Venice or Rome?

Neither is a beach destination, but Venice has the easier sea. The Lido is a short vaporetto ride from San Marco, with fine sand and shallow, gentle water that suits small children, and Pellestrina beyond it is quieter.

Rome's nearest sea is at Ostia, half an hour by suburban train. Its dark volcanic sand is mostly divided into paid lidos and fills with Romans at weekends. Neither sea is clear, and from Rome the cleaner coves at Sperlonga and Sabaudia mean a longer day out.

Rome is the stronger city to eat in, with a cuisine of its own served in ordinary trattorias. Look for the four Roman pastas, artichokes fried the Jewish way in the Ghetto, offal dishes in Testaccio, and pizza al taglio and supplì on the street. It pays to walk to Trastevere, Monti or Testaccio, away from the sights.

Venice eats on a smaller scale. Its best moments are at a bacaro counter with cicchetti and a spritz, and lagoon dishes such as black cuttlefish risotto made with fish from the Rialto market. Both centres are full of tourist menus, but in Venice good meals take more seeking out, and there is little beyond local cooking.

Both are among the world's great cities for art and history, and they differ in kind. Rome has two and a half thousand years in layers: the Colosseum, Forum and Pantheon in the middle of town, the Baroque piazzas of Bernini and Borromini, and the huge collections of the Vatican Museums and the Borghese.

Venice is one intact whole: palaces, churches and bridges on water, with almost nothing modern in view. Its art centres on the Venetian painters, with Titian at the Frari and Tintoretto at San Rocco, while the Guggenheim and the Biennale cover modern work. In Rome you must plan and choose; Venice repays slow wandering and time on the Grand Canal.

Rome has far more to do after dinner. Aperitivo spills out into the piazzas, Trastevere's lanes stay full until late, and Monti, San Lorenzo and Pigneto each draw their own crowd. There are also some clubs in Testaccio and Ostiense.

Venice's evening peaks at aperitivo along the Fondamenta della Misericordia and around the Rialto, and Campo Santa Margherita is the one square that stays busy later. By midnight the canals are dark and silent, which makes for a lovely walk but not a night out.

Rome has more green space and more variety within reach. Villa Borghese and Villa Pamphili give room to walk inside the city, and the Appian Way makes a superb bike ride past tombs and aqueducts. The crater lakes of the Alban Hills and the Apennines are close enough for hiking, or for skiing in winter.

In Venice the outdoors is the lagoon itself. You can kayak or learn Venetian rowing among the northern marshes, watch for egrets and flamingos, and cycle along the Lido sea walls. Real mountains, the Dolomites, are more than two hours away, and the city has few parks.

Both are excellent bases, and Rome has a slight edge in range. Ostia Antica, Tivoli's Villa d'Este and Hadrian's Villa, and the Castelli Romani are all close. To the north lie Etruscan tombs, Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio, and Florence and Naples are an easy run by fast train.

From Venice, trains reach a string of fine Veneto cities, Padua, Vicenza and Verona, and the Palladian villas along the Brenta are close by. What Rome cannot match is the lagoon: Murano, Burano and Torcello make a day out by boat without going to the mainland.

Neither city is built for a vacation with children, and the problems differ. Rome has the zoo, rowing boats and lawns of Villa Borghese, plus gladiators and catacombs to catch children's interest, but traffic, queues and summer heat soon tire them out.

Venice has no cars and plenty of novelty, from vaporetto rides to glass-blowing on Murano and the shallow Lido beach. But its stepped bridges are a constant struggle with a pushchair and there are few playgrounds, so it suits older children on a short stay best.

Venice is the easier city to get around simply because it is small and has no cars. Almost everything is within a forty-minute walk, vaporetti run along the Grand Canal and out to the islands, and trains stop at the edge of the centre. The price is steps: hundreds of bridges make luggage and pushchairs hard work.

Rome's centre is also best seen on foot, from the Colosseum to the Pantheon and over to Trastevere, but the distances are longer. The metro barely reaches the historic core, and buses get stuck in traffic. Scooters, cobbles and heat make walking there more tiring than in Venice.

Rome is the better shopping city. The big Italian fashion houses line Via Condotti and the streets below the Spanish Steps, and Via del Corso has the chains. Monti has independent and vintage boutiques, Via dei Coronari has antique dealers, and the huge Porta Portese flea market runs on Sundays.

Venice has a narrower but more distinctive choice: Murano glass, Burano lace, papier-mâché masks, marbled paper and furlane slippers, best bought from workshops in Dorsoduro and Castello. Its main routes are full of imported imitations, and for mainstream shopping you go to Mestre.

Neither city is cheap, but Rome is easier on a budget. Most of the cost is in rooms and museum tickets. Standing espresso, pizza al taglio, trattoria lunches, free water from the fountains and churches full of masterpieces keep daily spending reasonable.

Venice costs more in almost every way: hotels in the centre, water transport, café tables on the piazza and entry to most churches. Eating cicchetti at the counter and sleeping in Mestre or a quieter sestiere help, but it is still the bigger expense.

Rome has the broader programme. The Teatro dell'Opera stages opera and ballet and moves outdoors to the Baths of Caracalla in summer. The Santa Cecilia orchestra plays at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, which also hosts jazz, pop and world music, and the city has a long-running jazz club scene.

Venice has the grander single house in La Fenice, where Verdi and Rossini premiered works. It also has Vivaldi concerts in churches and scuole most evenings, uneven in quality but atmospheric. Beyond classical music there is little to hear.

Neither city has a bathing culture of its own, and in both the spas are mostly in hotels. Rome's nearest thermal water is the sulphur pools of Bagni di Tivoli, with free hot springs around Viterbo further out. From Venice, Abano and Montegrotto near Padua offer hot mud and thermal pools.

The real difference is noise. Rome is loud with scooters and traffic, and for calm you go to the villa gardens, the Aventine or a long lunch. Venice has no traffic at all, so early mornings and evenings in Castello, Cannaregio or on Giudecca are hushed, as long as you avoid San Marco during the day.