Taormina or Verona?

Taormina is a real sea destination. A cable car drops to Mazzarò and the cove by Isola Bella, where the water is clear enough for snorkelling, and Giardini Naxos and Letojanni add longer sandy stretches a short bus ride away. The catch is that the coves near town are small pebble strips, so the best places go early.

Verona has no coast at all. Swimming means a half-hour run to Lake Garda's southern shore, with lidos, lawns and Sirmione's limestone shelves. It is pleasant, but it is a side trip rather than the shape of each day.

Verona eats better day to day. Its osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta serve rich inland cooking such as Amarone risotto, bigoli with duck and bollito with pearà, and Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino are made just outside the city.

Taormina's Sicilian cooking has its own appeal: swordfish, raw red prawns, pasta alla Norma, and granita with brioche for breakfast, washed down with Etna wines. Outside the refined top tier, though, the small town gives you fewer good choices, and you will often eat best in the side streets or down in Giardini Naxos.

The two cities are very different here. Taormina rests on one great sight, the Greek theatre with Etna framed behind its stage, plus a short walk of palazzi and churches along Corso Umberto. A curious visitor covers it in a day, and there is no major museum.

Verona has a whole UNESCO-listed historic centre: the Arena, the Roman theatre, the Scaliger tombs, the Romanesque San Zeno and the art collection in Scarpa's Castelvecchio. It fills two or three days without strain.

Neither is a place for clubbing, but Verona keeps more going after dark. Veronetta's student bars and pubs stay busy later in term time, and in summer the opera crowd spilling out of the Arena near midnight gives the centre a second wind.

Taormina's evenings are a long aperitivo in Piazza IX Aprile, then piano bars and terraces over the sea for a mostly older, coupled crowd. A few beach clubs near Mazzarò stay open late in summer, but out of season the town is quiet soon after dinner.

Taormina has the bigger landscape. Etna is within an hour, with craters, lava flows, guided summit trips and winter skiing. There are also the basalt gorges of the Alcantara, coastal paths up to Castelmola, and diving and kayaking in the Isola Bella marine reserve.

Verona's outdoors is gentler and more spread out. You can walk and cycle in the Valpolicella vineyards or hike the Lessinia plateau. Lake Garda is an hour away, with Monte Baldo's ridges above it and good sailing wind at its northern end.

Both make good bases, but Verona is outstanding. Rail lines put Venice, Vicenza, Padua and Mantua within an easy day, with Milan and Bologna possible too. Lake Garda's harbour towns and the cellars of Valpolicella and Soave are closer still.

From Taormina, the east coast of Sicily offers lava-stone Catania, Syracuse and Ortigia, and the hill villages of Savoca and Forza d'Agrò. Syracuse and the Val di Noto make for long days, though, and Etna's wine villages really need a car or a tour.

Verona is the easier choice with children. Gardaland, the water parks and the drive-through safari at Parco Natura Viva are all about half an hour away, the lake has calm, shallow water, and the flat centre suits a pushchair. Most of these outings do need a car, though.

Taormina welcomes children, and older ones will enjoy snorkelling and seeing Etna's craters. But the town is all slopes and steps, the beaches near it are pebbly and packed in August, and families with small children often do better staying down in Giardini Naxos.

Verona is the easier place to move around. Its centre inside the river loop is flat and largely closed to traffic, and fast trains run to Venice, Milan and the lake. A car only really helps for the Lessinia and the wine villages.

Taormina's centre is just as walkable in distance, but every outing involves stairways and steep lanes. The station sits down by the sea, a cable car links town and beach, and Etna is realistically reached by tour or hired car.

Verona offers somewhat more. Via Mazzini has Italian fashion labels, and the side streets add boutiques, jewellers and shoe shops, though for serious shopping people still go to Milan.

Taormina's shopping is one street of coral, cameos, lace and Caltagirone ceramics, mostly aimed at visitors. On both sides the best buys are things to eat and drink: pistachio cream and Etna wine in Taormina, Amarone and pandoro in Verona.

Neither is cheap, but Verona costs noticeably less. Walking replaces transport, the wine counters and Veronetta osterie keep meals fair, and rooms near the station or across the river ease the bill, except on opera nights and during trade fairs.

Taormina is the priciest place to stay in eastern Sicily. Its grand hotels and terraces on the Corso charge resort prices, and the usual way to save is to sleep in Giardini Naxos or Letojanni and come up for the evening.

Both stage summer performances in ancient theatres, but Verona's is the bigger draw. From June to early September the Arena puts on grand Verdi and Puccini productions most nights, the Roman theatre hosts Shakespeare and jazz, and the Teatro Filarmonico keeps a season going through the cooler months.

Taormina's Greek theatre hosts concerts, opera and pop acts against an unmatched backdrop, but the programme is shorter. Outside summer there is little beyond piano bars, and serious opera means going to Catania.

The two are much alike for relaxing. The difference is in the kind of pampering. Taormina offers hotel spas with pools on terraces above the sea and treatments using volcanic mud and citrus.

Verona has real thermal water nearby: Sirmione's sulphur springs facing Lake Garda, a spring-fed lake in a villa garden near Lazise, and the old springs at Caldiero. Both are calmest outside the August crowds.