Genoa or Positano?

Genoa gives you a swim alongside the city rather than a beach vacation. There is the little pebble cove at Boccadasse, the bathing establishments built over the rocks on Corso Italia and the platforms below Nervi's promenade. A proper beach day means a train to Camogli, Sestri Levante or the sandier shore at Varazze.

Positano is the stronger choice when the sea is the point. Spiaggia Grande lies at the foot of the town and Fornillo is a short cliff walk away. Boats run to Arienzo, Laurito and coves towards Capri, all in clear, deep blue water. The shore is steep and coarse, so water shoes help, and in high summer the loungers are taken by mid-morning.

Genoa is the far better place to eat. This is where pesto comes from, and everyday food is cheap and very local: oily focaccia at breakfast, trofie or pansoti at lunch, and farinata and fried fish from the friggitorie in the old lanes. The Mercato Orientale shows what the region grows.

In Positano you pay for the setting more than the cooking. Spaghetti with clams, grilled fish and lemon desserts on a terrace over the sea are a real pleasure, but the menus repeat one another, there is almost no street food or market life, and many kitchens close in winter.

Genoa has one of Europe's largest medieval quarters. Above it, the Rolli palaces of Via Garibaldi and Via Balbi hold Van Dyck, Rubens and Paganini's violin in Palazzo Rosso, Bianco and Tursi, and their painted halls alone are worth the visit. San Lorenzo, the Palazzo Ducale, the Lanterna and the marble sculpture of Staglieno can fill several more days.

In Positano the town itself is the sight: pastel houses climbing the ravine, the majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta and the painted Roman villa beneath it. A morning covers it all, and for serious sightseeing you need to go to Naples.

Neither is a party town, but Genoa has more going on in the evening and keeps it going all year. Students and locals fill the small bars around Piazza delle Erbe and the lanes near the university. The Porto Antico and Foce have waterfront bars, and in summer the beach clubs on Corso Italia take over.

A Positano evening means aperitivo with a view and a long dinner. Add a few bars near the beach and a single cave club at the end of Spiaggia Grande, and that is nearly all of it. Most of it stops when the season ends, so it suits a couple's quiet night better than a group out for fun.

Both put serious walking on the doorstep, but the settings differ. Genoa offers variety. A funicular climbs to Righi and the ring of hilltop forts, the train reaches the Portofino promontory and the Cinque Terre trails, the Apennines and the Beigua Geopark lie inland, and boats go out to see whales and dolphins in the Pelagos Sanctuary.

Positano's landscape is more concentrated and more dramatic. The Path of the Gods runs along the cliffs to Nocelle, woodland trails climb to ridges above 1,000m, and kayaks follow the cliffs to grottoes and the Li Galli islets.

Both are excellent bases, but for different kinds of trip. From Genoa the railway does the work. Camogli, Santa Margherita and Portofino are under an hour away, with the Cinque Terre a little further. Quiet Finale Ligure and Noli lie to the west, and Milan or Turin makes a good day in a big city.

Positano's list is more famous: Amalfi, Ravello, Capri by boat, Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the temples of Paestum. Getting to them takes more effort, though. Most ferries run only from spring to autumn, and the coast road clogs in summer.

Genoa is much the easier place with children. The Porto Antico puts the aquarium, a children's science centre, the glass biosphere and the Galata museum's walk-through submarine together on one flat stretch of waterfront. The funiculars and public lifts are fun in themselves, even if the old town's lanes are hard going with a pushchair.

Positano has the sea and very little else for children, and its endless stairs make it a struggle with toddlers. Older children who love swimming and boat trips will be happy enough.

Genoa has a proper network. A short metro line runs through the centre, and funiculars, a rack railway and public lifts climb the hills. The coastal railway reaches Nervi and the Riviera towns without a car, though the buses are slow.

In Positano you walk, and nearly every walk includes a staircase. One local bus climbs through the upper town and the coastal buses crawl in summer traffic. Ferries are the easiest way to reach the neighbouring towns, but mostly only in season.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference is one of kind. Genoa offers range: the arcades of Via XX Settembre, Italian labels on Via Roma and in the Galleria Mazzini, and old-town shops selling candied fruit, pesto, silver filigree and coral.

Positano sells one look, but it is entirely its own: white linen and printed resort wear in the lanes down to the beach, sandals cut to fit while you wait, painted ceramics and lemon soap.

The widest gap is the cost of a bed for the night. A room in Genoa costs what you would expect in a northern Italian port and well below Rome, Florence or Venice, so a week's stay still leaves money for train trips along the coast. Costs only catch up on a summer beach day. A lounger at a bathing establishment or lunch in Portofino or Santa Margherita soon reaches Riviera prices, and sleeping in the city and arriving by train keeps that in check.

In Positano almost everything is priced for its view, from a hotel balcony to a lounger on Spiaggia Grande, and there is little ordinary, everyday eating to balance it. Staying in Praiano or Sorrento and coming in by ferry or bus makes a large difference, and the bills are noticeably lower in May or October than in midsummer.

Genoa has a real, if modest, programme. The Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari stages opera, ballet and concerts, the city puts on concerts in honour of Paganini, and the Teatro Nazionale is there for anyone who follows Italian. Small clubs keep the city's singer-songwriter tradition alive.

Positano offers little beyond occasional summer concerts in churches and squares. Its best evening of music means a trip to Ravello's summer festival, where concerts are held on a terrace above the sea.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and Genoa is the less restful of the two. Its spas are in the better hotels, and the nearest thermal waters are at Acqui Terme, a little over an hour away. Calm in the city comes mainly from Nervi's promenade and villa gardens.

Positano is the easier place to unwind, as long as you avoid July and August. Clifftop hotel spas and pools, slow lunches and afternoons on a terrace over the sea are the point of the place. May, June and late September show its most restful side.