La Spezia or Portofino?

Neither town has a beach of its own, and swimming is good in both, but in different ways. From La Spezia you can choose between two shores of the gulf. To the east are the sheltered sand and pebble strips at San Terenzo and Lerici. To the west are the clear, rocky spots at Portovenere and Palmaria. Monterosso's long sandy beach is a train ride up the coast.

Portofino is better for deep-water swimming. You climb down ladders from the rock platforms on the lighthouse path. The only sand nearby is the small bay at Paraggi, which is mostly taken by paid beach clubs, and the pebble cove at San Fruttuoso can be reached by boat or on foot.

Both towns cook Ligurian food, but only La Spezia has a real local eating culture. It has wood-oven farinata, mesciua soup, rope-grown mussels from the gulf and a covered market for fish and produce. Prices are steadier than anywhere on the Cinque Terre side.

Portofino's restaurants are a small group of harbour terraces facing the yachts. The cooking is competent, and the bill mostly pays for the view. Anyone who cares about food tends to eat in Camogli or Santa Margherita.

For sightseeing, La Spezia gives you a proper programme, while Portofino gives you a view. The port town was laid out in the nineteenth century around Italy's main naval base, so you walk long, straight avenues and arcades with Liberty-era fronts instead of medieval alleys. The best stop is the Museo Amedeo Lia, a private collection of early Italian painting housed in an old convent. Add the naval museum near the arsenal, the prehistoric carved stone figures from the Lunigiana up at Castello San Giorgio and the CAMeC modern art collection, and you have a second day indoors, which is useful when the weather turns.

In Portofino the attraction is the village itself: the coloured houses curving round the tiny harbour, seen best from the church of San Giorgio or from the gardens of Castello Brown. Round the headland, the medieval abbey of San Fruttuoso sits in a cove with no road, so getting there on foot or by boat is part of the visit. There is no museum of any size, so one day covers it all, and you go for the scenery, not to learn much.

La Spezia has an evening life the size of a town. After work the aperitivo crowd fills the streets around Piazza Verdi and the seafront promenade, and a few late bars and the odd club night carry on afterwards. Even so, the town winds down early.

Portofino's evening has just one scene. You dress up for a drink at the harbour bars facing the yachts, then have dinner, and after that the village is silent, especially outside July and August. For anything later you need Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

Both are outstanding for the outdoors, but the landscapes differ. From La Spezia you can walk the vine and olive terraces of the Cinque Terre, on the Sentiero Azzurro or the quieter ridge path. You can also walk the loop round Palmaria and the pine woods of Montemarcello, and the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps are an hour inland.

Portofino is a single compact headland, protected on land and at sea. Trails climb over Monte di Portofino and drop to San Fruttuoso, with some exposed sections fitted with chains. The marine reserve has red coral walls and the Christ of the Abyss statue, which makes it the stronger choice for divers.

La Spezia is the better base for day trips. All five Cinque Terre villages are minutes away by the coastal train, and Portovenere and Lerici are a short bus ride. Sarzana and the Roman ruins at Luni are close inland, and Pisa and Lucca are about an hour away.

From Portofino you get the Riviera di Levante: Santa Margherita, Rapallo and Camogli by boat or bus, and Genoa's palaces in under an hour. Reaching the Cinque Terre takes a summer ferry or more than an hour by train. Out of season, getting anywhere takes more planning.

You can push a pushchair easily around La Spezia's flat centre and seafront gardens. The shallow, sheltered beaches at San Terenzo and Lerici suit small swimmers, and boat trips round Portovenere and the islands make good family days. There is no zoo, aquarium or theme park, though.

Portofino is mostly steep steps. Its bit of sand at Paraggi is largely taken by paid beach clubs, and there are no playgrounds. Children enjoy the boats and swimming off the rocks, but families usually stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo, and the nearest aquarium is in Genoa.

La Spezia's main advantage is its station. Trains run along the coast through the Cinque Terre and inland towards Pisa, and the centre, the market and the seafront are an easy, flat walk apart.

Portofino is easy to cover on foot, apart from the climbs to the church and the castle, but getting in and out is hard. A single narrow road runs about 5km to Santa Margherita, with a bus to meet the trains. Ferries are the nicer option from spring to autumn. Neither town needs a car, and both get crowded transport in summer.

La Spezia offers ordinary provincial shopping: clothing chains, shoe shops and a few independent boutiques along Via del Prione and Corso Cavour, plus the covered market on Piazza Cavour. The things worth packing are edible, such as pesto, olive oil and Sciacchetrà, and Carrara marble is sold in the towns nearby.

Portofino's few lanes behind the harbour hold big fashion and jewellery houses, linen and resort wear, along with a little Ligurian lace and ceramics. It makes a pleasant stroll after lunch. There is nothing for everyday needs, though, and for a longer browse you have to go to the arcades of Chiavari or to Genoa.

This is where the two differ most. La Spezia is mid-priced. Rooms cost far less than in the Cinque Terre villages, and simple food and local transport keep daily costs reasonable, though summer stays still add up.

Portofino's few hotels are luxury properties that charge as much as Europe's most expensive cities. The piazzetta, the loungers at Paraggi and boat hire all cost a lot too. Many visitors sleep in Santa Margherita or Camogli and come over for the day.

Neither town is somewhere to plan a trip around a night at the theatre, but only La Spezia gives you any choice. Its Teatro Civico runs a season of plays, touring shows and concerts, and Sarzana's small historic theatre, a short ride inland, is there for an extra night. Summer brings the most music, with a jazz festival that has run for many years and concerts held outdoors in squares and castle grounds around the gulf. For opera you still have to go to Genoa or Pisa.

In Portofino there is no theatre and no regular venue at all, only the odd summer concert in the piazzetta or at Castello Brown. For a real performance you spend the evening in Genoa, where the Teatro Carlo Felice runs a full season.

La Spezia has no bathing tradition. The nearest thermal water is at the small baths of Equi Terme, about an hour inland in the Lunigiana valley. Off-season evenings on the seafront and a long lunch in Lerici are restful, but in summer you share the trains and coastal paths with the Cinque Terre crowds.

Portofino is the more restorative place, but how calm it feels depends on the hour and the month. In high summer the tour boats fill the harbour in the middle of the day. From spring and through the weeks after summer the whole village slows down, and that is when a stay there feels most restful.