La Spezia or Lyon?

This is La Spezia's clearest advantage, though the town itself has a port and a promenade rather than sand. A short bus ride takes you to the small sand and pebble beaches at San Terenzo and Lerici, the coves at Fiascherino and Tellaro, or the clear rocky water around Portovenere and Palmaria. Many of these beaches are paid bathing establishments, and the free stretches fill early in August.

Lyon has no sea. In the city the choice is the bathing lake at Miribel-Jonage or sunbathing on the Rhône quays. For real swimming you need a day out to Lake Annecy or the Lac du Bourget.

Lyon is one of the great food cities of France, and La Spezia is a good provincial port with honest Ligurian cooking. In La Spezia that means farinata from wood ovens, mesciua soup, pesto on trofie and testaroli, and mussels farmed off Portovenere, with Cinque Terre whites to go with them. It eats well and steadily, but there is little fine dining.

Lyon has far more depth. You can eat quenelles and andouillette in a cluttered bouchon, try the fine-dining line that runs from the Mères lyonnaises to the famous chefs, and browse Les Halles Paul Bocuse for Bresse poultry and Saint-Marcellin. Beaujolais and the northern Rhône are close by. The set lunches make all of this easy to try.

Lyon has far more to see. Its sights run from the Roman theatres of Lugdunum on Fourvière through the Renaissance quarter of Vieux Lyon and its traboules to the silk-weavers' hill of Croix-Rousse. The Musée des Beaux-Arts, in its former abbey, is a major collection in its own right.

La Spezia is a nineteenth-century naval town of arcaded streets and Liberty facades. It offers a day or two of sightseeing: the early Italian paintings at the Museo Amedeo Lia, the naval museum and the Lunigiana stele statues in Castello San Giorgio. Most of its history lies out along the coast.

Lyon has a real night out. Its large student population fills the wine and cocktail bars of the Presqu'île and the pubs of Vieux Lyon. The barges on the Rhône work as bars and clubs, and warehouse clubs towards Gerland serve a serious electronic music scene.

La Spezia's evening is the aperitivo on Via del Prione or the seafront, moving to the waterfront at Lerici in summer, and then it is largely over. Most visitors are asleep early ahead of the trails.

La Spezia has the more dramatic landscape. Terraced cliffs of vines and olives drop into the sea along the Cinque Terre, with the Sentiero Azzurro and the quieter ridge paths above. Palmaria has a loop walk past forts and sea caves, the gulf is good for kayaking and diving, and the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps are about an hour inland.

Lyon's outdoors is gentler and mostly urban. There are car-free quays along the Rhône for running and cycling, the large Parc de la Tête d'Or, and the Monts d'Or and Beaujolais hills nearby. Serious hiking in the Chartreuse and Vercors is possible, but you will want a car.

Both cities make strong bases, but La Spezia packs more into short distances. The five Cinque Terre villages are minutes away by train, and Portovenere and Lerici are a bus or boat ride across the gulf. Sarzana, the Roman ruins of Luni and Carrara are close inland, and Pisa and Lucca are about an hour away.

Lyon's day trips are wine and old towns: Roman Vienne, medieval Pérouges, the Beaujolais villages and Burgundy around Beaune. Annecy and Geneva are possible but sit further out, so more of the day goes on travel.

Lyon is easier with children because it has more aimed at them. The Parc de la Tête d'Or has a free zoo, pedalos and a little train. There are dinosaurs at the Musée des Confluences, an aquarium, Guignol puppet shows and funiculars up Fourvière, though the stepped lanes on the hills are hard work with a pushchair.

La Spezia is calm and flat, and its best family days are on the water, with boat trips round Portovenere and the shallow beaches at San Terenzo. There is no zoo or aquarium, and the steep villages and packed summer trains suit older children better than toddlers.

La Spezia is easy without a car, though its transport is built for leaving town rather than crossing it. The station, the market, the museums and the seafront are all a short walk apart in a flat centre. From there, coastal trains run through the Cinque Terre, buses go round the gulf to Portovenere and Lerici, and ferries sail from spring to autumn. In summer the trains fill up and the village platforms get crowded.

Lyon's network takes you further within the city. Four metro lines, trams and buses share one ticket, funiculars climb to Fourvière and a rack-style line runs up Croix-Rousse. The bike-share scheme is a separate option and works well on the riverside cycle paths. Because the metro is small and the hills are steep, some journeys mean a climb or a change, but a car is never needed.

Lyon gives you more to browse. There are chains on rue de la République, luxury labels around Place des Jacobins and the large Part-Dieu mall. The best finds are silk scarves, Croix-Rousse designer workshops and the antique dealers of rue Auguste Comte.

La Spezia's shopping is the everyday kind along Via del Prione and Corso Cavour. The things worth taking home are edible: pesto, olive oil, Sciacchetrà and anchovies.

La Spezia is somewhat easier on the budget. Rooms cost less than in the Cinque Terre villages, the trains and buses are cheap, and farinata and simple trattorias are fair value. Trail passes, boat trips and paid beach places add up over a stay, and summer is the dearest season.

Lyon is not a budget city. Hotels get scarce during trade fairs and the Fête des Lumières, and dinners follow normal French levels. Set lunches in bouchons are its great saving, and the zoo is free.

La Spezia's stage life is mostly a summer affair. The Teatro Civico runs a season of theatre and concerts, and Sarzana's small Teatro degli Impavidi adds a few more. The summer brings the long-running jazz festival and open-air concerts in piazzas and castle courtyards around the gulf. For opera you go to Genoa or Pisa.

Lyon offers far more on almost any night of the year. The Opéra de Lyon, under its glass vault, is home to an opera company and a ballet, and Lyon's own orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lyon, plays at the Auditorium. Dance is the city's speciality, at the Maison de la Danse and during the Biennale. In summer the Nuits de Fourvière festival puts concerts and dance on in the Roman theatres above the city.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and Lyon offers a little more for rest in town. It has hammams, day spas, the open-air pool on the Rhône quays and quiet Sunday mornings by the Saône, and Aix-les-Bains makes a thermal day out.

La Spezia relies on hotel spas and the small baths at Equi Terme inland. Its calm comes from slow lunches in Tellaro and the quiet of Palmaria, at least outside the summer crowds.