Geneva or La Spezia?

Geneva's swimming is in the lake: you dive off the Bains des Pâquis jetty, spread out on the lawns and pools of Genève-Plage, or take a boat to quieter village shores. The water is clean and fun on a hot day, but it stays cold until June and the season is short.

La Spezia has the better swimming, though not in town, where the waterfront is a working port. A short bus or train ride takes you to the sand and pebble of Lerici and San Terenzo, the clear rocky water off Palmaria or Monterosso's long beach, and the sea stays warm into early October. The beaches are small, though, and paid bathing establishments take up much of the shore.

The two kitchens are on a similar level but could hardly be more different. Geneva cooks French food with Swiss touches: lake perch, fondue and raclette, with Chasselas and Gamay from its own vineyards. Add a wide international range and fine dining in Carouge and the Old Town, all at steep prices and with little cheap street food.

La Spezia is the reverse. It serves humble Ligurian food at fair prices: farinata from wood ovens, mesciua soup, pesto on trofie, stuffed mussels from Portovenere and focaccia first thing in the morning. What it lacks is range, with few smart restaurants and little food from beyond Italy.

Geneva has more to see within the city. St Pierre Cathedral and the excavations beneath it, the Reformation Wall, the Palais des Nations, the Red Cross museum and CERN tell the story of the Reformation and of the city's world role, and two or three days pass easily.

La Spezia is a nineteenth-century naval town of arcaded streets and Liberty facades, with no medieval core. The early Italian paintings of the Museo Amedeo Lia and the Lunigiana stele statues in Castello San Giorgio are worth a morning each, but most of the region's history lies out along the coast.

Neither city is made for big nights, but Geneva gives you more to do after dark, if at a high cost. There are late bars in the rough-edged Pâquis, wine terraces in Carouge and club nights in the alternative cultural centres of Plainpalais and Jonction. In La Spezia the evening is an aperitivo on Via del Prione or the Lerici waterfront, and then most people go to bed ahead of a morning on the trails.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, one looking at mountains and the other at sea cliffs. Geneva looks onto the Alps. You can ride the cable car up the Salève, walk the forests of the Jura or ski cross-country there, and sail on the lake, and Chamonix is about an hour away, so the city works in winter as well as summer.

La Spezia's draw is the terraced coast of the Cinque Terre national park, with the Sentiero Azzurro, quieter ridge paths, the Palmaria loop, and kayaking and diving in the gulf. The marble peaks of the Apuan Alps offer serious hiking inland. Spring and autumn suit it best, because summer heat and crowds weigh on the coastal paths.

Geneva's outings are varied but take longer. Lake steamers run to Lausanne and to Montreux's Château de Chillon, past the Lavaux vineyard terraces. Yvoire and Annecy are across the French border, and Gruyères or Bern are about two hours away.

La Spezia puts more within very short reach. The Cinque Terre villages are minutes away by train, Portovenere is a quick boat ride, and Sarzana and the ruins of Luni are close inland. Pisa, Lucca and the Carrara quarries are an hour or less away, so you can fill a week without long journeys.

Geneva is the easier choice with children. The dioramas of the Natural History Museum hold young children for hours, the small animal enclosures at the Bois de la Bâtie and the lakeside playgrounds fill the gaps, and a ride on the yellow harbour boats is a treat. Neither city has a zoo, an aquarium or a theme park.

In La Spezia the best family days are on the water: boat trips round Portovenere and the shallow beaches at San Terenzo and Lerici. The steep villages, crowded summer trains and long walks suit older children far better than toddlers.

Geneva is the smoother city to get around. Its centre is walkable, trams and buses are frequent, the harbour boats belong to the same network, and the airport is a few minutes by train from the main station. La Spezia's flat centre is just as easy on foot, and its trains, buses and seasonal ferries make it a good hub for the coast, but the Cinque Terre trains and village platforms are packed in summer.

Geneva is the shopping city of the two, and for watches and jewellery it is world class, with the flagship boutiques of the Swiss watch houses along the Rue du Rhône. The craft workshops of Carouge, the Plainpalais flea market and the Old Town chocolatiers offer a less expensive side.

La Spezia has the everyday chains and shoe shops of Via del Prione and Corso Cavour. The things worth taking home are edible: pesto, olive oil, Sciacchetrà and anchovies, plus Carrara marble pieces from the nearby towns.

The gap here is wide. Geneva is among the most expensive cities anywhere, with costly rooms all year and restaurant meals well above most of Europe. Free museums, free local transport for hotel guests and cheap lidos help, and many visitors sleep or eat across the French border.

La Spezia is mid-priced. Farinata and simple trattorias are fair value, local trains are cheap, and rooms cost less than in the Cinque Terre villages. Summer rooms, trail passes and bathing establishments still add up, so spring and autumn make the money go further.

Geneva has the formal stage that La Spezia lacks: a full season of opera and ballet at the Grand Théâtre, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Victoria Hall and French-language theatre at the Comédie. La Spezia relies on the touring programme of the Teatro Civico and a lively summer of jazz and open-air concerts in piazzas and castle courtyards. For opera you have to go to Genoa or Pisa.

Geneva has a real bathing habit. In winter the Bains des Pâquis becomes a sauna and hammam, with plunges into the cold lake, the lakefront hotels have serious spas, and Évian and Divonne are close across the border.

La Spezia has no spa tradition of its own, and the nearest baths are the small ones at Equi Terme, about an hour inland. Its calm comes from places like Palmaria and from a long lunch in Tellaro, and it is best found outside summer.