Basel or Genoa?

Basel's version of a beach is the Rhine. You walk upstream along the Kleinbasel bank and float back past the Münster with your clothes in a swim bag, then dry off on the gravel. It is memorable, but the current is strong, the season is short, and there is no sand or open water.

Genoa has real sea swimming without leaving town, at the Boccadasse cove, the bathing establishments on Corso Italia and the platforms below Nervi. The Riviera towns along the line are better still. Expect pebbles, rented loungers and crowded summer weekends rather than wide sandy beaches.

Genoa is the place to travel for food. Its cooking has a strong identity: trofie with pesto, pansoti in walnut sauce, focaccia at breakfast, and farinata and fried fish from the old friggitorie in the caruggi, with Vermentino to drink. The Mercato Orientale shows off the produce of Liguria.

Basel eats well but borrows much of its menu from Alsace and Baden, and its own specialities hardly go beyond Läckerli and Fasnacht flour soup. What it does have is the stronger fine-dining tier, where Genoa's is thin, and the Markthalle makes a good casual stop.

The two are close, but they offer different things. Basel is about great collections: Holbein at the Kunstmuseum, the Fondation Beyeler in its Renzo Piano building, the Tinguely and the Vitra campus. Its compact old town, from the red Münster to the Spalentor, takes three or four days.

Genoa has the edge because the whole city is the sight. Its vast medieval quarter of shaded lanes, the UNESCO palaces of Via Garibaldi, the striped cathedral and the marble sculpture of Staglieno fill more days than most visitors expect. Its galleries are pleasant rather than world-class.

Basel goes out on the river steps, Genoa in its medieval squares. On summer evenings in Basel people drink at the Kleinbasel kiosks and buvettes until late, and the rest of the year the bars around the Kaserne and Rheingasse take over. A few clubs in old harbour and industrial buildings keep electronic music going at weekends. Fasnacht is the exception, three days of drums and lanterns that begin at four in the morning.

Genoa's evenings start with aperitivo around Piazza delle Erbe and the lanes near the university, and run late at weekends. Summer moves the action out to the Foce waterfront and the beach clubs of Corso Italia. Weeknights are quiet in both cities, and drinks cost much less in Genoa.

Genoa has the more dramatic outdoors, with green hills dropping straight to the sea. The Righi funicular leads to a ridge trail past old fortresses. The Portofino promontory has cliff paths down to San Fruttuoso, and the Cinque Terre trails are within reach. There is whale watching, kayaking and diving on the water too.

Basel's landscape is gentler but varied. The Jura, the Black Forest summits and the Vosges are all close, and flat Rhine paths make easy cycling into Germany and France. It suits walkers and cyclists rather than anyone after sea views or steep terrain.

Both are excellent bases. From Basel, fast trains reach three countries: Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Strasbourg, Freiburg, and Swiss cities such as Lucerne and Bern. It is a mix of cathedral towns, old towns and countryside.

Genoa's trips run mostly along one coastline: Camogli, Portofino, Sestri Levante and the Cinque Terre to the east, and Finale Ligure and Albenga to the west. Milan and Turin are within reach for a museum day. It is the better choice for seaside villages, while Basel offers more variety of country and city.

With children, Basel is good for easy everyday logistics and Genoa for one big day out at Porto Antico. Basel is small and safe, the trams take prams, the Zolli is a short walk from the station, and the ferries pulled by the current delight younger children. Europa-Park, across the German border, is the big outing.

Genoa's aquarium can fill half a day, with the science centre, the biosphere and the Galata submarine next door, and the funiculars and public lifts are a treat in themselves. Away from the harbour, the steep, dark lanes are hard going with a pushchair, but children are welcome in every restaurant.

Basel is about as easy as a city gets. Both banks are walkable, green trams reach everywhere and even cross the borders, and hotel guests travel free. Direct trains from the main station mean you never need a car.

Genoa takes more effort. The old town is a maze, the city climbs steeply from the harbour, and there is only one short metro line, with slow buses in the congested streets. The funiculars, lifts and coastal railway make up for much of this, and the train is the way to reach Nervi and the Riviera.

Swiss watches and chocolate are Basel's obvious buys, while Genoa's are Ligurian food and silver filigree. In Basel, Freie Strasse and Gerbergasse hold the jewellers and chocolatiers alongside the usual chains, the lanes of Spalenberg have small design and craft shops, and Läckerli make an easy edible gift. The Christmas market by the Münster is one of the prettier ones in Switzerland.

In Genoa the interesting shops are the long-established ones in the old town, selling candied fruit, olive oil and pesto, and workshops making filigree, coral and ceramics. The arcades of Via XX Settembre and the Galleria Mazzini cover the familiar Italian labels, but neither city is a destination for fashion.

This is where the two differ most. Basel is very expensive in every respect, and rooms become scarce during big fairs such as Art Basel. Free trams and cheaper meals across the border in Germany or France soften the bill only a little.

Genoa is a mid-range city that feels good value for Italy, with cheap street food, fair trattoria lunches and lower hotel prices than Italy's most visited cities. Only the smart Riviera resorts in summer and lounger fees on beach days push costs up.

Basel has the stronger stage. Theater Basel is known well beyond Switzerland for bold opera, ballet and drama, the Stadtcasino's fine acoustics serve two orchestras, and early-music concerts add something unusual. Plan around the season, which quietens in July and August.

Genoa's Teatro Carlo Felice offers opera and concerts behind its colonnade on Piazza De Ferrari, and Paganini concerts and small singer-songwriter clubs add local colour. It is enough for an evening or two, and most of the drama is in Italian.

Basel makes a spa day easier. The saline thermal baths at Rheinfelden are about twenty minutes away, the German spa towns of southern Baden are just over the border, and the city itself rarely feels rushed.

Genoa's centre, with its port and traffic, is anything but restful. Its calm lies in the villa gardens and promenade at Nervi and in long lunches in the Riviera villages, while the nearest thermal waters, at Acqui Terme, are over an hour away.