Cannes or Portofino?

Cannes has a real town beach. Fine sand curves along the Croisette, with private concessions broken up by public stretches, and the wide Plage du Midi west of the port is mostly free. Gently shelving sand and calm water make a whole day by the sea easy.

Portofino has no beach of its own. You swim from ladders and rock platforms on the way to the lighthouse, where the water is deep and very clear, or at the small bay of Paraggi, which is mostly taken up by paid clubs. The swimming is lovely, but the spots are small and fill quickly.

Cannes has much more choice. It is built around the Forville market and the bistros of Le Suquet and Rue Meynadier, serving bouillabaisse, socca and stuffed vegetables, and there is fine dining up towards Mougins. Food on the seafront is often overpriced, but you do have options.

Portofino cooks good Ligurian dishes such as trofie with pesto, pansoti and Recco's cheese focaccia. They come from a handful of harbour terraces, though, where you are mostly paying for the view. There is no market and nowhere casual of note, so keen eaters go to Camogli or the trattorie in the hills.

Neither town is a culture trip, but Cannes has a little more to see: the castle museum on Le Suquet, the Belle Époque palace hotels along the Croisette and the Palais des Festivals. Together they fill a morning.

In Portofino the sight is the coloured harbour itself, along with San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the medieval abbey at San Fruttuoso, which you reach on foot or by boat. This is atmosphere rather than collections, and there is no museum of any size.

After dark the two go separate ways. In summer the beach clubs on the Croisette turn into party venues, the streets behind the old port of Cannes fill with cocktail bars and a few clubs stay open until dawn. It is glamorous and expensive, and it goes quiet out of season.

Portofino stops at aperitivo and dinner facing the yachts. There are no clubs and few late bars, so for a proper night out you go to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

Both are good for the outdoors, but in different ways. From Cannes the best walking takes a short trip, to the volcanic red rock of the Esterel or the pine paths of the Lérins islands. The range is wider, though, and stretches inland to the pre-Alps and winter skiing.

In Portofino the landscape starts outside the door. The whole headland is a regional park, with trails through holm oak to Monte di Portofino and down to San Fruttuoso, some of them exposed with chains. The marine reserve offshore is known for its red coral walls and the Christ of the Abyss.

Cannes sits on the coastal railway, so Antibes, Nice, Monaco and Menton need almost no planning. Grasse, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Èze are close by bus or car, and Saint-Tropez is within reach to the west. Few bases put so many famous places this close together.

Portofino has good outings too: Camogli and Santa Margherita by boat, Genoa in under an hour, and summer ferries to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Out of season, though, almost every trip starts with the bus to Santa Margherita station, which takes more effort.

Cannes is the easier choice with children. It has gently sloping sand, calm water, a flat promenade with carousels and play areas, and an easy boat trip for a picnic on the Lérins islands.

Portofino is safe, and children enjoy the boats and the walk up to the castle. But there is little sand, there are no playgrounds, and the steep steps rule out a pushchair, so most families stay in Rapallo or Santa Margherita instead.

Cannes is straightforward. The centre is compact and mostly flat, the station is in the middle of town, regional trains run along the coast and ferries leave from the old port. You only need a car for the inland villages and the Esterel road.

Portofino is small enough to walk round, but getting in and out is the hard part. A single narrow road comes in from Santa Margherita, about 5km away, parking is scarce and the buses are crowded in summer. From spring to autumn the ferries make it much easier.

Cannes is good enough for a shopping trip. The big luxury houses line the Croisette, Rue d'Antibes has more than a kilometre of mid-range fashion, and Rue Meynadier sells olive oil, cheeses and Provençal fabrics.

Portofino has a surprising number of designer boutiques for its size, as well as linen, lace and resort wear. Its lanes take less than an hour to see, though, and for anything more people go to the arcades of Chiavari or into Genoa.

Cannes is expensive, but you can save money there. There are lunch menus in the backstreets, picnics from the Forville market, free public beaches and cheap trains, so staying in a cheaper neighbouring town is easy.

Portofino costs even more. It has few hotels, nearly all of them luxury, and the piazzetta, the loungers at Paraggi and boat hire are all priced for the setting. Walking and the local bus are about the only cheap things, which is why many visitors sleep in Camogli or Rapallo.

Cannes has a modest but real programme. There are concerts and touring shows at the Palais des Festivals, the regional philharmonic, a respected dance festival, free beach screenings during the film festival and summer concerts in the castle courtyard on Le Suquet.

Portofino has almost nothing apart from the odd summer concert in the piazzetta. For opera or theatre you spend the evening in Genoa, at the Teatro Carlo Felice.

The two are about even for rest, and in both places wellness means luxury hotel spas rather than public baths. What differs is the setting. Cannes adds seawater thalassotherapy and slow mornings on terraces along a seafront that is calm in spring and autumn. Portofino offers shaded hillside paths and long lunches over the water, best early or late in the day, or off-season, before the tour boats arrive.