Genoa or Saint-Tropez?

Saint-Tropez is the beach destination of the two. Pampelonne has about 5km of fine, pale sand, with beach clubs and public stretches in between. The wilder coves at Escalet and Gigaro are further south. The catch is that all of this lies several kilometres outside the town.

In Genoa, swimming fits around the rest of the day. You can take a dip at Boccadasse's pebble cove, from the bathing establishments over the rocks along Corso Italia or off the platforms at Nervi. For a proper beach you take the train to Camogli, Sestri Levante or the sand at Varazze. The water is equally clear and warm in both places, so the real difference is pebble and loungers in Genoa against long sandy beaches in Saint-Tropez.

Genoa is the better place to eat, and it is cheaper. This is where pesto comes from. Breakfast is focaccia, lunch is trofie or pansoti in walnut sauce, and the old-town friggitorie sell farinata and fried fish by the slice. The Mercato Orientale shows off the region's produce, and Vermentino goes with seafood in the harbour trattorias.

Saint-Tropez cooks polished Provençal food, such as bouillabaisse, grilled fish and aïoli, with rosé from the nearby vineyards. Its top restaurants are good. Simple everyday meals are harder to find, many quayside places charge for the view, and in winter much of the town shuts.

Genoa has far more to see. Its old town is one of the largest medieval quarters in Europe. The UNESCO-listed palaces of Via Garibaldi and Via Balbi hold Rubens, Van Dyck and Paganini's violin, and the striped cathedral, the Lanterna lighthouse and Staglieno cemetery can fill several days.

In Saint-Tropez the highlight is the Musée de l'Annonciade, with its pointillist and Fauvist paintings from the years when Signac painted the harbour. You can add the citadel's maritime museum and a walk through La Ponche. It is a pleasant morning or two, and people come for the setting rather than the heritage.

In summer, Saint-Tropez has the bigger night out. Afternoon parties at the Pampelonne beach clubs lead to champagne on the yachts and harbour terraces, and then to famous clubs that stay open until dawn. Expect table service and dress codes. From October onwards it goes quiet.

Genoa's evenings are smaller and run all year. Students and locals drink aperitivo around Piazza delle Erbe and the university lanes, there are waterfront bars at the Porto Antico and Foce, and the scene moves to Corso Italia in summer. Expect a late glass of wine in a medieval square rather than a dance floor.

Both places have excellent walking along the coast, and Genoa has a little more within reach. A funicular climbs to Righi for the trail around the old ridge-top forts. The Portofino park and the Cinque Terre terraces are a train ride away, and boats sail into the Pelagos Sanctuary to look for whales and dolphins.

Saint-Tropez has the Sentier du Littoral, which runs past pine-backed coves to the capes of Camarat and Taillat. It also has the cork-oak forests of the Massif des Maures and the national park islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles. Its gulf is the better water for sailing, but summer heat and fire risk can close trails.

Genoa is far the stronger base, because one coastal railway does most of the work. Camogli and Santa Margherita are under an hour by train, and Portofino is a short bus or boat ride on from Santa Margherita. The Cinque Terre villages are about an hour and a half away. To the west lie the walled Finale Ligure Borgo and Noli. Inland, Milan and Turin are close enough for a museum day or the Last Supper.

Saint-Tropez's outings stay close to the gulf. You can visit the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin and Grimaud's ruined castle, take a passenger boat to the canals of Port Grimaud, or taste wine at the Côtes de Provence estates. Porquerolles or Bormes-les-Mimosas will fill a whole day. None of these places has the historic weight of the Ligurian list, and every trip depends on roads that jam in July and August.

Genoa gives children more to do. The Porto Antico has the large aquarium with its dolphins and penguins, a science centre, the biosphere and the walk-through submarine at the Galata museum. The funiculars and old public lifts are a treat in themselves. The steep, dark lanes are hard work with a pushchair.

Saint-Tropez works for families mainly because of its gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro. Beyond the beach, the town is aimed at adults, and the prices and summer traffic make a long stay hard work. Many families stay in Sainte-Maxime and come over by boat.

Genoa is far easier without a car. Funiculars, a rack railway and public lifts climb the hills, a short metro line runs through the centre, and the coastal railway reaches Nervi and the Riviera towns. Only the slow buses in narrow streets let it down.

Saint-Tropez itself is a few minutes' walk from end to end, but it has no railway. The main beaches are several kilometres away, and the one road along the gulf jams for hours in July and August. Visitors depend on cars, scooters and taxis, or on the passenger boats from Sainte-Maxime and Port Grimaud.

Saint-Tropez is the better place for shopping, at least in summer. The big fashion houses keep shops in the lanes behind the port and around the Place de la Garonne, alongside resort wear and jewellery. The hand-stitched leather Tropézienne sandal is the souvenir to buy, and the Place des Lices market adds linen, baskets and pottery.

Genoa covers the familiar Italian labels along the arcades of Via XX Settembre and in the Galleria Mazzini, but there is little luxury. Its strength is local: candied fruit, olive oil and pesto from long-established shops, silver filigree and coral from old-town workshops, and food from the Mercato Orientale.

Genoa is the cheaper stay at any time of year, and what you spend depends mostly on the kind of day you plan. A day in the palaces and old-town lanes costs little for northern Italy. Beach days cost more once you pay for a lounger at a bathing establishment, and staying in one of the smart Riviera resorts in summer raises the bill sharply.

In Saint-Tropez, the season sets the price. Rooms, beach-club lunches, harbour terraces and evening drinks all cost most in July and August. With no railway, taxis or parking add to the cost of every outing. Late spring and autumn bring prices down noticeably, but even then a week there costs far more than the same week in Genoa.

Genoa has a real programme through the year. The Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari stages opera, ballet and symphony concerts, the Teatro Nazionale is an established drama company, and the Paganini concerts and small clubs keep the singer-songwriter tradition going.

Saint-Tropez offers open-air classical and jazz concerts on the citadel in summer, plus the Bravade procession each May with muskets and costumes. Outside those times there is almost nothing to see, and for opera you have to drive to Toulon or Nice.

Neither place has a bathing culture of its own, and in both the spas are mostly in the better hotels. The difference is in where you find calm. In Genoa it is the villa gardens and promenade at Nervi, or a trip of a little over an hour to the thermal waters at Acqui Terme, away from a busy port centre.

Saint-Tropez changes with the time of year. In high summer it is loud and crowded. In May, June and September it slows to morning walks up to the citadel and pétanque under the plane trees.