Annecy or La Spezia?

These two are broadly level for swimming, but the water is very different. In Annecy you swim in a clear Alpine lake from grassy lawns with a strip of shingle, either in town at Albigny and Marquisats or at small village beaches like Sevrier and Talloires. The season runs only from late June to early September.

La Spezia has no beach in town, so every swim is a short trip to the sand and pebbles of Lerici and San Terenzo, the rocky coves of Palmaria, or Monterosso's long beach by train. The sea stays swimmable into early October, but expect pebbles, paid bathing establishments and full free beaches in August.

La Spezia eats better. Annecy's Savoyard menu of tartiflette, fondue and raclette is heavy, terraces in the old town repeat it with uneven quality, and the market mornings are the real treat. The best cooking is out at gastronomic tables in Talloires and Veyrier.

La Spezia has more range in its everyday food: farinata from wood ovens, gulf mussels from Portovenere, pesto on trofie and testaroli, and fish from the Piazza Cavour market. It also suits summer far better than melted cheese does. Fine dining is scarce, but the standard in town is steady.

Neither is a heritage destination, and each takes a day or two. The difference is between a pretty townscape and good museums. Annecy's main sight is the old town itself, with its canals, arcades, the Palais de l'Isle on its island in the Thiou and the château above.

La Spezia is a nineteenth-century naval city with straight avenues and Liberty-style facades, so its interest lies indoors: early Italian paintings at the Museo Amedeo Lia, the naval museum by the arsenal and the Lunigiana stele statues in Castello San Giorgio.

Both towns are quiet at night, and neither is a place for clubbing. In Annecy the evening is a drink on a canal-side terrace or by the lake, with a few later bars kept going by students. For a proper night out you go to Geneva or Lyon.

La Spezia does the Italian aperitivo instead: spritz and Vermentino along Via del Prione and around Piazza Verdi, with the summer crowd moving to the waterfront at Lerici. After that, most people go to bed early so they can be on the trails in the morning.

Both are built around their landscapes, but Annecy offers more to do outdoors. Mont Veyrier, the Semnoz and the Tournette rise straight from the lake. Paragliders launch from the Col de la Forclaz, and the water suits sailing, rowing and paddleboarding. In winter the Aravis ski slopes are less than an hour away, so the outdoors works in every season.

La Spezia's coast is extraordinary, with terraced cliffs, the Sentiero Azzurro, the quieter ridge paths and the loop around Palmaria. Kayaking and diving in the gulf are good too. But summer heat and crowds make the coastal paths hard work, and real mountains mean driving an hour to the Apuan Alps.

This is where La Spezia leads most clearly. All five Cinque Terre villages are minutes away by train, Portovenere and Lerici are short bus or boat rides, and Pisa, Lucca and the Carrara quarries are easy to reach without a car.

Annecy has strong outings too: Geneva in under an hour, Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains by train, and Chamonix under Mont Blanc. But the best of them work better with a car, and Lyon takes a long day.

Annecy is the easier choice with small children. They get the lake beaches, pedal boats, lake cruises, the lawns at Le Pâquier and the flat path along the shore, with toboggan runs and treetop courses in the hills nearby. The catch is that most of this only works in summer.

La Spezia's best family days are boat trips and the shallow beaches at San Terenzo. Beyond that, the region means steep villages, crowded trains and long coastal walks, which suit older children better. Neither town has a zoo or a theme park.

Both centres are compact and easy to walk, but La Spezia connects better to everything around it. Coastal trains, gulf buses and seasonal ferries cover almost every outing, and a car would mostly be a nuisance on the narrow village roads. The weak point is summer, when the trains and village platforms fill up.

Annecy is easy within town and by bike along the western shore, and lake boats link the villages in summer. Trailheads, Alpine passes and Chamonix are much simpler with a hire car, though, and summer traffic around the lake can be slow.

Neither town is a shopping destination, and in both the best things to take home are edible. In Annecy that means Reblochon, Savoyard sausage, génépi and honey from the old-town markets, plus the cutlery and outdoor-gear shops around Rue Sainte-Claire. Geneva is close enough for serious shopping.

In La Spezia it means pesto, olive oil, Cinque Terre wine and Sciacchetrà, with Carrara marble pieces sold in the towns nearby. Via del Prione and Corso Cavour mostly have high-street chains.

La Spezia is noticeably cheaper. Rooms cost less than in the Cinque Terre villages, everyday meals are fair value, and local trains cost little, although trail passes, boat trips and beach loungers add up over a stay.

Annecy charges resort rates in summer, and Geneva keeps prices high all year, for eating out as well as rooms. What helps is that its main attractions are free: the lake beaches, the parks and the mountain trails.

Both are modest, so the difference is in timing. Annecy has an arts centre that runs all year: Bonlieu, the national stage by the lake, with contemporary theatre, dance and circus. In summer it adds a classical music festival and the Fête du Lac fireworks over the water.

La Spezia's Teatro Civico has a season of plays and concerts, but the town comes alive in summer, with a long-established jazz festival and open-air concerts in piazzas and castle courtyards. For opera, Annecy residents go to Geneva or Lyon, and La Spezia residents to Genoa or Pisa.

Annecy is the more restful of the two, and most of that comes from the setting. Wherever you sit, water and mountains share the view, the summer heat is milder than on the Ligurian coast, and a slow boat across the lake to a village lunch fills a day with no effort at all. That calm thins out in July and August, so June and September are the better months to unwind.

La Spezia relaxes you in another way, through the sea and the quieter seasons. A spring or autumn evening on the seafront promenade, a long lunch above the water at Tellaro or a day on Palmaria away from the trains are its gentlest pleasures. There is little in the way of spas to plan a stay around, though, and the town itself is a working port rather than a retreat.