Lugano or Piran?

Neither place has a real sandy beach, but Piran's swimming is better. You climb down ladders from the seafront platforms and rocks into a clear, warm Adriatic, with the pebble cove at Fiesa a short walk away and sand at Portoroz and Strunjan nearby.

Lugano swaps salt water for a lake, swum from lidos with lawns, decks and pools, such as the one at the mouth of the Cassarate. The water is cooler and the season shorter, so it works well on a hot afternoon rather than as a reason to come.

Neither is a food destination, and the difference is mostly in kind. Lugano eats like the hills: polenta, braised meats and risotto in grotti under chestnut trees, with Ticino Merlot, though at Swiss prices.

Piran eats like the harbour, with grilled fish, squid and scampi buzara washed down with Malvazija or Refosk, and salt from the pans on every table. Its harbour menus are more repetitive, but a simple seafood dinner by the water costs far less.

Piran has a slight edge because the whole peninsula is the sight: Venetian Gothic houses around oval Tartini Square, St George's campanile and the old walls above the red roofs. Its museums are small, led by the maritime museum and a monastery cloister.

Lugano's arcaded Lombard streets are pleasant but less striking as a whole. Its strengths are single works and institutions instead, such as Luini's Passion fresco, the art collection at LAC and the Hesse museum in Montagnola. In either town a day covers the essentials.

Both towns go quiet early, so neither suits a big night out. Lugano has a little more choice: aperitivo under the arcades, a few cocktail and lounge bars by the lake and one or two clubs, all for a well-dressed, local crowd.

Piran's evening is a sunset glass of wine on the Punta, and anything louder means the beach bars and casino of Portoroz. For real nightlife, Lugano at least has Milan an hour away by train.

Lugano is far stronger for the outdoors. Steep wooded mountains rise straight from the lake, funiculars and a rack railway climb to summit views over the Alps, and the Gandria path and the Lema ridge are on the doorstep, with the green rivers of Verzasca and Maggia close by.

Piran's nature is softer and closer to sea level: the flysch cliffs of Strunjan, birdlife on the Secovlje lagoons, kayaking along the shore and the Parenzana cycle route inland. The Skocjan caves on the Karst are its most dramatic outing.

Both sit on borders, but Lugano's day trips are richer and easier. Fast trains reach Milan's cathedral and The Last Supper, Lake Como, the castles of Bellinzona and Lake Maggiore, while lake boats call at Morcote.

Piran has a fine spread too: Habsburg Trieste, the Istrian towns of Rovinj, Porec and Motovun, Predjama Castle and Ljubljana, with summer boats to Venice. Most of it, however, really needs a hire car.

The two are broadly level for children, and both are safe, calm and short on purpose-built attractions. Lugano offers more to do: boat rides to the lake villages, funiculars, the Monte Generoso rack railway and the miniature Switzerland park at Melide, though its slopes are hard work with a pushchair.

Piran's appeal is simpler. The old town is free of cars, the seafront is flat and the sea is warm, with a small aquarium and Portoroz's shallow sandy beach nearby. It is better for a few easy beach days than for a long stay.

In Lugano you can leave the car at home and still reach mountains, lakes and other countries. Trains run to Bellinzona, Locarno, Como and Milan, boats call at the lakeside villages, and funiculars and a rack railway climb the summits. The only real effort is the steep climb between the old town and the railway station, and a short funicular covers that.

Piran works the other way round. Cars stop at the garage outside town, and inside you walk the whole peninsula in a quarter of an hour, with a shuttle bus and the seafront promenade linking it to Portoroz. There is no railway, though, so for Istria or the Karst most visitors hire a car.

Lugano is the better place to shop, though still limited. Via Nassa's arcades are lined with Swiss watchmakers, jewellers and Italian fashion, and there is a large designer outlet towards Mendrisio.

Piran is mostly souvenirs and a few galleries. Its best buys are edible: salt flower from the Secovlje pans, Istrian olive oil and coastal wine.

This is where the two differ most. Lugano is expensive across the board, from lakeside hotels to boat trips and mountain railways, and even grotti and set lunches only soften the bill.

Piran is moderately priced, dearer in high summer but reasonable in the shoulder months or when staying in Portoroz. Its main pleasures, swimming off the rocks and walking the old town, cost nothing.

Lugano has the stronger cultural calendar thanks to LAC, whose concert hall is home to the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana and hosts visiting soloists, drama and dance. In summer, Estival Jazz fills Piazza della Riforma with free open-air concerts.

Piran's music is small and seasonal: Tartini concerts in churches, the monastery cloister and on the square, plus occasional recitals at the Tartini Theatre. Outside summer there is little on.

Piran is the better place to unwind, because it has a real tradition of bathing in seawater. Portoroz grew up as a spa resort with brine baths and salt-pan mud, there is an open-air thalasso spa in the Secovlje lagoons and a seawater health resort at Strunjan.

Lugano's calm comes from its pace instead: palm-lined lakefront benches, lido afternoons and long grotto lunches, with spas mainly inside the large hotels and one big pool complex near Rivera.