Portofino or Pula?

Neither place has a sandy town beach, but Pula has far more coastline to swim from. Portofino's options are the rock ladders on the way to the lighthouse, the small bay at Paraggi, which is mostly given over to paid beach clubs, and boat trips to the pebble cove at San Fruttuoso. The water is beautiful, but the spots are few and fill up quickly.

Around Pula the coves stretch across Verudela, Stoja and the Medulin bays, with pines shading the rocks. Cape Kamenjak adds dozens of wild inlets where you can usually find room, even in summer. Bring water shoes for the urchins.

Pula eats better. Istrian cooking brings truffle-sauced fuži, scampi buzara, pršut and local Malvazija and Teran wines, and the covered market shows what is in season. The tables right by the Arena are touristy, but the inland taverns are a short drive away.

Portofino offers good Ligurian staples such as pesto trofie and cheese focaccia from Recco, served on harbour terraces where you pay for the yachts in view. There is no market and little casual eating, so food lovers end up in Camogli or Santa Margherita.

Pula has genuine monuments where Portofino has mostly scenery. The Arena's three-storey ring, the intact Temple of Augustus on the Forum and the Arch of the Sergii make Roman history unusually easy to see, and Austro-Hungarian forts and a fortress museum add later layers.

Portofino's sights are the coloured harbour front itself, San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the cove-side abbey of San Fruttuoso. A day covers it, and it rewards people who like atmosphere more than sightseeing.

Neither is a party town, but Pula at least lets a summer evening run late. After drinks around the Forum, people move on to beach and cocktail bars on Verudela and around Medulin, and a few small clubs fill up at weekends. Portofino's evening is a dressed-up aperitivo and dinner facing the yachts, then very little, so anyone wanting more heads to Rapallo or Genoa.

Portofino's landscape is the more dramatic. The whole headland is a regional park, with trails climbing through holm oak and pine to Semaforo Nuovo and then dropping, sometimes on chained sections, to San Fruttuoso above sheer cliffs. Offshore, the marine reserve has red coral walls and the sunken Christ of the Abyss.

Pula's countryside is gentler: low, stony Kamenjak with dinosaur footprints and wild flowers, flat cycling routes through red-earth farmland, windsurfing at Premantura and wreck dives from the naval era. Real hills mean a drive to Učka.

Both make excellent bases, but you travel differently. From Portofino the outings follow the coast by boat and train: Camogli and Sestri Levante, Genoa's medieval centre in under an hour, and summer ferries to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere.

Pula sends you inland and up the peninsula by car, to Venetian Rovinj, the mosaics of Poreč, the hill towns of Motovun and Hum, and the Brijuni islands. Trieste and Piran are possible on a longer day.

Pula is much easier with children. The shallow bays at Medulin and Premantura suit small swimmers, the aquarium sits inside an old fort, and children can explore the passages beneath the Arena. A dinosaur park and a water park are within an hour.

Portofino is calm and safe, but it is made for adults. Steep stepped paths defeat pushchairs, there are no playgrounds, and the little sand is in paid clubs, so families usually stay in Rapallo and visit for the day.

Both centres are small enough to walk, though Portofino's paths up to the castle and lighthouse are steep while Pula's old town is flat. The real difference is getting further afield. In Portofino a car is a nuisance on the single narrow coast road, and buses and ferries do the job. Around Pula the reverse is true, as infrequent regional buses make a car or scooter close to essential for Kamenjak and the Istrian interior.

Neither is worth a trip for shopping, but what you find differs. Portofino's few lanes hold big fashion and jewellery boutiques and resort wear for yacht guests, and you can see them all in an hour. Pula's best buys are edible, such as olive oil, truffle products, honey and wine from the market hall and the producers, with high-street chains on the main street.

This is where the two are furthest apart. Portofino ranks among Italy's most expensive places to stay, with a handful of luxury hotels and charges for loungers, boats and parking, so many visitors sleep in Santa Margherita or Camogli instead.

Pula is mid-priced. Apartments and konobas keep costs sensible, especially in spring and autumn, although July and August rooms and meals by the Arena climb towards Western European levels.

Pula has a stage that Portofino lacks: in summer the Roman Arena hosts pop and rock concerts, classical galas and the long-running Pula Film Festival under its arches, and the Istrian National Theatre performs through the rest of the year. In Portofino you might find the odd summer concert at the castle, but a real performance means an evening at Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice.

Portofino is the more restorative choice, provided you avoid the midday tour-boat crowds. Its luxury hillside hotels have the spas, and quiet mornings, long lunches over the water and shaded paths with only birdsong set the pace. Pula's resort spas on Verudela and in Medulin are more ordinary, and the calm comes instead from coffee on the Forum and pine-lined evening walks outside summer.