La Spezia or Sorrento?

Neither town has a beach of its own worth the name, and both send you out to swim, but in different ways. From La Spezia you go round the gulf to the sand-and-pebble strips at San Terenzo and Lerici, the coves of Fiascherino and Tellaro, or the clear rocky water off Portovenere and Palmaria. The train also reaches the long sandy beach at Monterosso.

Sorrento's swimming is mostly off wooden piers at Marina Piccola and Marina Grande, with ladders down into deep water, or off the rocks at the Bagni della Regina Giovanna. A real pebble beach means a bus to Marina del Cantone or a boat to Capri. Choose La Spezia for a gentle walk into the water and Sorrento for diving off a sundeck.

The two are evenly matched for eating, but they cook from different traditions. La Spezia is Ligurian: farinata from wood ovens, mesciua soup, pesto on testaroli, rope-grown mussels from the gulf and crisp Cinque Terre whites. Prices and quality are steady, though there is little fine dining.

Sorrento is Campanian: gnocchi baked with tomato and fior di latte, fish all'acqua pazza, mozzarella from the hill dairies, Neapolitan pizza and lemons in everything. It also has a high end La Spezia lacks, in the celebrated restaurants of the peninsula's hill villages. Its main squares, however, are thick with tourist menus, so the good meals take more seeking out.

La Spezia has a little more to see in town. Its standout is the Museo Amedeo Lia, with early Italian paintings and ivories, and it adds the naval museum by the arsenal, the prehistoric stele statues in Castello San Giorgio and a modern art museum. All of this sits in a nineteenth-century grid of arcaded naval-base streets.

Sorrento's sights are fewer and quicker. There are the lanes on the Roman street plan, the cloister of San Francesco with its Arab-style arches, the Museo Correale's Neapolitan collections and the odd ruined mill in the Vallone dei Mulini. In both towns the real history lies further out.

Neither is a place for a big night out, and both go quiet early. La Spezia's evenings are about aperitivo, with spritz and Vermentino on Via del Prione and around Piazza Verdi, and in summer the crowd moves to the waterfront at Lerici. Sorrento's evenings follow the passeggiata on Corso Italia and end with a drink on a terrace over the bay or in a piano bar playing Neapolitan songs. Real nightlife in Naples or on Capri means staying the night there, because the last boats and trains leave early.

Both are outstanding for walkers, and the difference is in the scenery. From La Spezia you walk the vine and olive terraces of the Cinque Terre, either on the Sentiero Azzurro or the quieter ridge path, loop round Palmaria past old forts and sea caves, or head an hour inland to the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps.

Sorrento sits on a steep limestone ridge of olive and lemon terraces, with Vesuvius across the bay. Its trails run out to Punta Campanella facing Capri, down to the protected bay of Ieranto and along the Path of the Gods, and you can also climb to the volcano's crater rim. On the water there are boats round the grottoes of Capri.

La Spezia's outings are short and easy to fit around a stay. The Cinque Terre villages are minutes away by train and Portovenere is a short boat ride. Sarzana's walled centre, the Roman ruins of Luni, Pisa and Lucca are all within an hour or so. Nothing on its list matches Pompeii, though.

Sorrento has the more famous list, and that is why it comes out ahead. Pompeii and Herculaneum are a short ride on the Circumvesuviana, Vesuvius fits into the same day, Capri is under an hour by ferry, and in summer boats reach Positano and Amalfi. Naples and its archaeological museum are about an hour off.

La Spezia is the easier of the two with small children, mainly because of the water. The beaches at San Terenzo and Lerici are shallow and sheltered, the seafront gardens are flat, and the naval museum's torpedoes and ship models keep some children busy.

Sorrento is just as warm towards families and has the better outings for older children, from the boats to Capri to walking among Pompeii's ruins. But swimming there means deep water off piers and rocks, and many hotels sit on steep lanes without pavements. Neither town has a zoo or a theme park.

Both centres are flat and walkable, and in neither is a car worth having. The difference is in getting out. La Spezia is a working rail hub, with regular trains through the Cinque Terre to Genoa and inland to Pisa and Florence, plus buses round the gulf and seasonal ferries. Its weak point is crowded trains in summer.

Sorrento relies on the Circumvesuviana, which is cheap but old, crowded and prone to delays, and on buses that crawl along the Amalfi hairpins in summer. Ferries are often the most comfortable option, and hotels in the hills depend on shuttles or taxis.

Neither suits a fashion shopper, but Sorrento has more local craft. Its workshops sell intarsia boxes and trays, make leather sandals to measure while you wait, and offer cameos, coral and linen alongside the lemon-themed souvenirs.

La Spezia's shopping is everyday provincial, with chains on Via del Prione and Corso Cavour. The best things to bring home are edible: pesto, olive oil, Sciacchetrà and anchovies, plus Carrara marble from the towns nearby.

La Spezia is the clearly cheaper stay. People base themselves there precisely because rooms cost less than in the Cinque Terre villages, and everyday food and local trains are fair value, though trail passes and boat trips add up.

Sorrento charges like a resort on a sought-after coast in summer, with sea-view rooms, terrace dinners, lido sunbeds and private boats all costing a lot. Its public transport and back-lane trattorias soften this. In both places, spring and late autumn bring room rates down.

La Spezia has the more genuine local stage. The Teatro Civico runs a season of theatre and concerts, the small Teatro degli Impavidi in Sarzana adds more, and in summer there is a long-running jazz festival and open-air concerts in castle courtyards. For opera you go to Genoa or Pisa.

Sorrento's performances are mostly Neapolitan song and tarantella evenings staged for visitors, plus summer chamber music in the San Francesco cloister. Its advantage is that the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples is about an hour away.

La Spezia offers rest in small doses rather than as the point of the trip. The calm is found away from the Cinque Terre crowds, on Palmaria or over a long lunch in Tellaro, and beyond hotel spas the only formal option is the little spa town of Equi Terme in the Lunigiana.

Sorrento is a resort where doing nothing is expected, and its larger hotels are made for days when you never leave the grounds. A soak on Ischia makes an easy outing. The catch is high summer, when the centre turns loud and crowded, so a restful stay there belongs in spring or autumn.