Hallstatt or Portofino?

In Hallstatt, swimming means a cold, bracing dip in a dark, mountain-fed lake that barely reaches 20°C in high summer. You swim from the small lawn in the village or the lido at Obertraun, and it rounds off a hike rather than filling a day.

Portofino has warmer, saltier water and more places to get into it. There is deep, clear swimming off the rocks towards the lighthouse, sand in the sheltered bay at Paraggi and the pebble cove at San Fruttuoso by boat. The spots are small and crowded in summer, but here a swim can be part of every day.

In Hallstatt, eating is simple: schnitzel, goulash and dumplings in guesthouse dining rooms, with lake char or whitefish as the one local speciality, and kitchens that close early once the day visitors leave.

Portofino has more character on the plate, with Ligurian trofie with pesto, pansoti in walnut sauce and the cheese focaccia of nearby Recco. The harbour terraces charge for the view and the cooking is solid rather than memorable, but it is still the better place to eat. For more choice, people go to Camogli or the hill trattorie.

Hallstatt has the deeper story. Salt has been mined in the mountain for some seven thousand years, and the Iron Age burial finds here gave their name to a whole early European culture. Add the mine itself, the museum and the painted skulls of the Beinhaus, and you have a full day of real substance.

Portofino's sights are more about the setting: San Giorgio above the bay, Castello Brown with its gardens and the medieval abbey at San Fruttuoso in a cove with no road. They are lovely, but there is no museum of any size, so most people have seen them in a day.

Hallstatt has no nightlife at all. After the day visitors leave, an evening means dinner, a glass of wine by the water and a walk along the dark lake. Portofino at least has a summer scene: a dressed-up aperitivo at the bars facing the yachts. There are no clubs, though, and a late night means going on to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

Both are superb for the outdoors, but Hallstatt's is on a bigger scale. The Dachstein rises straight from the lake. There is the Krippenstein cable car to the Five Fingers platform, the giant ice caves, the waterfalls of the Echerntal and the walk to the Gosausee, and in winter you can ski or go ski touring.

Portofino swaps height for the sea. Its headland trails climb through holm oak and pine to San Fruttuoso and Camogli, with chained sections above the cliffs, and offshore the marine reserve has red coral and the Christ of the Abyss for divers. Portofino is better for diving and kayaking, Hallstatt for real mountains.

Hallstatt sits among the Salzkammergut lakes. Imperial Bad Ischl, St Wolfgang and Gmunden are all within reach, and Salzburg makes a long day out, but buses are sparse and a car helps a lot.

From Portofino the outings are better and easier to reach. Camogli and Santa Margherita are a short boat ride away, Genoa's medieval centre and Renaissance palaces are less than an hour off, and in summer ferries run to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Going by sea is part of the fun.

Hallstatt gives children more to do. There is the salt mine with its miners' slides and underground lake, the cable car and ice caves for older ones, and rowing boats on the lake. The main lane is steep and packed at midday, so families often stay in Obertraun and come in for a few hours.

Portofino is safe, and children enjoy the boats and the walk up to the castle, but nothing there is aimed at them. The sand at Paraggi is mostly paid beach clubs, and the steps are no place for a pushchair. Most families stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo and make a day of Genoa's aquarium.

You can walk across either village in minutes, on steep paths. Hallstatt is the easier one to reach. Trains stop at a station on the far shore with a boat across to the village, and regional buses run to Obertraun, Gosau and Bad Ischl, though they are thin outside summer.

Portofino depends on a single narrow coast road from Santa Margherita, about 5km away, with very little parking and summer jams. In practice you arrive by local bus or, from spring to autumn, by ferry.

Neither is a place to go shopping. In Hallstatt it means souvenirs along the main lane, and salt from the mine is the one thing worth taking home. Portofino has more to browse for such a small village: big fashion and jewellery names, linen and resort wear, plus Ligurian lace and pesto. You can see it all in under an hour, and for a real browse people go to Chiavari or Genoa.

Hallstatt is expensive for Austria, with few rooms, resort-level meals and attractions that add up, yet Portofino is in another league. Its luxury hotels cost as much as top addresses in big cities, the piazzetta charges heavily for the view and even the loungers at Paraggi are expensive.

The way to save money is the same in both places. Sleep in Obertraun or Bad Ischl for Hallstatt, or in Santa Margherita or Camogli for Portofino, and come in for the day.

Neither village has a stage of its own. Hallstatt offers its brass band and the odd church concert, and Portofino an occasional summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. What differs is where you go for a real performance: Salzburg's opera and classical season or Bad Ischl's summer operetta from Hallstatt, and Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice from Portofino.

In both places the calm comes early and late in the day, once the midday crowds have gone. The difference is in kind. Hallstatt sits in an old spa region, with the salt-brine baths and thermal complex of Bad Ischl half an hour away. Portofino has no bathing tradition, so pampering means the spas and pools of its hillside luxury hotels, and it is most restful outside high summer.