Padua or Portofino?

Neither is a classic beach resort, but in Portofino the swimming starts on the doorstep. There is clear, deep water off the rock platforms towards the lighthouse, the sheltered bay of Paraggi is a short walk away, and the pebble cove at San Fruttuoso is reached by boat or path. The catch is space: the spots are small, much of Paraggi is taken by paid beach clubs, and summer crowds fill what is left.

From Padua the sea is an outing of about an hour, to Sottomarina or the Lido of Venice. The sand there is long, flat and lined with umbrellas, and the shallow, calm water suits small children better than anyone looking for scenery. It is easy enough for a day, but not a reason to stay.

Padua eats better and more cheaply. Its day revolves around the markets of Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta and the delicatessens under the Palazzo della Ragione. The cooking is Venetian home food, such as bigoli with duck sauce, baccalà and risotto with peas, and the evening brings a spritz taken standing in the square and wines from the Euganean Hills.

Portofino serves Ligurian classics such as trofie with pesto, fritto misto and Recco's cheese focaccia, at a few harbour terraces where the view sets the price and the cooking rarely lives up to it. With no market and no casual places of note, keen eaters head to Camogli, Santa Margherita or the trattorie in the hills.

This is the widest gap between the two. Padua has Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel and a UNESCO-listed group of fourteenth-century fresco cycles, the Basilica of Saint Anthony with Donatello's altar and his Gattamelata outside, the oldest permanent anatomical theatre in the world at Palazzo Bo, and the Orto Botanico, founded in 1545. That is enough for several full days.

In Portofino the village itself is the sight: the coloured horseshoe of houses, San Giorgio above the bay, Castello Brown, and the abbey of San Fruttuoso in its cove with no road. It is beautiful, can be seen in a day and has no museum of any size.

Both places go out the Italian way, with an aperitivo, but Padua keeps going for longer. On warm evenings, university students fill Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori, and in term the wine bars and small pubs around the old ghetto and the Bo stay busy. Clubs are few, though, and the city empties in high summer.

Portofino's evening is a dressed-up drink at a harbour bar facing the yachts, then dinner, then very little. There are no clubs, and outside July and August the village goes quiet early. For a late night you go to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

In Portofino the outdoors starts at the door. The headland is a regional park and marine reserve, with trails through holm oak and pine up to the Semaforo Nuovo viewpoint and down cliff paths, some with chains, to San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa. Offshore there is diving on red coral walls and at the Christ of the Abyss statue, and kayaking around the point.

Padua sits on a flat plain, so its countryside begins at the Euganean Hills about 15km out, with vineyard trails and quiet cycling roads, or along the level towpaths of the Brenta. Proper mountain walking on Monte Grappa or the Asiago plateau needs a car and most of a day.

Both are good bases, but Padua is exceptional. Venice is under half an hour by train, close enough to visit on several days, and Vicenza is a quarter of an hour away. Verona, Treviso, Bologna and Ferrara are around an hour, and the Brenta villas and the walled towns of Este, Monselice and Montagnana are closer still.

Portofino's trips run along a single coast. Camogli, Santa Margherita and Rapallo are close by bus or boat and Genoa is within the hour. In summer, ferries go to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere and make the journey part of the day. Out of season the boats stop, and trips mean buses and trains from Santa Margherita.

Neither place is built around children, but Padua is the easier of the two. Its flat, largely pedestrianised centre works with a pushchair, Prato della Valle gives them room to run, and Gardaland and the beaches of Lake Garda make a manageable day out.

Portofino has the boats, the walk up to the castle and swimming off the rocks, but also steep steps, mostly paid sand at Paraggi and an expensive, grown-up feel. Families usually stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo and make the trip to Genoa's aquarium.

Padua is far simpler. The centre is compact and flat, with arcades and traffic-free streets, a tram from the station and bicycles in everyday use. Its main-line station also lets you travel round the whole Veneto without a car.

Portofino takes a few minutes to cross on foot, though the paths up to the castle and lighthouse are steep. The hard part is getting in and out. There is one narrow coast road from Santa Margherita, about 5km away, and parking is scarce. The buses are crowded in summer, and the ferries only run from spring to autumn.

Padua's shopping is broader and more everyday. Italian fashion and shoe shops line the arcades, there are bookshops serving the university, and once a month an antiques market fills Prato della Valle. The daily markets are the place to buy cheese and Euganean wine to take home.

Portofino squeezes big fashion and jewellery houses and resort wear into a few lanes behind the harbour, and you can see it all in under an hour. Ligurian lace and jars of pesto are about the only local buys, so for markets or a longer browse people go to Chiavari or Genoa.

The difference here is stark. Padua costs what a northern Italian city usually does, which is moderate, and that is why many visitors sleep there and spend their days in Venice. Market food, a standing spritz and a walkable centre keep daily spending modest.

Portofino is among the most expensive places in Italy, with a few luxury hotels, harbour tables priced for the view, and costly loungers, boat hire and parking. Walking the trails and riding the local bus are almost the only cheap things, and staying in Rapallo or Camogli is the usual way to keep costs down.

Padua has a small but genuine season, with theatre and some opera at the nineteenth-century Teatro Verdi, chamber concerts in the frescoed Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica, and student music venues. The Fenice in Venice and the Arena in Verona are an easy trip away.

Portofino has no theatre or regular venue, only the odd summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For a proper evening of music you go to the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Padua has a genuine spa tradition next door. Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme, about 12km away, form one of Europe's largest thermal districts, with hot mineral pools and mud treatments used since Roman times. Many of the spa hotels let day visitors in after a morning of sightseeing.

Portofino is restful because of its pace and setting rather than its spas, which are the treatment rooms of the hillside hotels. What it offers is quiet, shaded paths and long lunches by the water. That calm is best early, late or out of season, because at midday in summer the tour-boat crowds break it.