La Spezia or Lausanne?

Neither city has a beach in town, but La Spezia puts real sea swimming within easy reach. Buses and boats take you to the sheltered sand and pebble of San Terenzo and Lerici, the coves at Fiascherino and Tellaro, and the clear rocky water around Portovenere and Palmaria. The train runs to Monterosso's long sandy beach, and the season lasts from June into early October.

Lausanne swaps all that for Lake Geneva. You swim from grass, piers and shingle at Vidy or the old lido at Bellerive, the water stays cooler, and the season covers only high summer. It is a pleasant afternoon, but nobody chooses Lausanne for it.

The two eat about equally well, but in very different ways. La Spezia is cheap and casual. You snack on farinata from wood ovens, eat mussels farmed off Portovenere and pesto on trofie, and drink crisp Cinque Terre whites. It has little fine dining.

Lausanne leans the other way. You get lake perch, papet vaudois and fondue, Chasselas tasted from the growers in the Lavaux caveaux, and some of Switzerland's most celebrated tables nearby. Simple, cheap meals are the hard part.

Lausanne gives the sightseer considerably more. The painted portal of its Gothic cathedral and the steep lanes around Place de la Palud make a real old town, and the Olympic Museum, the Plateforme 10 museums by the station and the Collection de l'Art Brut add two or three days of solid visiting.

La Spezia is a nineteenth-century naval city, laid out in straight arcaded avenues and not around a medieval core. The Museo Amedeo Lia and the Lunigiana stele statues at Castello San Giorgio fill a day or so, and the deeper history lies out at Portovenere, Sarzana and Luni.

Lausanne is the livelier of the two after dark, thanks to its large student population. The Flon's old warehouses hold clubs and late bars that fill on Friday and Saturday nights, though drinks are expensive and weeknights are quiet.

La Spezia's evening is the aperitivo: a spritz or a Vermentino on Via del Prione or the seafront, or on the waterfront at Lerici in summer. After that the town goes to bed early, as do the hikers.

Both are superb outdoor bases, and the difference lies in the landscape. La Spezia is about the sea meeting the cliffs. There are the terraced paths of the Cinque Terre national park, the loop round Palmaria, and kayaking and diving in the gulf, with the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps an hour inland.

Lausanne looks across the lake to the Alps. You can walk the Lavaux vineyard terraces, sail on the lake, and reach hiking and skiing at Villars, Leysin or Glacier 3000 within an hour, with the Jura for cross-country skiing. That makes it the one of the two that also works in winter.

La Spezia's outings sit in a tight ring around its own gulf, while Lausanne's spread across half a country. From La Spezia the five Cinque Terre villages are minutes away on the coastal train, Portovenere is a short boat or bus ride, and walled Sarzana and the Roman ruins of Luni lie close inland. Pisa and Lucca take about an hour.

Lausanne reaches further. Montreux and the Château de Chillon on its rock in the lake are about twenty minutes along the shore. Geneva is a little under an hour and Bern's arcaded old town a little over. Gruyères, with its hilltop castle and cheese dairies, makes a classic day out, and boats cross the water to Évian in France, so each day out can take you somewhere quite different.

Lausanne is the easier city with children. The hands-on Olympic Museum, the freshwater aquarium-vivarium, the animal park and pedal boats at Sauvabelin, and the paddle steamers on the lake give several ready-made days out. The steep streets are the catch with a pushchair.

La Spezia's flat centre is easier on small legs, and boat trips and the shallow beaches at San Terenzo work well. Beyond those it has no zoo or aquarium, and the region's crowded trains and steep villages suit older children better than toddlers.

Lausanne has the edge, though its hills mean more effort on foot. The m2 metro climbs from the lake at Ouchy to the upper town, and fast, punctual Swiss trains run along the lake and across the country.

La Spezia is flat and you can cross the centre on foot. Trains, buses and seasonal ferries cover the coast well, but the coastal trains and village platforms get crowded in summer.

Neither city is a reason to travel for shopping, but Lausanne offers a little more. Rue de Bourg has Swiss watches, jewellery and chocolatiers, and the Flon adds a few design shops. La Spezia has everyday high-street shopping along Via del Prione, and the best things to take home are pesto, olive oil and a bottle of Sciacchetrà.

This is where the two differ most. La Spezia is mid-priced, with inexpensive trains and fair-value food, and its rooms are cheaper than in the Cinque Terre villages. Bathing establishments, trail passes and boat trips add up, especially in summer.

Lausanne is very expensive. Hotels, restaurant meals, wine and taxis all cost far more than in most of Europe. Picnics from bakeries, the free lakeside promenades and a glass of Chasselas in a village caveau soften the bill only slightly.

Lausanne has a stage life well beyond its size. It is home to the Béjart Ballet and the Prix de Lausanne, the Théâtre de Vidy stages internationally known contemporary work, and the opera and the chamber orchestra run full seasons. In July, the Montreux Jazz Festival is a short train ride away.

La Spezia has the Teatro Civico and a long-established summer jazz festival, but little happens for most of the year. For opera you have to go to Genoa or Pisa.

Lausanne is better set up for a restful stay. The grand lakeside hotels have extensive spas, the thermal baths at Yverdon-les-Bains are under half an hour by train, and Lavey-les-Bains has Switzerland's hottest springs.

La Spezia's closest thermal water is the small baths at Equi Terme, an hour inland. Its calm comes instead from long lunches in Tellaro and quiet days on Palmaria, best enjoyed outside the summer crowds.