La Spezia or Zadar?

Zadar has the easier swimming. The sea comes right up to the old town, so a morning dip off the promenade or at Kolovare fits into any day. Nin's sand and the coves on Ugljan, Pašman and Dugi Otok are there when you want more, though the city shores themselves are pebble and concrete.

In La Spezia the town front is a working port, so every swim means going somewhere: Lerici and San Terenzo across the gulf, the rocks of Portovenere and Palmaria, or Monterosso up the line. The water is just as clear, but much of the shore is taken by paid bathing establishments, so the beach is part of the plan rather than part of the routine.

La Spezia eats better and more distinctively. Its wood-oven farinata, mesciua soup, rope-grown mussels from Portovenere and pesto on testaroli give a real local cuisine, and the Piazza Cavour market is a proper working one.

Zadar's Dalmatian table of grilled fish, black risotto, peka and Pag cheese is good, and Maraschino is a genuine local speciality. The trouble is that menus on the peninsula repeat themselves, and the cheapest spots serve passing visitors. Neither city goes far into fine dining.

Zadar has the deeper history on show. The Roman forum, round St Donatus and the cathedral sit side by side inside Venetian walls, the glass and archaeological museums are small but worth seeing, and the Sea Organ gives the waterfront a modern sight of its own.

La Spezia was built as a naval base, so its centre is arcaded streets and Liberty facades rather than old stones. The Museo Amedeo Lia's early Italian paintings and the Lunigiana stele statues in Castello San Giorgio are the highlights. Most of the area's real heritage lies out at Portovenere, Sarzana and Luni.

Zadar stays out later. Summer nights begin with the sunset at the Sea Organ and move on to café-bars on Kalelarga and terraces on the walls, and the clubs of Zrće on Pag are about an hour away for anyone who wants to dance.

La Spezia's evening is the aperitivo on Via del Prione or at the Lerici waterfront, and then it is mostly over, partly because so many visitors are up early for the trails. Both towns go quiet out of season.

Both are strong outdoor bases, but they offer different landscapes. Around La Spezia it is the vine and olive terraces of the Cinque Terre, walked on coastal and ridge paths between villages, with Palmaria and Montemarcello close by and the marble Apuan Alps an hour inland.

Zadar's outdoors is wilder and more spread out. Paklenica's gorges suit climbers and hikers, boats head to the bare Kornati islands and Telašćica, and Krka and Plitvice are within a day. You will need transport for most of it, while La Spezia's walks start from a train platform.

La Spezia is the better base for day trips. The Cinque Terre villages are minutes away on the coastal line, Portovenere and Lerici are a short hop by bus or boat, and Pisa, Lucca, Carrara and the Portofino coast all fit into a day by train.

Zadar has fine outings too, among them Šibenik's cathedral town, tiny Nin and the islands by ferry, with Split and Trogir as long days. The distances are greater, though, and most trips depend on a hire car or an organised tour.

Zadar is somewhat easier with children. The car-free old town is flat, the Sea Organ and the light-up Greeting to the Sun keep children happy, and Nin's shallow sand is ideal for toddlers. Evenings out with children are normal there.

La Spezia's sheltered beaches at San Terenzo and Lerici and its boat trips are pleasant. The region's main draws, though, are steep villages, crowded trains and long walks, which suit older children better. Neither city has a zoo, aquarium or theme park.

La Spezia is far easier without a car. The station sits in a flat, walkable centre, and trains, buses and seasonal ferries reach the Cinque Terre, the gulf and Tuscany. Summer crowding on the coastal trains is the main nuisance.

Zadar's peninsula is even easier to walk, and island ferries leave from its edge. Beyond the town, regional buses are of little use, so the parks and the coast effectively need a car, and parking near the old town is tight in summer.

Neither is a shopping destination, though La Spezia offers a little more. Via del Prione and Corso Cavour have the everyday chains and shoe shops of an Italian provincial city, plus pesto, olive oil and Sciacchetrà to take home.

Zadar's Kalelarga is mostly jewellers and souvenir shops. The best finds there are Maraschino, Pag cheese and Pag lace from the market by the walls.

Costs come out much the same in both, roughly those of a mid-range Western European city, and both are cheaper than the famous places nearby: the Cinque Terre villages for La Spezia, the Dalmatian towns further south for Zadar.

The extra costs differ. In La Spezia they are trail passes and paid bathing establishments. In Zadar, national park entry, boat excursions and probably a hire car push the bill up, though private apartments are good value outside July and August.

Both have a thin calendar that comes alive only in summer. La Spezia's draw is its long-standing jazz festival and concerts in castle courtyards, with the Teatro Civico running a winter season. Zadar's is early and chamber music inside ninth-century St Donatus, and you may hear klapa singing in the squares.

Neither has a spa tradition, so relaxing in either means slowing down rather than taking the waters. La Spezia has long lunches in Tellaro and quiet Palmaria, with the small Equi Terme baths an hour inland. Zadar has sunset on the Sea Organ steps, the resort spas at Borik and Nin's old mud lagoon, and its café mornings are easier to fall into because the town is the place you stay rather than a base for outings.