Portofino or Verona?

Neither has a proper beach, but Portofino puts the sea right at your feet. Rock platforms and ladders along the lighthouse path drop into deep, clear water, Paraggi's small sandy bay is a short walk away, and boats reach the pebbles at San Fruttuoso. The catch is that the spots are small, much of Paraggi is paid beach clubs, and summer crowds fill them early.

From Verona, swimming means a trip to Lake Garda, about half an hour away. There you get calm, tideless water, lidos, grassy lawns and Sirmione's flat limestone shelves. It's pleasant in summer, but it's an outing, not part of everyday life.

Verona is the more rewarding place to eat. Plain osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta serve risotto made with Amarone, bigoli with duck, and bollito misto with peppery pearà. Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino are poured within sight of the vineyards. Avoid the tourist cooking around the Arena.

Portofino has good Ligurian staples, such as trofie with pesto and cheese-filled focaccia from Recco. However, the harbour terraces charge for the yachts more than the food, and there's little else. Keen eaters head to Camogli, Santa Margherita or the trattorie in the hills.

These two are far apart here. In Portofino the sight is the village itself: the painted horseshoe of houses, San Giorgio above the bay, the gardens of Castello Brown and the medieval abbey at San Fruttuoso, reached only on foot or by boat. A day covers it, and there are no real museums.

Verona has two thousand years of layered city inside its river loop. The Arena and the hillside Roman theatre come first, then the Scaliger tombs, the Romanesque bronze doors of San Zeno, and Castelvecchio's art collection in Carlo Scarpa's galleries. It rewards two or three unhurried days.

Neither suits a big night out, but Verona keeps going longer. Spritz and Valpolicella fill the tables in Piazza delle Erbe, the student bars of Veronetta stay busy late in term time, and the opera crowd brings the centre back to life near midnight in summer.

In Portofino the evening is a dressed-up aperitivo and dinner on the harbour, and then the village goes quiet. Outside July and August it goes quiet very early. For anything later, you go to Santa Margherita, Rapallo or Genoa.

Portofino has the stronger outdoors, and it starts at the door. The headland is a protected park above water and a marine reserve below it. Trails climb through holm oak and scrub over Monte di Portofino and drop to San Fruttuoso, with some exposed stretches on chains. Offshore are red coral walls and the bronze Christ of the Abyss for divers.

Verona's nature lies around it rather than in it. There are vineyard walks and cycling in the Valpolicella hills, the long Adige cycle route, and the Lessinia plateau's gorges. About an hour away, Monte Baldo and the windsurfing waters of northern Garda add more. It's varied, but nearly all of it takes a journey.

Both make good bases, but Verona has more choice and easier links. By rail it reaches Venice, Palladio's Vicenza, Padua's Scrovegni Chapel and lake-ringed Mantua, with Milan and Bologna possible for a longer day. Sirmione, Bardolino, Malcesine and the walled town of Soave are closer still.

Portofino's outings are coastal and often by boat, which is part of the pleasure. Camogli, Rapallo and Sestri Levante are close, Genoa is under an hour away, and in summer ferries run to the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Out of season, the trains from Santa Margherita do most of the work.

Verona is much easier with children. Gardaland, the water parks and the drive-through safari at Parco Natura Viva are all about half an hour away, although you'll want a car or transfer. The flat, mostly pedestrian centre works well with a pushchair, and the Arena tends to impress young visitors.

Portofino is safe, and children like the boats and the castle. But the village is built for adults, with steep steps instead of playgrounds and paid clubs on most of the sand. Families usually stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo and take the trip to Genoa's aquarium.

Verona's historic centre is flat, compact and largely car-free, so the Arena, the piazzas, Castelvecchio and Veronetta are all a short walk apart. Fast trains to Venice, Milan and Peschiera make it simple to go further. A car helps only for the Valpolicella and the Lessinia.

Portofino is tiny but steep, and the hard part is getting in. A single winding road runs about 5km to Santa Margherita, and in summer it jams and the buses fill up. The spring-to-autumn ferries are the most pleasant way to come and go.

Verona has more to browse. Via Mazzini's marble paving is lined with Italian fashion labels, and Corso Porta Borsari has jewellers and shoe shops. The best things to take home are Amarone, Garda olive oil and pandoro, though serious shoppers still go to Milan.

Portofino's shopping is grander but tiny: a few lanes of big fashion and jewellery houses and resort wear for people off the yachts. There's some Ligurian lace and pesto too, and you can see it all in under an hour. There are no markets, so for those you go to Rapallo, Chiavari or Genoa.

Portofino is by far the dearer of the two, and the cost is spread across everything rather than sitting in one bill. You pay for the view in the room, the drink and the lounger alike. The village has no cheaper corner to retreat to, so in Portofino only the trails and the bus come cheap.

In Verona the money goes mainly on the bed. Central hotels are expensive for a provincial city and hard to find on summer opera nights or during the big trade fairs, but a room near the station or across the river in Veronetta saves a good deal and still leaves the sights within walking distance. Beyond that, a day here costs much less. Student osterie and wine counters feed you fairly, Veneto wines are good value, and you barely need transport.

Verona is one of the reasons people travel to Italy for opera. On most summer evenings, grand productions of Verdi and Puccini fill the Roman Arena, with candles lit as night falls. The Roman theatre hosts Shakespeare, dance and jazz in summer, and the Teatro Filarmonico keeps a season through the cooler months.

Portofino has the occasional summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle and nothing regular. For a night at the theatre or opera you go to Genoa's Carlo Felice.

The two are close, but they offer different kinds of rest. Around Verona there is real thermal water: Sirmione's lakeside spa pools, the warm spring-fed lake in a villa garden near Lazise, and the old springs at Caldiero. In town, the riverside passeggiata and the Giardino Giusti terraces set the pace.

Portofino has no public baths, only the spas of its hillside luxury hotels. What it offers is quiet: shaded paths with only birdsong and the sea, and long lunches over the water. That calm holds early and late in the day, and outside high summer, when tour-boat crowds aren't filling the harbour.