Portofino or Positano?

Positano is much better for actual beach time. Spiaggia Grande is a broad curve of dark sand and pebbles right below the town, Fornillo is a short cliff walk away, and boats reach Arienzo, Laurito and further coves. The shore is coarse and steep, so water shoes help.

Portofino has no beach of its own. You swim from rock platforms and ladders on the way to the lighthouse, in very clear deep water, or head to the small bay at Paraggi, which is mostly given over to paid clubs. San Fruttuoso's pebble cove by the abbey makes a lovely outing, but the spots are few and small.

Both towns serve a narrow, view-priced menu, so the difference is in what's on the plate. Portofino cooks Ligurian food: trofie with pesto, pansoti in walnut sauce and cheese-filled focaccia from Recco. Positano serves Campanian seafood, scialatielli and clams, with lemons and limoncello. Keen eaters leave Portofino for Camogli or the hill trattorie, while in Positano many kitchens close between November and Easter.

Neither is a sightseeing town, and in both the main attraction is the town itself. Portofino gives you a little more to walk to: San Giorgio, Castello Brown with its gardens, the lighthouse and the abbey of San Fruttuoso around the point. Positano's highlights sit close together: the majolica dome of Santa Maria Assunta and the painted rooms of a Roman villa preserved beneath it, which take a couple of hours at most.

In Portofino the night is mostly done once dinner is. You linger over a drink by the moored yachts, dressed a little smarter than usual, and then the piazzetta empties, early indeed beyond the height of summer. Staying out later means taking the coast road to Santa Margherita or Rapallo, or going on to Genoa.

Positano gives you the livelier evening of the two, because there is still somewhere to go after the meal. On summer nights a handful of bars near the beach keep going, and the club in a cave at the far end of Spiaggia Grande runs until very late, so you can make a whole night of it without leaving town. Come out of season, though, and it settles into the same early quiet as Portofino.

Both are superb for the outdoors, but in different ways. Portofino's headland is a regional park and marine reserve, with trails over Monte di Portofino to San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa, some chained and exposed, and some of the best diving on the Italian coast just offshore.

Positano's landscape is higher and steeper. The Path of the Gods runs along the cliffs above terraced lemon groves to Nocelle, and trails through the woods climb past 1,000m into the Lattari mountains. On the water, kayaks head for the grottoes and the Li Galli islets.

Positano has more within reach of a day out. Capri is about half an hour by boat, Amalfi and Ravello lie along the coast, and Pompeii, Herculaneum and the temples of Paestum make it one of Italy's richest bases for classical sites.

Portofino's options are good but closer together: Camogli, Rapallo and Sestri Levante along the Riviera, Genoa's medieval centre and palaces in under an hour, and summer ferries to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. One advantage is that the coastal railway keeps these trips easy in winter, when Positano is left with buses.

Neither works well with small children, and both are hard going with a pushchair. Portofino is a little easier: the walk to the castle is short, and families can stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo, with Genoa's large aquarium nearby. Positano is built almost entirely of stairs, but its calm, warm summer sea and boat trips will keep older children happy.

Portofino is the simpler of the two to reach and leave. The village takes a few minutes to cross, a bus runs about 5km to the train station at Santa Margherita, and from spring to autumn ferries link the harbour with the neighbouring towns.

In Positano, almost every walk means hundreds of steps. Buses on the coast road fill up and crawl in summer, and ferries, the easiest link, mostly run in season. In both places a car is more trouble than it's worth, but Positano gives you no train to fall back on.

The shops in the two towns sell quite different things. Portofino's few lanes behind the piazzetta have big fashion and jewellery names aimed at yacht guests, plus some Ligurian lace and pesto, and you can see them all in under an hour. For a longer browse, people go to the arcades in Chiavari or to Genoa.

Positano's lanes are worth a visit in their own right, because they sell one local style: moda Positano linen and bright resort clothes, sandals cut to fit while you wait, ceramics and lemon soaps.

Both are among the most expensive places to stay in Italy, and the bills add up the same way: luxury rooms, terraces that charge for the view, loungers and boat hire. The way to save is the same too, by sleeping nearby. For Portofino that means Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Camogli, on an easy bus or train. For Positano it means Praiano or Sorrento, and May and October are kinder there.

Positano is better placed for an evening of music, thanks to the summer festival in Ravello further along the coast, where classical concerts are played on a terrace above the sea. Portofino has only the odd summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For a full season of opera and concerts you have to go to Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice, while Positano looks to Naples.

The two are much alike here. Neither has a bathing tradition, so spas and pools belong to the luxury hotels, and calm depends on avoiding the summer crowds. The difference is in what you do between treatments. Portofino offers shaded headland paths with only birdsong, while Positano is about cliff-cut pools and long terrace afternoons, though its stairs make even small errands tiring in July and August.