Aix-en-Provence or Bergamo?

Neither town is on the water, but Aix is closer to proper sea swimming. Within about an hour are the city beaches of Marseille, the coves of the Cote Bleue and the calanques near Cassis, though these are small, rocky inlets that fill up in August.

Bergamo's swimming is in lakes instead: lidos at Sarnico and Lovere on Lake Iseo, or the Lecco arm of Como, from grass, pebbles or concrete platforms. It makes a pleasant hot-day outing, but it lacks the coastline and salt water that Aix can reach.

The two eat equally well, but from very different larders. Aix cooks with sunshine and olive oil: market stalls on Place Richelme, tapenade, daube, vegetable tians and Coteaux d'Aix rosé over a long lunch, with calissons for dessert.

Bergamo's food is butter, cheese and mountain cooking: casoncelli with sage, polenta with braised meats and game, and Taleggio and Strachitunt from the valleys, washed down with Valcalepio or Franciacorta at aperitivo. Both thin out quickly beyond their own regional tradition.

Bergamo has the stronger set piece. The Città Alta is a near-complete walled town inside UNESCO-listed Venetian fortifications, with the Cappella Colleoni and Santa Maria Maggiore around Piazza Vecchia, and the Accademia Carrara below holds Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna.

Aix is more a townscape to enjoy than a list of monuments: the plane trees of the Cours Mirabeau, the honey-coloured mansions of the Mazarin quarter and fountains on almost every square. Cezanne's studio, the Bibemus quarries and the Musée Granet give it a clear artistic thread, but Bergamo packs more major art and architecture into the same two days.

Aix has a little more going on after dark, mostly thanks to its students. Bars spill onto Place des Cardeurs and the lanes behind the town hall, and there are a few cocktail bars and small clubs, although it goes quiet in term breaks.

Bergamo's evening is a long aperitivo followed by wine bars on Via XX Settembre and Borgo Santa Caterina, or drinks on the walls in summer, and it is usually over by midnight. For a real club night, people in Aix go to Marseille and people in Bergamo go to Milan.

Aix has the more dramatic landscapes on its doorstep. There is the limestone ridge of Sainte-Victoire, the white cliffs and turquoise inlets of the Calanques for coastal walking and kayaking, the Verdon gorge, and lavender-country cycling in the Luberon and Alpilles. The catch is midsummer heat and fire closures, so spring and autumn are the seasons for it.

Bergamo's outdoors is greener and more alpine. The Colli di Bergamo climb straight from the upper town, the Orobie valleys hold rifugi and high lakes, and Iseo and Como offer sailing and lakeside cycling. Small ski areas such as Foppolo also give it a winter option that Aix lacks.

Both are first-rate bases, but the outings are different in kind. From Aix the draw is Roman and Provencal: Arles, the Palais des Papes in Avignon, Nîmes and the Pont du Gard, and hilltop villages such as Gordes and Roussillon, which really need a car.

Bergamo's day trips are mostly cities and lakes that you can reach by train. Milan is under an hour away, Brescia, Cremona and Verona are a little further, and Monte Isola on Lake Iseo and Crespi d'Adda are close by. Without a car, Bergamo is the easier base to use fully.

Bergamo gives children more to do. The two funiculars and a walk on the walls are fun in themselves, and Leolandia and the Le Cornelle wildlife park are a short drive away. Its weak point is the steep cobbled lanes of the upper town, which are hard work with a buggy.

Aix is safe and largely pedestrian, with fountains and markets to break up the day. Its sights are mansions and museums, though, and summer afternoons are very hot, so families tend to rely on a pool and drive out to La Barben zoo or the coast.

In both towns you walk rather than drive, and in both a car is the realistic way to see the countryside. Aix is flat and compact, with small electric shuttles in the lanes, but its TGV station sits on a plateau outside town and needs a shuttle bus.

Bergamo is built on two levels joined by a funicular. The airport is a short bus ride away, and direct trains run to Milan, Brescia and Lecco. That makes it the more convenient of the two for anyone arriving by air or touring by rail.

Aix is the better town for shopping. French fashion, shoe and homeware boutiques fill the lanes around Rue d'Italie and Rue Fabrot, there are chains in the Allées Provençales, and the market squares add fabric, flower and bric-a-brac stalls. Calissons, santons and Provencal prints make distinctive things to take home.

Bergamo's shopping is mostly mid-range chains under the arcades of the Sentierone. Its strength is food: the cheese, salumi and wine shops along the main lane of the Città Alta. Serious fashion shoppers head to Milan.

Bergamo is the easier on the wallet. Lower-town hotels are fairly priced, trattorias and aperitivo bars are reasonable, and buses and the funicular cost little, though rooms inside the Città Alta are dearer.

Aix is one of the pricier towns in the south of France. Central hotels are few, most of the rooms are boutique or country-house, and July is especially expensive during the opera festival. Back-street lunch menus and market picnics help, but a hire car adds to the cost.

Aix has the bigger stage. Its July opera festival in the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace is of international standing, and the rest of the year brings Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir and touring orchestras at the Grand Théâtre de Provence.

Bergamo's stage life centres on Donizetti, with an opera season and an autumn festival at the Teatro Donizetti, plus Bergamo Jazz in spring. La Scala is an evening away in Milan. Opera lovers might choose by season: summer in Aix, autumn in Bergamo.

Both have thermal water with Roman roots. In Aix it runs through the town itself, with warm fountains on the Cours Mirabeau and the Thermes Sextius spa on the site of the ancient baths.

Bergamo's spas are out of town: the Belle Époque resort of San Pellegrino Terme up Val Brembana, and the sulphur springs of Trescore Balneario. Otherwise both relax you mainly through their pace, with market mornings and long lunches in Aix and quiet walks on the walls in Bergamo.