Genoa or Piran?

Neither is a sand-and-sunbed destination, and both are about swimming from rocks and pebbles. Genoa gives a bit more choice. Within the city there are the Boccadasse cove, the bathing establishments on Corso Italia and the platforms below Nervi's promenade, and the train reaches Camogli, Sestri Levante and Varazze's longer sandy beaches.

In Piran you climb down ladders from the concrete seafront or walk to the pebble cove at Fiesa. For sand you have to go to Portoroz's small artificial beach or the cliff-backed shore at Strunjan.

Genoa is a serious eating city. Pesto was born here, and you can start the day with focaccia dipped in cappuccino and snack on farinata and panissa from old-town friggitorie. Lunch might be pansoti in walnut sauce, and the Mercato Orientale shows off the region's produce.

Piran keeps to seafood by the water, such as scampi buzara and grilled squid in simple konobas. The Istrian hills supply olive oil, truffles and Malvazija. The harbour menus look alike, though, and anything more ambitious means driving inland.

Genoa has far more to see. Its old town is one of Europe's largest medieval quarters. Above it, the Rolli palaces hold Van Dyck and Rubens under painted ceilings, and the cathedral, the Lanterna lighthouse and Staglieno cemetery add days of sightseeing.

Piran is a single lovely set piece: Venetian Gothic houses around oval Tartini Square, St George's campanile and the town walls looking over red roofs. Its maritime museum and monastery cloister are modest, and a day covers it.

Genoa has the livelier evenings, though it is reserved by Italian standards and weeknights are quiet. At weekends, students and locals fill the small bars of the old town and the lanes near the university, and drinks spill out into the medieval squares until late. In summer the evenings move out to the Foce waterfront, Corso Italia and the beach clubs along the coast.

Piran's evening is a glass of wine at sunset on the Punta or in Tartini Square, and the town falls quiet not long after. For anything louder you go a few minutes along the shore to Portoroz, which has beach bars, a casino and a few summer clubs.

Genoa offers bigger and wilder landscapes. A funicular takes you up to the ring of hilltop forts above the port. The cliff paths of the Portofino promontory lead down to San Fruttuoso, and the Cinque Terre trails are a train ride away. Boats from the harbour go out to see whales in the Pelagos Sanctuary.

Piran's outdoors is gentler. There is the cliff path at Strunjan, birdlife in the Secovlje salt-pan lagoons, and cycling on the Parenzana through vineyards. The Skocjan caves on the Karst are about an hour away.

Genoa is the stronger base. The coastal railway runs east to Camogli, Santa Margherita, Sestri Levante and the five villages of the Cinque Terre, and west to the walled town of Finale Ligure Borgo and little Noli. Portofino is off the line, but a short bus or boat ride from Santa Margherita gets you there. Inland, Milan and Turin are close enough for a day at the museums or the Last Supper, and none of it needs a car.

Piran's strength is having three countries within a day. From there you can reach Trieste with its coffee houses, Rovinj above the sea, hilltop Motovun among the vineyards and Predjama Castle set into its cliff, and in summer a boat crosses the gulf to Venice. With no railway, though, most of these trips mean hiring a car and more planning than Genoa's outings by train.

Genoa has more to entertain children, almost all of it at the Porto Antico. There is the big aquarium with dolphins and penguins, the science centre, and the walk-through submarine at the Galata museum, with funiculars as a bonus. Away from the harbour, the steep stairs and dark lanes make hard going with a pushchair.

Piran is easier to manage day to day, with no traffic and a flat seafront. But apart from its small aquarium and Portoroz's shallow beach, there is little aimed at children.

Both are easy to manage, but on very different scales. Genoa is a hilly city, where funiculars, a rack railway, public lifts and one metro line make up for slow buses, and the coastal railway reaches Nervi and the Riviera.

Piran is so small and car-free that you cross it on foot in a quarter of an hour. A shuttle runs to Portoroz. The problem starts beyond that: there is no railway, so exploring further usually means hiring a car.

Genoa gives you a real shopping street. There is the arcaded Via XX Settembre and the Galleria Mazzini, and in the old town, old shops sell candied fruit and pesto and workshops make silver filigree and coral. Piran has a few galleries, harbour souvenirs and the true local buys of Secovlje salt flower, olive oil and coastal wine. For anything more you go to Trieste or Ljubljana.

Genoa is the cheaper stay. Focaccia and farinata make very cheap meals, and central hotels cost less than in Italy's best-known cities, though the smart Riviera resorts charge more in summer.

Piran's old town is small and in demand. In July and August rooms are scarce and dear, and waterfront tables charge for the view. Staying in Portoroz or coming outside high summer brings costs back to a fair level.

Each town is tied to a violinist, Paganini in Genoa and Tartini in Piran, but only Genoa has a year-round stage. The Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari puts on opera, ballet and symphonic concerts, and small clubs keep the city's singer-songwriter tradition going. Piran's music is mostly summer concerts in churches, the Minorite cloister and on the main square, with little to attend the rest of the year.

Genoa is the harder place to switch off. A proper spa there means the facilities of a good hotel, and the nearest thermal water is at Acqui Terme, more than an hour inland in the Piedmont hills. The calm is at the city's eastern edge, on Nervi's promenade and in its villa gardens, or over a long lunch in a Riviera village, not in the port-side centre.

Piran is made for resting. Its treatments come from the sea and the salt pans close by, and some of them are taken in the open air beside the lagoons rather than in a hotel basement. The evening light over the bay does the rest, especially in the quieter weeks either side of high summer.