Portofino or Rome?

Neither has a proper town beach, but Portofino has the swimming closer to hand and in prettier places. You climb down ladders from the rocks on the lighthouse path into very clear, deep water, or go to the small bay at Paraggi, the pebble cove at San Fruttuoso or the beaches around Camogli. The catch is size: every spot is small and fills up in summer.

Rome's sea is a train ride away at Ostia, where the long dark volcanic sand is lined with paid lidos and the water is rarely clear. It works for an afternoon's escape from the heat, but the coves worth the trip, at Sperlonga or Sabaudia, take a full day.

Rome is one of Italy's great eating cities, with a cooking style of its own. There is carbonara and cacio e pepe in neighbourhood trattorias, Jewish-style artichokes in the Ghetto, offal in Testaccio, and supplì and pizza al taglio on the street. You can eat well at every price, as long as you walk away from the big sights.

Portofino's Ligurian dishes are worth trying: trofie with pesto, pansoti and Recco's cheese focaccia. But the village has only a handful of harbourfront terraces, where you pay for the view of the yachts. Serious eaters there head to Camogli or the trattorie in the hills.

This is the widest gap between the two. Rome has the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, St Peter's and the Sistine Chapel, along with Bernini's piazzas and the Borghese and Capitoline collections, and a week only makes a start.

Portofino's sights are its painted harbour, the church of San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the abbey of San Fruttuoso around the point. They make a lovely day out, but there is no museum of any size, and the appeal is the setting itself.

Rome has proper evenings out. Aperitivo spills into the piazzas, Trastevere's wine bars stay full until late, Monti has cocktail bars, San Lorenzo has cheap student bars, and there is a modest club scene in Testaccio and Ostiense. It is a city for drinking outdoors more than for dancing.

Portofino's evening is a smart aperitivo facing the yachts and a long dinner, after which the village goes quiet, especially outside July and August. For anything more you have to go to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

Portofino is the better place to be outdoors. The whole headland is a regional park, with trails through holm oak and pine up to Monte di Portofino and down the cliffs to San Fruttuoso, some of them exposed and fitted with chains. Offshore, the marine reserve has coral walls, seagrass meadows and the sunken Christ of the Abyss for divers.

Rome's green spaces are gentler, and most of them are inside the city: the villa parks of Villa Borghese and Villa Pamphili, and the cobbled Appian Way, a fine bike ride past tombs and aqueduct arches. Just beyond the ring road, the Alban Hills hold the crater lakes of Albano and Nemi. For mountain hiking, the Apennines are about ninety minutes away.

Both make good bases, but Rome's range is hard to match. Ostia Antica and Hadrian's Villa at Tivoli are close, the Etruscan tombs, Orvieto and Civita di Bagnoregio lie to the north, and fast trains reach Florence and Naples in about ninety minutes.

Portofino's outings mostly stay on one stretch of coast, but they are lovely ones: Camogli, Santa Margherita and Sestri Levante, Genoa within the hour, and summer ferries to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Out of season the boats stop and you rely on the trains.

Rome gives families more to do, though Portofino is the calmer place to be. In Portofino the village is safe, and children enjoy the boats, the walk up to the castle and swimming off the rocks. But there are no playgrounds, the sand at Paraggi is mostly paid beach clubs and the steep steps defeat a pushchair, so families usually stay in Rapallo or Santa Margherita.

In Rome there are gladiators and catacombs, the Bioparco zoo and rowing boats in Villa Borghese, a children's museum near Piazza del Popolo, and pizza and gelato every day. Queues at the big sights, summer heat and cobbles still make it tiring, so an unhurried plan in spring or autumn works best.

Rome is easier to get about once you are there. You can walk the historic centre from the Colosseum to Trastevere, and the metro, buses and trams reach the Vatican and Termini, even if traffic slows the buses and trams down.

Portofino takes minutes to cross on foot, apart from the steep paths, but getting there is the problem. There is one narrow coast road from Santa Margherita, little parking and crowded buses in summer. From spring to autumn the ferries are the pleasant way in.

Rome is good for a proper shopping trip. There are fashion houses on Via Condotti below the Spanish Steps, chain stores on Via del Corso, young designers and vintage in Monti, antiques around Via dei Coronari and the Porta Portese flea market on Sundays.

Portofino has a surprising number of luxury boutiques for its size, plus resort wear, lace and jars of pesto, but you can see it all in under an hour. For markets and a longer browse, go to Rapallo, Chiavari or Genoa.

Portofino costs far more than Rome, at almost every turn. Its few hotels are luxury properties priced like the most expensive addresses in Europe's big cities, and harbour meals, loungers at Paraggi, boat hire and parking all add up. Walking the trails and riding the local bus are about the only cheap things, which is why so many visitors sleep further along the coast and come for the day.

Rome's central rooms are costly and small, and the big museums charge substantial entry fees, but daily spending is much kinder. An espresso standing at the bar, pizza by weight and water from the city's fountains are cheap or free, and churches full of masterpieces cost nothing to enter.

Rome has a full season of music and opera. The Teatro dell'Opera stages opera and ballet, with summer opera in the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla. The Santa Cecilia orchestra plays at the Auditorium Parco della Musica, and there are organ concerts in churches and a jazz club scene.

Portofino has only the occasional summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For a night at the opera, the nearest choice is the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Neither has a bathing culture today, so in both places a spa means a hotel spa. The difference is the kind of rest on offer. In Portofino it is quiet mornings, shaded paths and long lunches by the water, though tour-boat crowds fill the harbour in the middle of the day in high summer.

Rome's centre is loud, but there is thermal water within reach: the Acque Albule pools at Bagni di Tivoli and the free hot springs around Viterbo. In the city, the villa gardens and the Aventine are the places to find some calm.