Basel or Verona?

Neither city is on the coast, so swimming here means fresh water, and each city does it its own way. Basel's version is the Rhine itself. You walk upstream along the Kleinbasel bank and float back past the old town in a strong current. It's memorable, but only for confident swimmers.

Verona gives you the better swimming because of Lake Garda, about half an hour away. The water is calm and clear, with lidos, lawns and Sirmione's flat limestone shelves to lie on, and it's much easier for weaker swimmers and children. It is still an outing rather than something on your doorstep, and the shores get crowded on summer weekends.

Verona is the city for eating. Its cooking has deep local roots: risotto made with Amarone or Vialone Nano rice, bigoli, pastissada and bollito misto with pearà. Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino are all made within a short drive. The one weak spot is tired tourist cooking around the Arena.

Basel cooks carefully, but it doesn't have much of its own beyond Läckerli and the browned-flour soup of Fasnacht. It borrows tarte flambée from Alsace and wine from Baden, and everyday meals feel expensive. The Markthalle and the Marktplatz market are the best places for casual eating.

Verona edges ahead because the whole city is the monument. The Roman Arena, the Roman theatre, the Scaliger tombs, San Zeno's bronze doors and Castelvecchio in its Scarpa setting all stand within a UNESCO-listed loop of the Adige.

Basel has the stronger art collections. The Kunstmuseum's Holbeins, the Fondation Beyeler and the Vitra campus would draw visitors to a much larger city, and modern architecture by Herzog & de Meuron sits beside the sandstone Münster. Choose Verona for history you can walk through, and Basel for great galleries.

Both cities are quiet after dark, but in different ways. Basel's best evenings are spent on the summer river steps and at the bars around the Kaserne, and a few clubs in old harbour buildings play electronic music at weekends. Fasnacht, when the city drums through three days and nights, is the great exception.

Verona's evenings revolve around the aperitivo in Piazza delle Erbe, with cheaper wine bars in student Veronetta. In summer the opera crowd leaving the Arena near midnight livens things up late, but there is no real dance scene in the centre.

The two are close on the outdoors and differ in terrain. Basel sits between three ranges of wooded hills, the Jura, the Black Forest and the Vosges, and flat Rhine paths run into Germany and France. It suits walkers and cyclists.

Verona's surroundings are a little more varied. There are vineyard walks in Valpolicella, the Adige cycle route north and pastures on the Lessinia. Monte Baldo above Garda offers ridge walks and paragliding, and the north of the lake has reliable wind for sailing and windsurfing.

Both cities make superb bases, and Verona has the slight edge because of the places in reach. Venice, Padua's Scrovegni Chapel, Palladio's Vicenza and Mantua are all an easy train ride away. The Garda harbours and Soave's walls are even closer.

Basel's strength is reaching three countries in a day. You can visit Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Freiburg and the Black Forest, then Lucerne, Bern or the Rhine Falls, all on fast trains.

Families do about equally well in both, though the days look different. Basel keeps things in town. The Zolli is a short walk from the station, the Rhine ferries are pulled across by the current, and trams take prams easily. Europa-Park is the big outing, about an hour away in Germany.

Verona's main draws lie just outside the city. Gardaland, Parco Natura Viva's drive-through safari and the shallow Garda shore are all about half an hour away, but they usually need a car. Summer afternoons in town can be very hot for small children.

Basel is much easier to get around. Green trams cover the city and some lines run across the borders, hotel guests ride them free, and the river ferries add a pleasant way to cross. The main station's direct trains mean you never need a car.

Verona's centre is small, flat and mostly closed to traffic, so it's lovely on foot. Beyond it there is no metro or tram. Buses run thinly to the Valpolicella and the Lessinia, so those trips are much easier with a car.

Verona has the slightly better shopping. Via Mazzini's marble paving is lined with Italian fashion and shoe labels, and the best things to take home are edible or drinkable: Amarone, Garda olive oil and pandoro. Serious shoppers still head to Milan.

Basel's Freie Strasse is mostly watches, chocolate and chains, with small design shops on Spalenberg. Its Christmas market around the Münster is the seasonal highlight.

The gap in cost is wide. In Basel, hotels, meals, drinks and museum tickets all cost Swiss prices. The free transport card and cheaper meals over the borders in Germany and France help only a little.

Verona is not cheap either, especially for rooms in the centre on opera nights. Still, osterie, wine counters and walking everywhere keep daily spending far lower. Staying near the station or across the river saves more.

Which city wins here depends on the season more than on quality. Basel's stage year runs from autumn to early summer. Theater Basel puts opera, ballet and drama under one roof, with bold productions known well beyond Switzerland, and the Sinfonieorchester plays in the fine acoustics of the Stadtcasino. The city's long early-music tradition adds historical concerts, but in July and August the programme thins out and the river takes over.

Those are exactly the months when Verona is at its best. On summer evenings, Verdi, Puccini and Bizet fill the Roman Arena, with thousands of people seated on the stone tiers as the candles are lit, and the Roman theatre stages Shakespeare, dance and jazz under the stars. In the cooler months the Teatro Filarmonico keeps a season going, but it is a smaller affair than winter in Basel.

Neither city has a bathing culture of its own, and both rely on spas nearby. From Basel you can reach the saline baths at Rheinfelden in about twenty minutes, and the German-style spa towns of southern Baden are close across the border. Basel's quiet Sundays also make for a calm pace.

Verona's warm springs are at Sirmione, with thermal pools facing the lake, and at Caldiero, used since Roman times. In town, a slow lunch and a walk on the Giusti terraces offer calm, except around the Arena in summer.