Taormina or Valletta?

The swimming is about equally good in both, but it works differently. In Taormina you take the cable car down from the town to the pebble coves at Mazzarò and Isola Bella, where the water is glassy and good for snorkelling, and the longer sand of Giardini Naxos is a short bus ride away.

In Valletta you swim in town by climbing down ladders off limestone ledges below the bastions. The sandy bays of Golden Bay and Mellieha are under an hour away by bus, so they make a half-day outing rather than a morning habit. Taormina has the beach closer to hand. Malta has more variety, from rock pools to Comino's lagoon.

Sicily and Malta put very different things on the plate. Taormina cooks from the Sicilian repertoire: pasta alla Norma, swordfish and raw red prawns, cannoli from the pastry shops and almond granita with a warm brioche at breakfast. Etna's Nerello Mascalese reds and Carricante whites are on almost every list, and the refined end of the scale comes with sea views.

Valletta's cooking is plainer and more of a crossroads, with Sicilian, North African and British traces: pastizzi from cheap counters, ftira for lunch, rabbit stew and lampuki pie in autumn. For the best fish you go out to Marsaxlokk rather than eat inside the walls, and nothing on Malta matches Etna's wines. In both towns the main streets lean on tourist menus, and the choice does not run deep.

Valletta is far richer. The whole city is a planned work of the Knights, and St John's Co-Cathedral with its Caravaggio, the Grandmaster's Palace, Fort St Elmo and the MUZA museum fill two or three days before you even cross to the Three Cities or visit the Hypogeum.

Taormina has one great monument, the Greek theatre, which frames Etna and the coast, and a pleasant walk along Corso Umberto past Palazzo Corvaja and the Duomo. There are no major museums, so a single unhurried day covers it.

Neither is a party town, but Valletta has more going on. Strait Street's wine bars and cocktail places, with tables out on the steps, keep the old sailors' quarter busy in the evening. Paceville's clubs, open until dawn, are half an hour away for anyone who wants them.

Taormina's evenings are an aperitivo in Piazza IX Aprile, the passeggiata and a piano bar over the sea. There is no club scene, the crowd is mostly couples, and out of season the town is asleep soon after dinner.

Taormina is much the stronger choice for the outdoors. Within about an hour you can walk the Silvestri craters, go up towards Etna's summit with a guide, ski its slopes in winter or walk through the Alcantara gorges. Paths from town lead up to Castelmola and Monte Tauro.

Malta is dry, built-up limestone with no mountains or forests, and its walks along Dingli Cliffs or Gozo's coast are short. Its strength is underwater, with wrecks, caves and the Blue Hole drawing divers. It is the better island for a dive, but for everything on land it cannot compete.

Both are good bases for day trips, but the scale is different. From Taormina the trips run down Sicily's east coast to Catania's lava-stone baroque and fish market, Syracuse and Ortigia, and, with an early start, Noto. Closer in are the film villages of Savoca and Forza d'Agrò and the wine towns on Etna's northern slopes.

Valletta's trips are shorter and centre on history: Mdina and Rabat's catacombs half an hour away, the temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra above the southern cliffs, and Gozo by ferry. Sicily offers more variety and wine country. Malta wins on easy distances, though it all shares one island character.

Valletta works better with children, mostly because of the island around it. English is spoken everywhere, distances are short, and the aquarium at Qawra, Popeye Village and the shallow sandy bays in the north are easy outings. The noon cannon at the Upper Barrakka Gardens is a favourite in the city.

Both towns are steep and full of steps, which is hard going with a pushchair. Taormina adds pebbly beaches crowded in August and hotels aimed at couples, though school-age children love Etna and snorkelling at Isola Bella. In both places families often stay elsewhere, in Giardini Naxos or Sliema.

Valletta is the easier place to get around without a car. The city is about a kilometre long, ferries cross to Sliema and the Three Cities, and buses from the city gate reach nearly the whole island, even if they are slow on congested roads.

Taormina's pedestrian centre is just as walkable and has the cable car down to the sea. It also has something Malta lacks: a railway, though the station is down by the coast, with trains to Catania, Messina and Syracuse. The catch is that Etna and the inland villages realistically need a tour or a hired car.

Neither is a shopping destination, and both put their shops along one main street. Corso Umberto in Taormina specialises in coral, cameos, linen and Sicilian ceramics such as the painted moor's-head vases, along with pistachio and almond sweets.

Valletta's Republic Street and Merchant Street mix high-street chains with silver filigree, Gozo lace and blown glass, and you can watch the crafts being made at Ta' Qali. For bigger shopping you head to Catania from Taormina and to Sliema from Valletta.

Valletta is noticeably kinder to the wallet. Malta is mid-priced, bus fares and pastizzi are cheap, and a simple meal of fish or pasta is reasonable. Rooms inside the walls are on the dear side, but Sliema and Gzira are a short ferry ride away and cost less.

Taormina is the most expensive place in eastern Sicily, with grand sea-view hotels, scarce mid-range rooms in summer and resort prices along the Corso. Granita and the local buses stay cheap, and sleeping down in Giardini Naxos or Letojanni brings the cost down.

Valletta has more on through the year. The Manoel Theatre, a gilded eighteenth-century auditorium, puts on chamber music, drama and the Malta Philharmonic. A baroque festival in winter, jazz on the Grand Harbour in summer and the rival opera houses on Gozo add to the calendar.

Taormina has the more unforgettable setting but a much shorter season. On summer nights the Greek theatre stages opera, ballet and big concerts with Etna behind the stage. Outside summer there is little beyond piano bars, and for serious opera you go to Catania.

Taormina is the better place to unwind. Its large hotels have good spas with terrace pools above the sea and treatments using volcanic mud and citrus, and the pace of long lunches, the shade of the Villa Comunale and Etna changing colour at dusk does the rest, at least outside August.

Valletta's spas are pleasant but ordinary, and most are in the resort hotels of St Julian's. Its calm comes later in the day, when the cruise passengers leave, the limestone turns gold and the Barrakka Gardens grow quiet over the harbour.