Interlaken or Portofino?

Neither place has much of a beach, but Portofino gives you the sea. Swimming off the rock platforms along the lighthouse path, in deep, clear water, is a real pleasure, and the sandy cove at Paraggi and the pebbles below San Fruttuoso are close by, though all of them are small and fill up in summer.

Interlaken offers lake swimming instead: lidos and shingle at Neuhaus on Lake Thun, or a colder plunge in turquoise Lake Brienz at Bönigen. It makes a lovely end to a mountain day in July or August, but the water rarely gets past cool and the season is brief.

Portofino has the edge, mainly because Ligurian cooking has a clear identity: trofie with pesto, pansoti in walnut sauce, fritto misto and the cheese-filled focaccia of Recco. The harbour restaurants charge heavily for the yachts in view, though, and the better meals are found in Camogli, Santa Margherita or the trattorie in the hills.

In Interlaken the town's tables run to fondue, rösti and international standbys aimed at visitors, so the memorable eating happens higher up, with Alpine cheese from a mountain dairy or lunch on a hut terrace above Mürren.

Portofino at least is a sight in itself: the horseshoe of tall painted houses around the harbour, the church of San Giorgio, Castello Brown with its gardens, and the medieval abbey at San Fruttuoso in its roadless cove. A day covers it, but it is a beautiful day.

Interlaken offers even less, a row of nineteenth-century grand hotels on the Höheweg, the Kursaal and a few timber houses in Unterseen. For history and architecture you take the train to Bern or Thun.

Both go quiet early, but in different styles. Interlaken has a small, casual backpacker scene of pubs, sports bars and a couple of basement clubs near the hostels, plus the Kursaal casino, and it picks up in summer and the ski season.

Portofino is about dressing up for a long aperitivo at the elegant bars facing the yachts, followed by dinner and then very little. For anything later you head to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

Interlaken is in another league. The Jungfraujoch railway climbs to 3,454m above the Aletsch glacier, waterfalls pour down the walls of the Lauterbrunnen valley, and cable cars lift you onto high trails at First, Schynige Platte and Mürren. Paragliding, canyoning, rafting and winter skiing are all run from the town.

Portofino's headland is a rewarding place on a smaller scale: a protected park with cliff paths over Monte di Portofino to San Fruttuoso and Camogli, some with chains on exposed stretches. Offshore, the marine reserve's red coral walls and the Christ of the Abyss statue draw divers, something the Alps cannot match.

Interlaken's outings run on rails and lake steamers, Portofino's on coastal boats and the Riviera line. From Interlaken, Bern's arcaded old town is under an hour away, Thun and its castle half an hour, and Lucerne about two hours over the Brünig Pass, while steamers call at Spiez and Oberhofen and Brienz leads on to the open-air museum at Ballenberg.

From Portofino, boats and buses reach Santa Margherita, Rapallo and Camogli, and Genoa's medieval centre and Renaissance palaces are under an hour away. In summer the ferries carry on to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere, so the journey becomes part of the day, but outside that season the trains take over and outings need more planning.

Interlaken is far easier with children. The trains, gondolas and lake steamers are adventures in themselves, the summit stations have playgrounds, cliff walks and summer toboggan runs, and the St Beatus caves and Ballenberg's farm animals rarely fail. Wet days and high altitudes with very young children are the main things to plan around.

Portofino is calm and safe but made for adults, with no playgrounds, steep stepped paths that defeat pushchairs and sand mostly given over to paid clubs. Families usually stay in Rapallo or Santa Margherita and make the trip to Genoa's aquarium.

Interlaken is much the easier place to move around. Its flat centre links two stations on foot, and beyond it narrow-gauge trains, cog railways, gondolas and lake steamers connect so smoothly that the whole Jungfrau region works without a car, despite crowding on the busiest summer trains.

Portofino is tiny but awkward to reach. One narrow road about 5km long links it to Santa Margherita, parking is scarce and the summer buses are packed, so the spring to autumn ferries are often the pleasantest way in.

Portofino comes out a little ahead, if only for browsing. Its few lanes hold a surprising number of big fashion and jewellery houses and resort-wear shops, plus Ligurian lace and ceramics, all seen in under an hour.

Interlaken's Höheweg sells watches, army knives, cuckoo clocks and chocolate to tour groups, along with outdoor gear, and the carved wood from Brienz is the one local craft worth carrying home.

Both are among the most expensive places you could choose, so the difference lies in where the money goes. In Interlaken the mountain railways and cable cars, the Jungfraujoch above all, take a large share, though hostels, transport passes and supermarket picnics help.

In Portofino the few hotels are luxury properties, and the piazzetta, the Paraggi loungers and boat hire all add up. Sleeping in Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Camogli and coming in for the day is the usual way round it.

Interlaken has a little more to offer, chiefly the long-running open-air William Tell performed by local amateurs in the woods each summer, along with folklore evenings of yodelling and alphorns. Bern's theatre and orchestra are under an hour away.

Portofino has only occasional summer concerts in the piazzetta or at the castle, so a real night of opera or theatre means the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both the spas belong to the grand hotels. Interlaken adds a public pool and wellness area, but its centre is geared to activity, so rest comes from steamer crossings or the quiet of Wengen and Mürren.

Portofino's calm comes from long lunches by the water and shaded paths with only the sea for company, best early, late or outside high summer, when tour boats fill the harbour at midday.