Milan or Portofino?

Milan is landlocked, so a swim means the Idroscalo basin near Linate, a city pool, or an hour on the train to the pebbly lidos of Lake Como or Lake Maggiore. That is a pleasant summer outing, not a beach vacation.

Portofino has no long beach either, but the sea is right at hand. There are ladders and rock platforms with clear, deep water on the way to the lighthouse, a small sandy bay at Paraggi (mostly taken by paid clubs) and a pebble cove at San Fruttuoso, reached by boat or path. The spots are small and crowded in summer, yet you can swim every day.

Milan has far more to eat. Besides saffron risotto, ossobuco and cotoletta, it brings together cooking from all over Italy, from Neapolitan pizza to Sicilian pastry, and has serious fine dining. Aperitivo in the Navigli, Brera and Isola makes up half the evening.

Portofino has the Ligurian classics, such as trofie with pesto, pansoti and the cheese focaccia from Recco. But there is only a small cluster of harbour terraces, where you pay for the view more than the cooking. People who care about food go to Camogli, Santa Margherita or the trattorie in the hills.

The gap here is wide. Milan's sights come in clusters but are of high rank: the marble Duomo and its rooftop, Leonardo's Last Supper, the Brera paintings, the Rondanini Pietà in the Castello Sforzesco and the basilica of Sant'Ambrogio. That is enough for several full days.

In Portofino the attraction is the coloured harbour itself, with San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the lighthouse path above it and the abbey at San Fruttuoso around the point. It is a setting to enjoy in a day, not a programme of museums.

Only one of these places offers a proper night out. In Milan, aperitivo leads on to the bars along the Navigli towpaths, the more relaxed, mixed streets of Isola and Porta Venezia, which is also the heart of the gay scene, and then to dressy clubs near Corso Como or warehouse nights on the city's edges. Expect style rather than abandon, and a thinner scene in August.

Portofino winds down after dinner. A few smart bars facing the yachts fill up on summer evenings, but there are no clubs, and outside July and August the village goes quiet early. Anyone who wants a late night heads along the coast to Santa Margherita or Rapallo, or into Genoa.

Milan sits on a flat plain, and in town the green space is limited to Parco Sempione, the Giardini Pubblici and the canal towpaths. Trains reach Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and the Grigne ridges in about an hour, though, for proper hiking, sailing and via ferrata.

Portofino needs no train, because the regional park begins at the edge of the village. Trails climb over Monte di Portofino to San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa above sea cliffs, and some sections have chains. Offshore, the marine reserve gives divers red coral walls and the Christ of the Abyss statue, and you can kayak around the point.

Milan has the far wider reach, because it sits on Italy's fastest rail lines: Verona, Turin, Bergamo and Lake Como are each about an hour away, with Bologna and Lugano across the Swiss border not much further. Closer in are the Certosa di Pavia and Vigevano's Renaissance square, while Mantua's Gonzaga palaces, Cremona's violin-making and Parma's food make longer days further afield.

Portofino's range is shorter but lovely, and the journey is often half the pleasure because you go by sea. Camogli and Santa Margherita are a short boat or bus ride away, Genoa's medieval centre is under an hour, and summer ferries reach the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Out of season the trains take over, and trips need more planning.

Milan is easier with children, though not designed for them. It has the science and technology museum with its submarine, the aquarium and playgrounds at Parco Sempione, flat streets, trams, and Leolandia or Gardaland for a theme-park day. Summer humidity is the main drawback.

Portofino is safe and calm, and most children enjoy the boats and swimming off the rocks. But there are no playgrounds, little free sand and many steep steps that don't work with a pushchair. Families usually stay in Rapallo or Santa Margherita instead.

Milan is simple to get around. The centre is flat and compact, the five metro lines are easy to follow and take contactless cards, trams run through the streets, and direct trains from three stations reach the lakes. Only the long transfer from Malpensa and hot platforms in summer count against it.

Portofino is tiny and walkable, but steep, and the hard part is getting there. There is one narrow coast road from Santa Margherita, little parking, and crowded buses in summer. That makes the ferries the nicest way in, though they run only from spring to autumn.

Shopping is Milan's strongest suit, and here it is in a different league. The Quadrilatero della Moda holds the flagships of fashion houses founded in the city, and La Rinascente and the Galleria add a long history. Corso Buenos Aires, the boutiques of Brera, the Navigli antique markets and the design showrooms cover other tastes and budgets.

For a village its size, Portofino has a surprising number of luxury and resort-wear boutiques, plus Ligurian lace and jars of pesto. You can see it all in under an hour, though. For a longer browse or a market, people go to Chiavari, Rapallo or Genoa.

Neither is cheap, but Milan gives you ways to keep costs down. There are lunch menus aimed at office workers, aperitivo snacks that can stand in for supper, fairly priced transport and hotels near metro stops outside the centre. Avoid trade fair and fashion weeks, when rooms become very hard to find at reasonable rates.

Portofino has few hotels, mostly luxury ones, and the view is built into the price of every terrace, lounger and boat hire. Walking and the local buses are about the only cheap things, which is why many visitors sleep in Camogli or Rapallo and come over for the day.

Milan has La Scala, whose season opens each December on the feast of Sant'Ambrogio and whose gallery seats are within reach of a determined visitor. It also has the Piccolo Teatro, a symphony orchestra at the Auditorium, jazz rooms and big summer concerts at San Siro.

Portofino offers only the occasional summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For opera or theatre you need an evening at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

The two are about level for rest, but in different ways. Milan is busy and work-focused. It has a thermal spa complex south of the centre, the restored 1930s Bagni Misteriosi pools in summer and a few hotel spas, but most people looking for calm head out to the lakes.

Portofino has no public spas, only those in the hillside hotels, but the slow pace does the work. Early mornings are quiet, the paths are shaded and lunches by the water run long, as long as you avoid the tour-boat crowds that fill the harbour at midday in high summer.