Bamberg or Cortina d'Ampezzo?

Neither town is a beach destination, and the sea is far from both. The kind of swimming differs, though. Bamberg's hot July afternoons can be spent at the old river bathing spot in the Hain park or the gravel-pit lakes on the edge of town, where the water warms up in summer. Cortina's alpine lakes, such as Ghedina and Pianozes, are fed by snowmelt and are only for a brave, quick dip, so most swimming there happens in hotel pools.

Bamberg is the better place to eat and drink, and it is built around beer. You can drink smoky Rauchbier poured from wooden barrels in old brewery taverns, sit at long tables in the hillside Bierkeller in summer, and eat Schäufele with dumplings at prices that feel fair.

Cortina's best meals tend to happen at mountain huts: casunziei with poppy seeds or polenta with game on a terrace with the peaks around you. In the valley there are a few ambitious kitchens and good Veneto wines, but cheap and everyday food is hard to find. Neither town offers much international food.

On sightseeing the two are far apart. Bamberg's old town survived the war almost undamaged and is UNESCO-listed as a whole. Its cathedral hill holds the Bamberg Horseman and the Neue Residenz, the frescoed Old Town Hall stands in the middle of the Regnitz, and Little Venice and Michaelsberg Abbey are a short walk away. You can spend days just exploring the streets.

Cortina has a pretty centre with a basilica and painted houses, and the Rimoldi art collection is enough for a rainy afternoon. Its most powerful history, the First World War tunnels on Lagazuoi and the Cinque Torri, is up in the mountains and takes a day to reach.

Neither town has much nightlife, but Bamberg has more going on after dark. Brewery taverns fill up after work, the student bars in the Sand quarter stay busy late during term, and Nuremberg is a short train ride away if you want clubs. In Cortina the evening is après-ski, a stroll along the Corso Italia and a long dinner. Late bars and the odd club open only in the peak winter weeks.

Here Cortina is far ahead. The Tofane, Cristallo and Cinque Torri surround the valley, lifts go straight up from town, and the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and Lago di Misurina are under an hour away. Winter brings the huge Dolomiti Superski area. Summer offers the Alta Via 1, via ferrata routes, climbing and paragliding.

Bamberg's countryside is softer. The rock towers and caves of Franconian Switzerland begin less than an hour east, the Steigerwald beech forests lie to the west, and there are easy cycle paths along the Main. Hiking routes linking village breweries are the local speciality. There are no high peaks or big views.

Bamberg is the better base for day trips. Nuremberg's castle, Würzburg's Residence, Coburg's fortress and Bayreuth's opera house are all roughly an hour or less by train. The baroque basilica of Vierzehnheiligen is even closer.

From Cortina, most days out go into the mountains. The towns of South Tyrol, such as San Candido, Brunico and Bolzano with the Iceman, are mostly reached by road. Venice takes about two and a half hours each way by coach, which makes for a very long day.

Cortina works a little better for active families. It has ski schools for all ages, beginner slopes at Socrepes, public skating at the Olympic stadium, and summer walks to huts with meadows where children can run about. Rainy days are harder, though, and costs add up quickly.

Bamberg is calm and easy at a slow pace. It has playgrounds and boat hire in the Hain park, a leisure pool with slides, and beer gardens where children play between the tables. The cobbled climb up to the cathedral is hard work with a pushchair, and the main sights are churches.

Getting there and getting about is much easier in Bamberg. The island town, the cathedral hill and Little Venice are minutes apart on foot, bikes suit the flat lower town, and the station links to the rest of Franconia, so you will not miss a car. The only effort is the short, steep cobbled slopes.

Cortina's small centre is easy to walk, but the town has had no railway since 1964. You arrive by coach from Venice or by a long drive. Buses to the passes and the Tre Cime are infrequent, so many visitors hire a car.

Cortina has more shopping, though it is limited to one street. The Corso Italia has luxury fashion, jewellers and high-end mountain wear, the Cooperativa di Cortina, founded in 1893, sells everything from local food to outdoor gear, and there is wood carving and filigree to take home.

Bamberg's pedestrian streets mostly have chain stores and a few bookshops. Its most local finds are bottled smoked beer, produce from the market gardens and antiques near the cathedral.

The difference in cost is large. Bamberg has ordinary German prices kept low by Franconian habits: cheap beer, filling tavern meals and moderate rooms, with transport costing almost nothing because you walk. Only weekends and the Christmas market season push prices up.

Cortina is among the most expensive places to stay in Italy, especially in the winter peak and August, and lift passes and equipment hire add more. Meals at the mountain huts and late September dates help a little. Many budget travellers stay in a cheaper valley and drive in.

Bamberg has far more to offer here. The Bamberg Symphony is an orchestra with an international reputation, and it plays its home season in the concert hall on the Regnitz. The ETA Hoffmann Theatre stages drama through the season, the cathedral holds organ and choral concerts, and the Bayreuth Festival is an hour away.

Cortina has no theatre season and no regular venue. Its music comes mainly from summer chamber and classical festivals in churches and halls, sometimes moved outdoors into the mountains, with the odd concert around Christmas.

The two are about equal for relaxing, but the calm comes from different places. In Bamberg it comes from the slow pace of the town itself, with quiet mornings by the river and evenings after the day visitors have gone. For proper thermal bathing, the warm brine pools of Bad Staffelstein are about half an hour away by train.

Cortina has no public baths, so wellness there means hotel spas, with Alpine saunas, hay baths and massages after a day outdoors. June and September are very peaceful in the valley, but in the peak weeks traffic and crowds take much of the calm away.