Ljubljana or Portofino?

Portofino is far better for swimming. It has no proper beach in the village, but the rocks towards the lighthouse drop into very clear, deep water. Paraggi's small sandy bay is close by, and boats run to the pebble cove at San Fruttuoso. The catch is that every spot is small, and in summer they fill up and the loungers cost a lot.

Ljubljana is inland. A swim there means the Sava on the city's edge or a trip to Lake Bled, and the nearest sea at Piran is an hour and a half away, along a shore of concrete platforms.

Ljubljana gives you more to enjoy at the table, mainly through its produce and its wine. The Central Market under Plečnik's colonnades sells cheeses, cured meats and pumpkin-seed oil. The gostilna inns serve hearty štruklji, jota and Carniolan sausage, and riverside wine bars pour the orange wines of the west alongside bottles from Brda and Vipava. The range is narrow, so the city suits a few days of good eating more than a long stay.

Portofino serves sound Ligurian cooking, with trofie al pesto, fritto misto and Recco's thin cheese focaccia. It comes from a handful of harbour terraces, though, where the view is most of what you pay for. There is no market and no casual everyday eating, so people who care about food go over to Camogli or Santa Margherita.

Ljubljana has much more to see. Plečnik's bridges, colonnades and library give the whole centre a single architectural character. There is also a baroque and Secession old town, a castle reached by funicular, solid national galleries and the murals of Metelkova, easily enough for two or three days.

In Portofino the village itself is the sight. Add the church of San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the remote abbey at San Fruttuoso, and you are done in about a day.

Neither place is a party town, but Ljubljana at least gives you a night out. Its students keep the embankment bars busy, and Metelkova's scruffy clubs stay open late at weekends. In Portofino the evening is a smart aperitivo facing the yachts, then dinner, then very little else. For anything later you have to go to Santa Margherita or Genoa.

Both offer outstanding landscape, of very different kinds. From Ljubljana you can reach real mountains: the Julian Alps and Triglav National Park, the Soča for rafting, Velika Planina's high pastures and the Postojna and Škocjan caves, plus some skiing in winter.

Portofino's landscape is a single protected headland where cliff paths, some fitted with chains, link the Semaforo Nuovo viewpoint with San Fruttuoso and Camogli. Offshore, the marine reserve gives it something Slovenia's capital cannot: dives along red coral walls and down to the Christ of the Abyss.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference is between land and sea. From Ljubljana, buses, trains or a car reach Bled, painted Radovljica, the cliff castle at Predjama, Idrija's mining heritage and even Trieste or Zagreb, so a week can cover a whole small country.

Portofino's trips run along the coast to Camogli, Sestri Levante, Genoa's palaces and, by summer ferry, the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Arriving by boat is half the fun, but outside the ferry season you are left with the train.

Ljubljana is much easier with children. The flat, car-free centre suits pushchairs. There is the castle funicular, the Dragon Bridge, Tivoli's playgrounds, a small zoo and a puppet theatre that young children can follow without knowing Slovene.

Portofino has boats, the walk up to the castle and swims off the rocks. It has no playgrounds, though, and its steep stepped paths are hard going with a pushchair. Most families stay in Rapallo or Santa Margherita instead.

Ljubljana is simpler to get around. The old town, market, museums and Tivoli Park are all within a short walk of each other. A bike-share scheme and electric shuttles cover the rest, and intercity buses fan out across the country.

Portofino is tiny on foot, though the climbs to the church and lighthouse are steep. Getting in and out is the hard part. One narrow coast road connects it with Santa Margherita, parking is scarce, and in summer the buses are packed. That leaves the seasonal ferries as the pleasant option.

Neither is a shopping destination, and what you'd buy is very different. In Ljubljana that means honey, coastal salt, pumpkin-seed oil and Idrija lace from the market, the Sunday flea market on the embankment and a few design boutiques around Trubarjeva. Portofino packs big fashion and jewellery houses and resort wear into a few lanes behind the harbour. They take under an hour to browse, and many are aimed at people coming off the yachts.

Ljubljana costs far less. Set lunches at the inns, local wine, cheap museum entry and a centre you can walk keep daily costs moderate. Only central summer hotels run high, and staying further out or avoiding July and August fixes that.

Portofino is one of Italy's most expensive places to stay. It has a few luxury hotels, and the harbour restaurants, beach loungers, boat hire and parking all charge accordingly. Hiking and the local bus are almost the only cheap things, which is why many visitors sleep in Camogli or Rapallo.

Ljubljana has a real season for a city its size. There is the Slovenian Philharmonic, which goes back to 1701, opera and ballet in the neo-Renaissance national house, a year-round programme at Cankarjev dom and the summer festival in Plečnik's Križanke courtyard.

Portofino has no theatre or regular venue, only the odd summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For opera you would have to go to the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Both are restful places without a bathing tradition of their own, but the calm feels different. Ljubljana is quiet, green and car-free, with long riverside café afternoons. It has a big water park with saunas, and Slovenia's thermal spa towns are within about an hour's drive.

Portofino offers hotel spas and shaded coastal paths with only the sea for company. Its calm depends on timing, though, because the tour-boat crowds fill the harbour at midday in high summer.