La Spezia or Lugano?

La Spezia has the real seaside, even though its own waterfront is a port. There is sheltered sand and pebble at San Terenzo and Lerici, very clear rocky water off Portovenere and Palmaria, and Monterosso's long beach a short train ride away. The sea stays good for swimming from June into early October.

Lugano offers lake bathing instead. You swim from lidos with lawns, decks and ladders, such as the one at the mouth of the Cassarate, and the season ends in early September. It is a pleasant way to cool off on a hot afternoon, but there is no sand or salt water.

Both kitchens are Italian at heart, but La Spezia's has more to explore and costs less to explore. There is farinata from wood ovens, mussels from the gulf, pesto on testaroli and the Piazza Cavour market, with Cinque Terre whites and Sciacchetrà to drink. Fine dining is thin, but everyday eating is good.

Lugano's strength is the grotto: polenta, braised meat and Ticino Merlot at granite tables under chestnut trees. Beyond that the choice is narrow, street food is scarce, and Swiss prices push many visitors to eat across the border.

Neither is a heritage destination, and a day or two covers either. La Spezia's centre is a nineteenth-century naval town of straight avenues and Liberty facades. Its highlights are the early Italian paintings at the Museo Amedeo Lia and the prehistoric stele statues in Castello San Giorgio.

Lugano is older in feel, with a small Lombard old town of arcaded squares. Its highlights are Luini's Passion fresco in Santa Maria degli Angioli, the cathedral above the lake and an art collection split between LAC and Palazzo Reali.

La Spezia's evenings are more casual and easier on the wallet than Lugano's, though in neither place does the night run late. People gather for a spritz or a glass of Vermentino on Via del Prione and around Piazza Verdi. In summer, the waterfront at Lerici and San Terenzo across the gulf becomes the place to be. Dress is relaxed, and the evening usually ends soon after dinner.

Lugano treats the same aperitivo as a smarter occasion. A well-dressed, mostly local crowd fills the old-town arcades and the lounge bars by the lake, Swiss prices apply to every glass, and the long dinner that follows is the main event. The lake promenade stays lively a little longer on summer weekends, but clubs are few, and the young go to Milan when they want a proper night out.

Both are places people visit for the landscape, but the landscapes are different. La Spezia has terraced cliffs dropping into the sea and the Cinque Terre paths, from the Sentiero Azzurro to the quieter ridge trails. It also has the loop walk on Palmaria and kayaking and diving in the gulf, with the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps about an hour inland.

Lugano has lake and mountain instead of sea. Funiculars run up Monte Brè and San Salvatore, a rack railway climbs Monte Generoso, and there is the lakeside walk to Gandria and the ridge from Lema to Tamaro. In both places, spring and autumn are the seasons for walking.

Both are excellent bases, but they reach different places. From La Spezia most trips stay close and on the coast: the five Cinque Terre villages by local train, Portovenere by boat, walled Sarzana and the ruins of Luni, with Pisa and Lucca about an hour away.

Lugano's trips cross a border and lean towards bigger cities and lakes. Milan has The Last Supper and the Brera gallery, Como is half an hour away, Bellinzona has its castles, and the Borromean Islands lie on Lake Maggiore. Choose La Spezia for villages and coast, and Lugano for cities and lakes.

Lugano is the easier family base. Lidos with slides, boat trips to the villages, funicular rides and the miniature Swiss landmarks at Melide fill several days, and Parco Ciani has playgrounds. The steep streets are hard work with a pushchair, though.

La Spezia is flat and relaxed, and the sheltered beaches at San Terenzo and Lerici suit small children. Beyond boat trips and the naval museum, little is aimed at them, and packed trains and steep village paths suit older children better.

You can manage without a car in either place, but Lugano's transport works more smoothly. Swiss trains, lake boats and mountain railways connect well, and hotel stays usually include regional transport. The climb from the station to the lake is the main nuisance, and a short funicular takes care of it.

La Spezia's flat centre is easier on foot. Trains, buses and the seasonal ferries reach everything around the gulf, but in summer the Cinque Terre trains and village platforms get very crowded.

Lugano has the more interesting shopping, mostly for people with money to spend. Via Nassa has Swiss watchmakers, jewellers and Italian fashion houses under its arcades, and there is a large designer outlet near Mendrisio.

La Spezia offers high-street chains and a few boutiques along Via del Prione. The best things to take home are edible: pesto, olive oil, Sciacchetrà and Monterosso anchovies.

This is where the two differ most. La Spezia is mid-priced Italy, with cheap local trains, fair trattorias and rooms well below what the Cinque Terre villages charge. Spring and autumn make it cheaper still.

Lugano is expensive in every way, from lakeside hotels and dinners to boat trips and mountain railways, and there is no cheap way to stay there. Grotto lunches and the free transport that comes with many hotels help only a little.

Lugano has the stronger stage, thanks to LAC. Its concert hall has fine acoustics and is home to the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, with a season of drama and dance alongside, and Estival Jazz brings free concerts to Piazza della Riforma in summer.

La Spezia has the Teatro Civico, plus a long-established summer jazz festival with concerts in piazzas and castle courtyards, but most of the year is quiet. For opera, La Spezia sends you to Genoa or Pisa and Lugano to La Scala.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, but Lugano is the more restful stay. Lido afternoons, benches in Parco Ciani, long grotto lunches, the big lakeside hotel spas and an indoor pool and sauna complex near Rivera all make it easy to slow down.

In La Spezia, how calm the stay feels depends on when you go. Off-season evenings on the seafront, a slow lunch in Tellaro and the quiet of Palmaria are restful, but summer in the Cinque Terre is not. The nearest thermal baths are at Equi Terme, about an hour inland.