La Spezia or Zermatt?

La Spezia's own waterfront is a working port, but good swimming is a short bus or train ride away. There is sheltered sand at San Terenzo and Lerici, small coves at Fiascherino and Tellaro, clear water off the rocks of Palmaria and a long sandy beach at Monterosso. The beaches are small, often pebbly and mostly taken up by paid bathing establishments, but the sea is warm from June into October, so a swim is easy to fit in.

Zermatt has nothing comparable. The tarns above the village are glacial meltwater: good for photographing the Matterhorn, far too cold for a swim. The only bathing is in a hotel pool.

Both kitchens are rooted in their region, but La Spezia gives you more to eat through the day. There is focaccia in the morning, farinata from wood ovens, mussels farmed off Portovenere, pesto on trofie or testaroli, and the fish counters of the Piazza Cavour market. Everyday meals are reliable and fairly priced, though there is little fine dining.

In Zermatt the best eating is a long lunch at a mountain chalet in Findeln or Furi: raclette, air-dried beef and a glass of Petite Arvine. The village adds a few ambitious kitchens, but the choice is narrow, cheap meals are hard to find and many places close between seasons.

Neither is a heritage destination, but La Spezia fills a couple of days better. The Museo Amedeo Lia has early Italian paintings and ivories, the naval museum stands by the arsenal, the Castello San Giorgio holds the Lunigiana stele statues, and the arcaded streets and Liberty facades show a nineteenth-century naval town. Older history lies just along the coast.

Zermatt's heritage is about mountaineering and takes a morning. The Matterhorn Museum tells the story of the 1865 first ascent, the climbers' graves lie beside the parish church, and the old larch barns of the Hinterdorf still stand on their stone slabs.

Neither is a place for late nights, so the difference is in style and season. In La Spezia evenings mean an aperitivo, a spritz or a Vermentino on Via del Prione or the seafront, moving out to Lerici's waterfront in summer. Most people head to bed early before a day on the trails.

Zermatt is louder and comes alive in winter. Après-ski starts in the slope-side bars while people still have their ski boots on, and a few clubs on the main street stay open past midnight on busy weekends. Summer evenings there end after dinner.

Both are outdoor destinations, but Zermatt works on a far bigger scale. The Matterhorn, the Gorner Glacier and a ring of four-thousand-metre peaks rise straight above the village. Lifts climb to the Gornergrat and the glacier, giving skiing in winter and some pistes into summer. Once the snow melts there are hut paths, the Five Lakes walk and guided ascents.

La Spezia's landscape is coastal and gentler. Terraced vines drop to the sea along the Cinque Terre paths, a loop walk circles Palmaria and pines cover Montemarcello, with kayaking and diving in the gulf. The Apuan Alps inland add harder walking, but nothing near the town matches Zermatt's glaciers and high peaks.

La Spezia is a superb base for days out. The Cinque Terre villages are minutes away by train, Portovenere and Lerici are a short ride by boat or bus, Sarzana and the Roman ruins of Luni lie just inland, and Pisa and Lucca are about an hour away. You could spend a week without repeating a trip.

From Zermatt every outing starts with the long train ride down the valley. Sion's castle hills and Brig's Stockalper Palace are worth seeing, as is Saas-Fee in the next valley, but most visitors spend their spare days on the mountain instead.

The two suit families about equally, in different ways. In La Spezia the best days with children are on the water: boat trips round Portovenere and the shallow, sheltered beaches at San Terenzo and Lerici. The steep villages and crowded summer trains are easier with older children than with toddlers.

Zermatt's car-free streets mean children can walk around without traffic, and it suits families who ski or hike together, with ski schools, marmots to spot and the fun of cog railways. Rainy days are hard to fill, and the highest viewpoints can be too cold and thin-aired for small children.

Zermatt is easier to get around once you arrive. There are no cars, the village is compact enough to walk, electric taxis reach the outlying lifts, and the cog railway, funicular and gondolas all start a short walk from the centre. The drawbacks are the train ride in and out of the valley and the steep climb to hotels on the slopes.

La Spezia also has a flat, walkable centre and works well as a hub for trains, buses and ferries. But in summer the trains along the Cinque Terre fill up, the village platforms get crowded, and driving to the villages is more trouble than it is worth.

La Spezia's shops serve the people who live there, while Zermatt's serve wealthy skiers, and the everyday kind gives you a little more to browse. Via del Prione and Corso Cavour mix chain stores with a few independent boutiques, the Piazza Cavour market has produce and fish, and the souvenirs worth taking home are edible: pesto, olive oil and Sciacchetrà.

Zermatt's one main street runs from the station to the church, lined with watch and jewellery boutiques and shops selling cowbells and Matterhorn-shaped souvenirs. Its mountaineering outfitters are the real strength if you need boots or gear.

La Spezia is much easier on the wallet. Farinata, focaccia and simple trattorias are good value, trains and buses are cheap, and rooms in town cost less than in the Cinque Terre villages. In summer, though, rooms, trail passes, boat trips and beach loungers add up.

Zermatt is one of the most expensive places in the Alps, from plain hotel rooms to a drink on a mountain terrace, and the lifts every visitor uses are costly too. Self-catering or staying down the valley in Täsch helps, but it is no place for a tight budget.

Neither town is somewhere you would go for performances, but La Spezia gives you more chances of a night out at a show because it has a real theatre with a season of its own. At the Teatro Civico that means plays, touring companies and concerts, and Sarzana's small historic house is close by. In summer, music moves outdoors into town squares and the gulf's castle courtyards, and a jazz festival that has been running for many years tops off the calendar. The rest of the year is quieter, and for opera you need to take the train to Genoa or Pisa.

Zermatt has no stage at all, so whether you see anything depends on when you go. In spring you might catch Zermatt Unplugged, with acoustic sets in tents and up on the slopes. Late summer brings serious chamber music to the village church. Visit in any other week and the only live music is the bands in the après-ski bars, while La Spezia at least has a programme worth checking.

Zermatt is better for rest and pampering. It has a large number of excellent hotel spas with pools, saunas and mountain views, and some sell day passes to visitors who are not staying there. The car-free village with its clean air feels quiet, though the mood in peak weeks is more active than slow.

La Spezia has no spa tradition of its own. Beyond hotel spas, the small thermal baths at Equi Terme are an hour inland. Its calm comes from pace instead: a long lunch in Tellaro, a quiet day on Palmaria or the seafront out of season.