Bergamo or Bern?

Neither city is near the sea, but in Bern swimming is part of city life. On summer afternoons locals let the green Aare current carry them back past the Federal Palace, then come ashore at riverside lidos like the Marzili. The river is cold and strong, though, and Lake Thun is the calmer option twenty minutes away.

From Bergamo, swimming means a day out to Lake Iseo or the Lecco arm of Lake Como. The water there is warmer, but the shores are mostly pebble, grass or concrete platforms.

Bergamo eats better. Its mountain cooking of casoncelli in butter and sage, polenta with braised game, and some of Italy's best cheeses goes with local Valcalepio and Franciacorta sparkling wine from just over the border, and the province has a real fine-dining tier.

Bern's table is heavier and plainer: the Berner Platte, rösti and fondue in guildhall dining rooms and cellar restaurants. It does have the wider spread of foreign kitchens and excellent chocolate, but eating out there is costly.

Both cities have a UNESCO-listed old town that you can see in a couple of days, but the two feel very different. Bergamo's is a walled hilltop town inside Venetian ramparts, with the marble Cappella Colleoni and an Accademia Carrara full of Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna.

Bern's sits low in a loop of the river, with its sandstone arcades, painted fountains and the Zytglogge. Its museums lean modern, with the Zentrum Paul Klee and Einstein's flat on Kramgasse, where Bergamo's strength is old masters.

Evenings are quiet in both cities, and the difference is mostly in mood. Bergamo goes for a long aperitivo and drinks in the upper-town squares or along the walls, and it is usually over by midnight. For more than that, people head to Milan.

Bern drinks in vaulted cellar bars under the arcades and on Aare terraces in summer. It also has the Reitschule, whose rough-edged late parties have no real counterpart in Bergamo.

Bern has the grander mountains and makes them easier to reach. The Jungfrau region, with its high trails, cable cars and winter skiing, is an hour away by train, Lake Thun is closer, and the Emmental and Jura offer gentler walking.

Bergamo's Colli park starts right at the upper town. Beyond it, Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with rifugi and high lakes, but most of that is far easier by car, and its ski areas are small.

Both are first-rate bases, and the choice comes down to which country you want to see. From Bergamo you get Italy: Milan's Last Supper, Lake Como and Monte Isola, Verona, Cremona's violin workshops and the Franciacorta vineyards.

From Bern you get a run of tidy Swiss towns on the densest rail network around: Lucerne, Fribourg and Gruyères, walled Murten and the Lavaux terraces above Lake Geneva, all without planning around connections.

Bern is easier with children inside the city itself. It has the bear park, the Dählhölzli zoo along the river, the Natural History Museum's dioramas and a big playground at the top of the Gurten, and the trams take pushchairs without trouble. Only the fast Aare needs watching.

In Bergamo, the funicular rides and the walls fill an afternoon, but the cobbled upper lanes are hard going with a buggy. The best family outings, Leolandia and the Le Cornelle wildlife park, are out of town.

Bern is much simpler. You can walk the old town from the station to the bear park in about twenty minutes, under cover most of the way. Integrated trams fill in the rest, and with the main station at the top of the old town you won't need a car.

Bergamo is split over two levels. The funicular and buses handle the climb, and the airport is close, but the upper valleys and lake shores really call for a car.

Bern offers a little more to browse. Its arcaded main streets have watch and chocolate shops, and below Gerechtigkeitsgasse there are cellar shops selling antiques, design and books.

Bergamo's lower town is mostly chains and mid-range fashion, so the best of it is edible: the delicatessens and cheese shops of the upper town's main lane. Neither city has much luxury shopping, and Milan is the obvious escape from Bergamo for that.

This is the biggest gap between the two. Bergamo is moderately priced for northern Italy, with fair lower-town hotels, inexpensive trattorias and cheap funicular rides. Only the rooms inside the Città Alta push the cost up.

In Bern, rooms, meals and even a terrace beer cost far more than most visitors expect. The hotel transport pass and the free pleasures, such as the bear park, the river paths and Federal Palace tours, soften the bill only a little.

Neither city is worth planning a trip around for its stages, but their programmes differ. Bergamo is all about opera. The Teatro Donizetti and its autumn festival honour the composer born here, and La Scala is within reach for an evening.

Bern covers more ground, with German-language opera and ballet, a symphony orchestra in the Casino, contemporary dance at the Dampfzentrale and the Gurtenfestival's rock and pop in July.

Both are calm places to slow down, but their spas belong to different traditions. Bergamo has historic spa towns close by: Belle Époque San Pellegrino Terme up Val Brembana, and Trescore's sulphur springs, used since Roman times.

Bern has no bathing heritage, but it does have a large modern thermal complex on the edge of the city. The real pleasure there is the unhurried pace: quiet Sundays and long lunches on the riverside terraces.