Lucerne or Portofino?

Neither has a proper sandy beach, but swimming is a bigger part of a stay in Portofino. The water off the rock platforms towards the lighthouse is clear and deep, Paraggi's small sandy bay is a short walk away, and boats reach the pebble cove at San Fruttuoso. The sea is pleasant from June into early October.

Lucerne swims in its lake instead, from the lawns at Ufschötti, the Lido and the old wooden lake baths. The water is calm and clean but only warm enough in July and August, so a swim there is a break between mountain trips. In Portofino a swim can take up the whole morning, though the spots are small and crowded in summer.

Neither is a place to travel for the food, and both charge a lot for it. The difference is the cooking. Lucerne serves Alpine comfort food, such as fondue, rösti, Chügelipastete and lake perch, in wood-panelled guild-house taverns, with the Saturday riverside market and a few Neustadt bistros for variety.

Portofino's menus are Ligurian: trofie with pesto, fritto misto, anchovies and the cheese-filled focaccia from Recco, served on terraces facing the yachts. There is no market at all, and the better cooking is in Camogli, Santa Margherita or the trattorie in the hills.

Lucerne has far more to see. The Chapel Bridge and Water Tower, the climbable towers of the Musegg Wall, the Lion Monument and the Rosengart's Picasso and Klee fill a day or two. The Bourbaki Panorama, the Jesuit Church and Wagner's villa at Tribschen add more.

In Portofino the village itself is the sight. There is the painted harbour, San Giorgio and Castello Brown, the walk out to the lighthouse, and the abbey at San Fruttuoso around the point. With no museums of any size, it rewards an interest in atmosphere more than sightseeing, and Genoa is the place to go for more culture.

An evening in Lucerne can carry on after dinner. In Portofino, dinner is the evening. Lucerne has riverside pubs and wine bars, and a few cocktail bars and a small club scene in the Neustadt and around the station that students keep going at weekends. On other nights the lakefront is mostly empty by midnight, but at Fasnacht the whole town stays out in costume until dawn.

Portofino's night is a long aperitivo and dinner, dressed up, at the elegant bars and terraces facing the moored yachts. After that the village goes quiet, especially outside July and August. There are no clubs, so a later night means going to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

Lucerne has a lake that runs into the Alps. Portofino has a single wooded headland that drops into the sea. From Lucerne, cogwheel railways, cable cars and paddle steamers reach Pilatus, Rigi, the Stanserhorn and the glacier on Titlis, so a single day can combine a boat, a mountain train and a ridge walk. Winter adds skiing and sledging, which gives the outdoors here a far greater range.

Portofino's regional park is smaller but very fine. Cliff paths climb through holm oak and pine to the Semaforo Nuovo viewpoint and then drop to San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa, and some sections are exposed and fitted with chains. Offshore, the marine reserve has red coral walls and the Christ of the Abyss statue for divers, which a lake city cannot match.

Both are excellent bases, and the main difference is how you travel. From Lucerne, trains reach Zurich, Bern and Basel in under an hour each, and the lake steamers run to the Rütli meadow and the William Tell country around Altdorf.

Portofino's outings follow the coast. Camogli, Santa Margherita and Rapallo are close by bus or boat, Genoa is less than an hour away, and summer ferries run to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Outside the ferry season those trips need more planning, while Lucerne's work all year round.

Lucerne is much easier with children. The Swiss Museum of Transport can fill a whole day, and the Glacier Garden's mirror maze and the Goldau wildlife park add more. The steamers, cogwheel trains and summer toboggan run on Pilatus are attractions in their own right, and the safe riverside and lakeside lawns make the gaps easy.

Portofino has boats, the walk up to the castle and swimming off the rocks, but no playgrounds, little free sand and steep steps that don't work with a pushchair. Families usually stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo and go to Genoa for its aquarium.

Lucerne could hardly be simpler to get around. The station, the boat piers and the Old Town sit together on the lakefront, the centre is flat, and the boats, trains and cable cars into the mountains all run on integrated tickets, so you never need a car.

Portofino itself is tiny and easy to walk, apart from the steep climbs to the church and the lighthouse. Getting in and out is the problem. A single winding road of about 5km leads to the station at Santa Margherita, and in summer the buses are packed and the road jams. The ferries that help only run from spring to autumn.

In both places shopping is something to fit around other plans, and both lean towards luxury. Lucerne has more to browse. Watch and jewellery houses line Schwanenplatz and the lakefront, and there are chocolate and army-knife shops, a few Old Town boutiques and the Saturday market, though fashion and design are thin.

Portofino squeezes designer fashion, jewellery, linen and resort wear into a few lanes behind the harbour, and you can see it all in under an hour. For a market or a wider choice, people go to Chiavari, Rapallo or Genoa.

Both are very expensive, but the costs come from different places. In Lucerne the hotels and meals are pricey, and the mountain railways and cable cars that make the stay worthwhile cost a lot too. Swiss travel passes and supermarket picnics by the lake help a little.

Portofino has only a few hotels, mostly luxury ones, and in summer they cost as much as the priciest addresses in Europe's big cities. The view is added to the price of every drink and every lounger. The usual way to save is to sleep in Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Camogli and come over for the day.

The gap between the two is wide here. Lucerne's lakefront concert hall, known for its acoustics, hosts the world's leading orchestras during the Lucerne Festival and has a programme all year. The Lucerne Symphony Orchestra plays there, the city theatre stages opera, drama and dance, and Guggenmusik bands fill the streets at Fasnacht.

Portofino has no theatre or regular venue, only the occasional summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For opera or a concert you have to spend the evening in Genoa, at the Teatro Carlo Felice.

Neither has thermal baths, so spa time in both means hotel spas, and the real rest comes from the slow pace. In Lucerne that means an afternoon on a lake steamer, slow walks along the promenades and the Botta-designed mineral bath high on the Rigi with its mountain view.

In Portofino it means quiet mornings and evenings, long lunches over the water and shaded paths on the headland with only birdsong for company. Both lose their calm in the middle of the day, when tour groups crowd Lucerne's Old Town and tour boats fill Portofino's harbour in high summer.