Pisa or Portofino?

These two are about level for swimming, but the swimming itself is quite different. Pisa's coast is about 12km from the centre. At Tirrenia and Calambrone there are long, wide sandy beaches backed by pines, with shallow water that is easy for paddling, though near the Arno mouth the sea is rarely clear.

In Portofino you swim from rock platforms and ladders straight into deep, very clear water. The only sand is the small bay at Paraggi, and San Fruttuoso has a pebble beach you reach by boat or on foot. Paid beach establishments take most of the space in both places, and Portofino's few spots fill up fastest.

Pisa eats better and more cheaply. The streets around Piazza delle Vettovaglie combine a morning market with student trattorias serving ribollita, game and salt cod, and cecina comes hot from wood ovens. Skip the menus near the tower.

Portofino has good Ligurian dishes, such as pesto with trofie and the cheese focaccia of Recco, but only a small group of harbourside terraces where the view costs more than the cooking deserves. Keen eaters head to Camogli or Santa Margherita.

This is the widest gap between them. Pisa has one of Italy's great monumental ensembles in the cathedral, baptistery, tower and Camposanto, and behind it Piazza dei Cavalieri, Santa Maria della Spina, medieval painting at San Matteo and the palazzi along the Lungarni.

Portofino's main sight is the harbour village itself, painted houses around a piazzetta, along with San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the abbey at San Fruttuoso. It has no museums to speak of, and a day covers everything.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Pisa at least has a student evening scene. During term, the squares around the old market fill with people drinking outside small bars until after midnight, and Borgo Stretto takes the aperitivo crowd.

In Portofino the evening is a long, dressed-up aperitivo facing the yachts and then dinner, and that is the end of it. Anything later means going to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

Portofino has the more striking outdoors. The whole headland is a regional park, with trails over Monte di Portofino and down to San Fruttuoso along cliffs that drop into the sea, some sections with chains. Offshore, the marine reserve offers diving among red coral and to the Christ of the Abyss statue.

Pisa's countryside is flatter and gentler: the pine and wetland park of San Rossore for cycling and spotting deer, olive-terrace paths on Monte Pisano, and the Apuan Alps further out for serious hiking.

Both are good bases, but Pisa's rail links give it the edge. Florence is an hour away and Lucca under half an hour, the Cinque Terre are a little over an hour by train, and a car brings Volterra, San Gimignano and Siena within reach.

Portofino's outings run along the Riviera di Levante: Camogli, Rapallo and Sestri Levante, plus Genoa in under an hour. Arriving by ferry at the Cinque Terre or Portovenere is a pleasure in summer, but out of season everything depends on the train from Santa Margherita.

Pisa is easier with children. The centre is flat and compact, the tower lawn gives them room to run, and sandy, shallow beaches and bike rides in San Rossore make good family days.

Portofino is safe and calm, but it has steep steps that rule out pushchairs, no playgrounds, and hardly any free sand. Most families stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo and take a day trip to the Genoa aquarium.

Pisa is much simpler. It is flat and walkable from station to tower, the airport is linked by a short shuttle train, and the station is a rail hub for western Tuscany.

In Portofino everything is close but steep, and the hard part is arriving and leaving. One narrow road runs about 5km from Santa Margherita, parking is very limited and the road jams in summer. The bus and the seasonal ferries are the practical ways in and out.

Neither is worth a shopping trip, but Pisa offers more ordinary browsing. Corso Italia has high-street fashion, Borgo Stretto has smarter shops under its arcades, and there is a monthly antiques market by the river.

Portofino is the reverse: a few lanes of big-name fashion and jewellery boutiques and resort wear for yacht visitors, plus some lace and ceramics, all seen in under an hour. For everyday shopping you go to Chiavari or Genoa.

Pisa costs far less. Central rooms are mid-range, student trattorias are good value, and walking costs nothing. The real expenses are the tower climb, the cafés right beside the monuments and the summer beach loungers.

Portofino is among the most expensive places in Italy. It has few hotels, mostly luxury ones, and the piazzetta, Paraggi's loungers, boat hire and parking are all costly. Many visitors sleep in Rapallo or Camogli and come over for the day.

Pisa has a proper opera house in the horseshoe-shaped Teatro Verdi, with opera, concerts and ballet from autumn to spring, plus university chamber music and church recitals.

Portofino has nothing regular beyond the odd summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For a real performance you go to the Carlo Felice in Genoa.

The two are about level for relaxation, and both get their calm from being small and slow. Pisa has thermal water nearby, with springs used since Roman times at San Giuliano Terme and a large public pool at Casciana Terme.

Portofino has no bathing tradition, only luxury hotel spas, but its shaded headland paths and quiet early mornings are restful, especially outside high summer, when tour boat crowds fill the harbour at midday.