and the great synagogue fill several days. The Risiera di San Sabba adds a sober chapter of 20th-century history.

Taormina has one world-class sight, the Greek theatre with Etna framed behind its stage, and an attractive walk past medieval palazzi along Corso Umberto. A day covers it all, and with no major museum, deeper sightseeing means going to Syracuse or Catania.

Neither is a place for a big night out, and in both the evening is built around the aperitivo. Taormina's version is more polished, with piano bars and terraces over the sea after the passeggiata, a few late beach clubs near Mazzarò in summer and a crowd of mostly couples. Trieste's is more local: students fill wine bars and pubs in Cavana and the old town, and in summer the kiosks along Barcola stay open late.

Etna is what sets Taormina apart. Within about an hour you can walk over old lava flows and the Silvestri craters, go towards the summit with a guide, ski in winter or wander through the vineyards and chestnut woods on its slopes. The basalt gorges of the Alcantara are closer still, and below the town the reserve around Isola Bella is good for diving and kayaking among rocky grottoes.

Trieste's outdoors is gentler and starts right behind the houses. There is the Strada Napoleonica above the gulf, the Rilke Path along the cliffs, the Val Rosandra gorge and the huge caves of the Karst. Taormina's water is best for snorkelling in its coves, while Trieste's is for sailing, and the Barcolana regatta fills the bay with sails every autumn. For a big mountain day, Taormina has a volcano close by, while from Trieste you head north to the Julian Alps.

Both are excellent bases, but they point in different directions. From Taormina the trips stay in Sicily: baroque Catania, Ortigia and the Greek quarries of Syracuse, Noto with an early start, the film villages of Savoca and Forza d'Agrò, and the wine towns on Etna's northern slopes.

Trieste makes the most of its borders. In Friuli there are Aquileia's mosaics, Cividale and star-shaped Palmanova. Piran and Ljubljana are in Slovenia, Rovinj is across in Croatian Istria, and Venice is a long but realistic day out by train.

Trieste is the easier city with children. The flat waterfront, the gardens at Miramare, the aquarium, the hands-on science centre and the vast Grotta Gigante give plenty of outings. The drawbacks are swimming off rocks and steps, and a steep upper town.

Taormina has some great moments for children: granita, the cable car, snorkelling and Etna's craters. But the town is all slopes and stairs, the beaches below are pebbly and crowded in August, and many hotels are aimed at couples. Families with small children usually do better staying in Giardini Naxos.

Trieste is simpler to get around. Its main sights sit together on flat ground by the sea, a dense bus network reaches Barcola, Miramare and the Karst, and boats cross the bay to Muggia. Only the climb to San Giusto is hard work.

Taormina's centre is tiny and pedestrian, but it is built on a slope, so every outing involves stairs. The cable car and local buses cover the coast, and the railway runs along the shore below. Etna and the inland villages realistically need a tour or a hire car.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference is in character. Taormina is the more polished browse, all on one street, Corso Umberto, with jewellers, coral and cameos, lace and Caltagirone majolica, though much of it is aimed at visitors. Trieste has ordinary Italian chain shops, and its charm is in the antique and second-hand shops of the old town and in edible souvenirs such as roasted coffee, Karst honey and presnitz.

Trieste is clearly the cheaper stay. Rooms are reasonable for most of the year, buffet meals and coffee at the bar cost little, and the waterfront, Barcola and the Karst walks are free. Seafood restaurants and smarter hotels charge normal Italian city prices.

Taormina is the most expensive base in eastern Sicily. Grand sea-view hotels set the tone, mid-range rooms are scarce in summer, and the Corso charges resort prices. Sleeping in Giardini Naxos or Letojanni, or visiting in spring or autumn, keeps the cost down.

Trieste has a proper season. There is opera and ballet at the Teatro Verdi on the waterfront, a love of operetta that is rare in Italy, theatre at the Politeama Rossetti and in Slovenian, and summer concerts in the castle courtyard on San Giusto.

Taormina has one spectacular stage and a short season. Summer opera, ballet and pop concerts in the Greek theatre, with Etna behind, are unforgettable. For the rest of the year there is little beyond chamber concerts and piano bars.

Neither town has a public bathing culture, so both depend on hotel spas, and in both the real rest comes from the slow pace. Taormina's large hotels have the better spas, with terrace pools above the sea and volcanic mud treatments, and the Villa Comunale gardens offer shade, though August crowds on the Corso break the calm. Trieste's calm is more urban and literary: long sittings in old coffee houses and sunset walks along the Molo Audace pier.