La Spezia or Venice?

Neither city has a beach in town, so both mean a short trip out, but the swimming is quite different. From La Spezia you reach small pebble and sand coves at Lerici, Tellaro and Fiascherino, or rocky ledges with very clear water off Palmaria and Portovenere, with Monterosso's longer sandy beach up the line.

Venice has a single long stretch of fine sand at the Lido, a vaporetto ride away. The water there is shallow and gentle but greenish, and quieter Pellestrina lies beyond it. Pick La Spezia for clear water and variety, and the Lido for an easy afternoon on sand with small children.

The two eat about equally well, but they eat very differently. La Spezia's food is cheap and filling: farinata from wood ovens, mesciua soup, pesto on testaroli and stuffed gulf mussels, at steady prices but with little fine dining.

Venice is at its best grazing at the counters of the bacari, where cicchetti such as salt cod, sarde in saor and soft-shell crab come with a small glass of wine. Behind them comes lagoon cooking like black cuttlefish risotto. The trouble in Venice is avoiding the tourist menus around San Marco. In La Spezia the trouble is that the choice runs out sooner.

This is where the two differ most. La Spezia is a nineteenth-century naval town, and a day or two covers the Museo Amedeo Lia, the naval museum and the Lunigiana stele statues in the Castello San Giorgio. Most of the area's history lies out along the coast.

Venice is one of the great heritage cities of Europe, with six centuries of palaces and churches standing on water and a depth of art that runs from the Accademia to the Guggenheim. Even its small parish churches hold masterpieces, and in Biennale years the Arsenale fills with exhibitions.

Both are aperitivo towns that go quiet early. In La Spezia the spritz hour happens along Via del Prione and the seafront, and in summer it moves to the waterfront at Lerici. Venice has its bacari at the Rialto and on the Fondamenta della Misericordia, plus a student crowd that stays out later in Campo Santa Margherita. Neither has a club scene, though a silent canal walk after midnight is a pleasure only Venice can offer.

La Spezia is the clear choice for the outdoors. The terraced cliffs of the Cinque Terre national park, the ridge and sanctuary paths above the Sentiero Azzurro, the pine woods of Montemarcello and the Apuan Alps about an hour inland give real hiking, along with diving and kayaking in the gulf.

The nature around Venice is quieter and flat. It means birdwatching for egrets and flamingos in the salt marshes near Torcello, cycling along the Pellestrina sea walls, and gentle hills an hour away. The mountains are much further off.

From La Spezia the days out follow the coast. The Cinque Terre villages are minutes away on the train, Portovenere is a short boat ride across the gulf, and Lerici and Tellaro sit on the far shore. Walled Sarzana and the Roman ruins at Luni are close by inland, and Pisa and Lucca are about an hour away.

From Venice the fast trains head inland to the art cities of the Veneto: Padua for Giotto's chapel, Verona for its arena, and Palladio's Vicenza in between. You do not need a train for the lagoon islands. Murano's glass furnaces, Burano's painted houses and Torcello's lonely cathedral make a full day by boat.

Neither city is built around children, and each has its own snag. La Spezia's flat centre and seafront gardens are easy with a pushchair, and the sheltered beaches at San Terenzo make good water days. The steep villages and crowded trains are better suited to older children.

Venice has the boats, the car-free alleys and the glass-blowing on Murano that children love, but its stepped bridges make a pushchair a daily struggle.

La Spezia is a flat little hub built around its railway station. The market, the museums and the seafront are all a short walk away, and from there trains run along the coast and inland, buses go round the gulf and ferries sail in season. The weak point is the packed coastal trains in summer.

Venice is a car-free maze where walking is the only way to get about on land. The alleys twist and end at canals, hundreds of bridges have steps, and the slow, crowded vaporetti do the rest. Wheeled luggage and pushchairs are hard work there, while in La Spezia they cause no trouble.

Venice is clearly the better place to shop, thanks to crafts made on the spot: Murano glass, Burano lace, papier-mâché masks, marbled paper and furlane slippers. The big fashion names are on Calle Larga XXII Marzo, though you have to steer past a lot of imported imitations.

La Spezia offers ordinary high-street shopping along Via del Prione. Its best souvenirs are things to eat and drink, such as pesto, olive oil and Sciacchetrà.

La Spezia is much easier on the wallet. It is mid-priced rather than cheap, and summer rooms, trail passes and paid beaches still add up, but local transport and everyday eating are fair value.

Venice is among the most expensive places to stay in Italy. Centre hotels, visitor-priced water transport and entry to the sights all cost a lot, and the main way to save is to eat cicchetti at the bar and sleep in Mestre.

Venice has much more to offer here. La Fenice, where Verdi and Rossini had premieres, runs a full season of opera, ballet and concerts, the Biennale stages contemporary festivals, and Vivaldi concerts in the churches run most evenings.

La Spezia has the Teatro Civico and a summer jazz festival with open-air concerts in castle courtyards. For opera you would have to travel to Genoa or Pisa.

Neither city has a spa culture of its own, but Venice has a little more to offer. It has hotel spas in old palazzi and on the Lido, the Roman-era thermal mud of Abano Terme within an hour, and a deep hush at dawn in Castello and on Giudecca.

La Spezia's options are slimmer, mainly the small baths at Equi Terme inland. Its restful moments come from long lunches in Tellaro and the quiet of Palmaria.