Bamberg or Verona?

Neither city is on the coast, but only Verona makes swimming part of the plan. Lake Garda's southern shore is about half an hour away, with lidos, lawns that run down to the water and the smooth limestone shelves at Sirmione, which are good for a summer day in the water.

Bamberg offers a dip rather than a beach day. You can swim in the Regnitz at the old bathing spot in the Hain park, in the gravel-pit lakes at the edge of town or in the pools. That is enough to cool off, but not a reason to come.

Beer shapes Bamberg's table and wine shapes Verona's, and the Italian city has more range on the plate. In Bamberg you eat hearty Franconian food, Schäufele with its crackling, dumplings and Bratwurst, washed down with smoky Rauchbier in old brewery taverns. Beyond that there is little international cooking and hardly any fine dining.

Verona's 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 all made within a short drive. The one thing to avoid is the tourist cooking around the Arena.

Both have UNESCO-listed old towns, but Verona has more history and more to see. Within one loop of the Adige you find the Roman Arena and theatre, the della Scala lords' squares and tombs, the Romanesque masterpiece of San Zeno, and Castelvecchio, a real art museum in Carlo Scarpa's setting.

Bamberg's strength is how complete it is. The medieval and baroque town survived the war largely untouched, from the four-towered cathedral to the Old Town Hall on its island and the fishermen's houses of Little Venice. Its museums are small, though, so the pleasure lies almost entirely in walking.

Neither city is for clubbing, and both empty well before the small hours. The difference is in what you drink and where. Bamberg's evenings are spent over beer in brewery taverns, the summer beer cellars and the student bars of the Sand quarter. Anyone who wants to dance takes the train to Nuremberg.

Verona's evenings are about wine and aperitivo at tables out in Piazza delle Erbe, with cheaper, later bars in Veronetta. On summer nights the centre fills again near midnight as the crowd leaves the opera.

Verona has more dramatic country within reach. Monte Baldo rises steeply above Lake Garda with ridge walks and paragliding, the northern end of the lake has strong, reliable wind for sailing and windsurfing, and the Lessinia plateau has gorges and high pastures. The Valpolicella vineyards begin just north of the city.

Bamberg's surroundings are gentler. There are the limestone valleys, caves and climbing crags of Franconian Switzerland, the beech woods of the Steigerwald and flat cycle paths along the Main. It is good walking country, but without mountains or big views.

Bamberg is a very good base for seeing Franconia. Verona opens up a much wider spread of places, from great art cities to lake harbours. From Bamberg, Nuremberg's castle, Würzburg's Residence, Bayreuth's opera house and Coburg's fortress are each about an hour by train, and the baroque basilica of Vierzehnheiligen is even nearer. These are excellent trips, but the towns have a similar feel.

From Verona you can reach Venice in a little over an hour, and Vicenza and Padua are closer still, with Mantua to the south. The Garda towns, Valpolicella's cellars and the walls of Soave make easy half-days, so one week can take in Palladio, Giotto, a lakeside harbour and a wine tasting.

Verona gives children much more to do, though most of it is outside the city and is easier with a car. Gardaland, the water parks and the drive-through safari zoo are all near the lake. In town, the flat pedestrian centre and the Arena itself tend to keep children happy.

Bamberg is safe and easygoing but has little aimed at young visitors. The Hain park playgrounds, rowing boats on the Regnitz and the leisure pool fill a few days, and children play freely in the beer gardens. The steep cobbles up the cathedral hill are hard work with a pushchair.

Bamberg's seven hills make walking around town harder work than in Verona's flat river loop. Bamberg's lower town is level and easy to cycle, but the cathedral hill and Michaelsberg involve short, steep climbs over uneven cobbles. In Verona the Arena, the squares and Castelvecchio are a short, flat stroll apart in a centre that is largely closed to traffic.

The two differ again once you leave town. From Bamberg the regional trains cover Franconia, so you won't need a car. Verona's railway is excellent towards Venice and the lake, but the Valpolicella villages, the Lessinia and some Garda attractions are far easier to reach by car.

Verona is the better place to shop. Via Mazzini's marble paving is lined with Italian fashion and accessory labels, and the side streets have jewellers and shoe shops. It is still a provincial city, though, and serious shoppers go on to Milan.

Bamberg has high-street chains, a few bookshops and antique dealers near the cathedral. Its best things to take home come from the brewery shops and the market gardens. In Verona those are Amarone, Garda olive oil and pandoro.

Bamberg is the cheaper stay. Beer and tavern meals cost little, and hotels stay moderately priced for most of the year, apart from busier weekends and the Christmas market season.

In Verona, rooms are the main cost. Hotels in the historic centre are expensive for a city of its size and become scarce on opera nights and during trade fairs, and restaurants with a view of the Arena charge for it. Wine counters, Veronetta's osterie and a room across the river help keep costs down.

Verona has the bigger draw: grand opera in the Roman Arena on most summer evenings, with thousands sitting on the stone tiers until close to midnight. Add the Teatro Filarmonico's winter season and summer Shakespeare and jazz in the Roman theatre, and it is a reason in itself to visit.

Bamberg's strength is orchestral music. The Bamberg Symphony has a genuine international reputation and plays its home season in the concert hall on the Regnitz, alongside drama at the ETA Hoffmann Theatre and concerts in the cathedral. For opera, Bayreuth's festival is an hour away.

Bamberg has a single warm-water spa within easy reach, while Verona has several. From Bamberg, the brine pools of Bad Staffelstein are about half an hour by train and make a good half-day out. Around Verona you can choose between Sirmione's thermal baths looking over Lake Garda, the spring-fed lake in a villa garden near Lazise, and the springs at Caldiero that were already in use in Roman times.

In town, both are restful in their own way. Bamberg is at its calmest by the river in the morning and in the evening, once the day visitors have left. Verona's calm comes from a long lunch, an evening passeggiata by the Adige and the terraces of the Giardino Giusti.