Portofino or Sorrento?

Neither has a proper sandy beach in town, and swimming is equally good in both, but the way you get into the water differs. In Portofino you climb down ladders from the rock platforms on the path to the lighthouse, or walk to the little sandy bay at Paraggi, which is mostly paid beach clubs.

In Sorrento you take the lift down to Marina Piccola or Marina Grande and swim from lidos built on wooden piers, or sunbathe on the rocks by the Roman ruins at the Bagni della Regina Giovanna. For pebbles, Portofino has the cove below the abbey at San Fruttuoso, and Sorrento sends you to Marina del Cantone.

Sorrento is the better place to eat. Its cooking comes straight from the land around it: gnocchi alla sorrentina, fish all'acqua pazza, dairy cheeses from the hills, lemons in everything and Neapolitan pizza. Away from the tourist menus around Piazza Tasso, family trattorias and the fish places at Marina Grande are reliable, and the hill villages add serious fine dining.

Portofino serves good Ligurian dishes, such as trofie with pesto and Recco's cheese focaccia, but only in a small cluster of harbour restaurants where you mostly pay for the yachts. Keen eaters go to Camogli or Santa Margherita instead.

Neither is a sightseeing town, but Sorrento has more to see within its own streets. Its old centre follows the Roman grid, with the cathedral, the cloister of San Francesco, the Museo Correale's Neapolitan collections in a seaside villa and the strange sunken ravine of the Vallone dei Mulini.

Portofino's sight is really the village itself, the coloured houses around the harbour, plus the church of San Giorgio, Castello Brown and the walk to the abbey of San Fruttuoso. It all fits into a day and there are no real museums, so it is about atmosphere rather than things to tick off.

Both are early-to-bed places, but Sorrento has more going on after dark. The evening passeggiata along Corso Italia leads on to wine bars, cocktail terraces over the bay, piano bars playing Neapolitan songs and, in summer, a club or two open after midnight.

Portofino's evening is a smart, dress-up aperitivo by the moored yachts followed by dinner, and then little else. There are no clubs, and outside July and August the village goes quiet very early.

Both are superb for the outdoors, and the difference is scale. Portofino packs a protected park and marine reserve onto one headland: holm oak and pine trails over Monte di Portofino, exposed chained sections above the cliffs down to San Fruttuoso, and some of the best diving on the Italian coast.

Sorrento opens on to a bigger landscape. There are lemon-terraced ridges, the trail to Punta Campanella facing Capri, the Path of the Gods, the beech woods of Monte Faito and the crater rim of Vesuvius. Its sea is better for boat trips into the Capri grottoes than for diving.

Portofino has good day trips, but Sorrento has some of the best in Europe. From Sorrento a short train ride reaches Pompeii and Herculaneum, Capri is less than an hour by ferry, summer boats run to Positano and Amalfi, and Naples, with its archaeological museum, is about an hour away.

Portofino's range is gentler. You can reach the Riviera towns of Camogli, Rapallo and Sestri Levante, Genoa's palaces and medieval lanes, and the Cinque Terre by summer ferry or by train from Santa Margherita. Outside the ferry season, getting out takes more planning.

Portofino is calm and safe, and children enjoy the boats, the climb to the castle and jumping off the rocks into the sea. But the village is made of steep steps that defeat a pushchair, and it has no playgrounds. Its only sand is mostly taken by paid clubs. Families usually stay in Rapallo or Santa Margherita and make a day of Genoa's large aquarium.

Sorrento is the easier of the two. Its flat, largely pedestrian centre works with a pushchair, and children get boat trips to Capri, a train ride to Pompeii and plenty of gelato. It still has little built for children. Swimming means deep water off piers, so a hotel with a pool makes life simpler.

Sorrento is a little easier to get in and out of. Its flat centre is easy on foot, and the Circumvesuviana, crowded and unreliable as it is, gives a direct rail link to Pompeii and Naples, with ferries for the coast.

Portofino is tiny and walkable but steep, and it hangs off a single narrow road, about 5km of hairpins from Santa Margherita and its train station. In summer the bus is packed, the road jams, and the ferries become the pleasant way to arrive.

Sorrento has the more interesting shopping, thanks to real local crafts. You can buy intarsia boxes and trays from the inlay workshops and have leather sandals made to measure while you wait, alongside the lemon soaps and ceramics on Via San Cesareo.

Portofino's few lanes hold big-name fashion and jewellery boutiques and resort wear aimed at people off the yachts. It is striking for the size of the village, but you can see it all in under an hour.

Portofino is among the most expensive places to stay in Italy. Its few hotels are luxury properties, and the harbour terraces, the Paraggi loungers, boat hire and parking all cost a great deal. Walking and the local bus are almost the only cheap things, so many visitors sleep in Camogli or Rapallo and come over for the day.

Sorrento is far easier on the wallet, though it is still a resort that charges for sea views in summer. Its trains and buses cost little, and pizza and back-street trattorias are fairly priced. In spring and late autumn, hotel rates come down a long way.

Sorrento has at least a little to go out for: evening shows of Neapolitan song and tarantella, chamber concerts in the cloister of San Francesco in summer, and hotel-bar singers who never let 'Torna a Surriento' rest. Portofino offers only the odd summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For real opera, each sends you to a big city, Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice or Naples' Teatro di San Carlo.

Both are about slowing down rather than taking the waters, with spas found only in the hillside and clifftop hotels. Sorrento has a small edge in its villa gardens and lemon groves, and the thermal gardens of Ischia are a ferry ride away. Portofino's calm comes from its silent coastal paths and empty harbour at dawn and dusk, when the day-trippers have gone.