Cortina d'Ampezzo or La Spezia?

Cortina has no swimming to speak of. There are hotel pools and a bracing dip in Ghedina or Pianozes, but those lakes are fed by snowmelt and stay cold.

La Spezia's own waterfront is a port, but the gulf has real choices a bus or train ride away. There is sand and pebble at San Terenzo and Lerici, very clear rocky water at Portovenere and Palmaria, and the long sandy beach at Monterosso. Expect small, often pebbly beaches and plenty of paid bathing establishments rather than wide open sand.

Both serve regional cooking rather than a wide range, but La Spezia's is easier to enjoy every day. It has farinata from wood ovens, stuffed mussels from the gulf, pesto on trofie and the fish stalls of the Piazza Cavour market, at prices that stay steady.

Cortina eats well for a small town, with casunziei, polenta with game and long lunches on rifugio terraces. It has almost no street food and little that is cheap, though, so the hut meals are the highlight rather than any variety.

Neither is a heritage destination, but La Spezia has more to see in town. There are the early Italian paintings of the Museo Amedeo Lia, the naval museum by the arsenal and the Lunigiana stele statues in the Castello San Giorgio, all within an arcaded nineteenth-century grid.

Cortina's centre offers a basilica, painted houses and three small Regole museums, enough for a rainy afternoon. Its most moving history is the First World War tunnels on Lagazuoi and the Cinque Torri, and reaching them takes a day in the mountains.

Expect quiet nights in both, though La Spezia has the steadier evenings. Aperitivo fills Via del Prione and the streets around Piazza Verdi through most of the year, and in summer the waterfront bars at Lerici and San Terenzo take over.

Cortina's evenings mean après-ski and a walk along the Corso Italia. Late bars and the odd club are mostly for the peak winter weeks. In summer the town is asleep early.

Both settings are superb, but Cortina is in another league for mountains. The Dolomites ring the valley, lifts climb straight onto the peaks, and the Tre Cime and the Fanes-Sennes-Braies park are close by. Skiing in winter and the Alta Via 1 and via ferrata in summer make it an outdoor base all year round.

La Spezia's landscape is the coast: the terraced cliffs and footpaths of the Cinque Terre, the loop walk on Palmaria, and kayaking and diving in the gulf, with the Apuan Alps an hour inland. It is at its best in spring and autumn, when the paths are cooler and less crowded.

This is where La Spezia pulls clearly ahead. The five Cinque Terre villages, Portovenere and Lerici are minutes away by train, bus or boat. Pisa, Lucca, Carrara and Portofino all make easy days out.

From Cortina, the best outings are into the mountains themselves. San Candido, Brunico and the Iceman in Bolzano are pleasant but take longer by road, and Venice means a long day on the coach.

For families the two are much the same. Both are safe and calm, and neither has a zoo, aquarium or theme park. What differs is the kind of day: Cortina suits children who ski, skate or walk up to a hut meadow, while La Spezia's best days are boat trips and the shallow beaches at San Terenzo and Lerici, with steep villages and crowded trains that suit older children better.

La Spezia is easy to manage without a car. It has a flat, walkable centre, a station with trains along the coast and inland, buses around the gulf and ferries from spring to autumn. Summer trains get packed, but you won't need to drive.

Cortina's centre takes only minutes to cross on foot. Beyond it, there is no railway, buses to the passes and the Tre Cime are limited, and most visitors hire a car to explore the wider Dolomites.

Neither town is a shopping destination, but Cortina gives a keen shopper more to look at. One short pedestrian street, the Corso Italia, packs in jewellers, furriers, designer labels and well-made ski and mountain clothing. The Cooperativa di Cortina, trading since 1893, fills several floors with local foods, homeware and outdoor gear, and carved wood and filigree make more personal souvenirs. It suits someone with money for a good jacket or a piece of jewellery, and an afternoon is enough to see it all.

La Spezia's Via del Prione and Corso Cavour are an ordinary Italian high street of chains and shoe shops, with little you couldn't buy at home. Its strength is food to take back: pesto, olive oil, Cinque Terre wine, Sciacchetrà and Monterosso anchovies, plus marble pieces from Carrara in the towns nearby. Come here to fill a suitcase with things to eat and drink, not with clothes.

La Spezia keeps costs reasonable. Rooms are cheaper than in the Cinque Terre villages, everyday food is fair and local trains cost little, even if summer stays are priced at an ordinary Western European level.

Cortina is among the most expensive places in Italy, with luxury prices for hotels and restaurants in the winter peak and in August, and lift passes and equipment hire on top. Rifugio meals, early summer and late September help, but many budget travellers stay in cheaper valleys and drive in.

La Spezia has a modest stage life: a season of theatre and concerts at the Teatro Civico, the historic Teatro degli Impavidi in nearby Sarzana, and a long-established summer jazz festival held in piazzas and castle courtyards. Cortina has no theatre season, and its music comes from summer chamber and classical festivals in churches, halls and sometimes mountain settings.

For a restful stay, Cortina has the edge, mainly because of its hotels. Alpine spas with saunas, hay baths and indoor pools are ideal after skiing or a long hike, and June and September bring calm, clear air.

La Spezia relies on its slower pace rather than on facilities. A long lunch in Tellaro or a quiet day on Palmaria is restful, and the nearest thermal baths are the small ones at Equi Terme, about an hour inland.