Bergamo or Chamonix?

Neither place has a coast, but Bergamo has the better water within reach. The lidos on Lake Iseo at Sarnico and Lovere and the Lecco arm of Lake Como offer warm-weather swimming from grassy or pebbled shores, an easy outing on a hot day.

Chamonix has less: the small Lac de Passy down the valley and the town pool in summer, with Lake Annecy over an hour's drive away. In both places swimming is a break from the main programme, not the reason to go.

Both kitchens rest on mountain cheese, but Bergamo eats better and more widely. It offers casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta with braised game, Taleggio and Strachitunt, and Valcalepio or Franciacorta to drink, all from a city with old trattorias, pastry shops and a serious fine-dining tier.

Chamonix serves Savoyard fondue, raclette and tartiflette, which taste best on a refuge terrace facing the glaciers. In town, though, the menus repeat one another, and many places close between the seasons.

This is the widest gap between the two. In Bergamo the walled upper town, Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni come first, followed by the Old Masters at the Accademia Carrara. Together they fill a day or two with first-rate art and architecture.

Chamonix's heritage is the history of alpinism, from the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786 to the first Winter Olympics in 1924, told in the Musée Alpin and the climbers' cemetery. It is absorbing for an afternoon, but the real sight here is the massif itself.

Neither town is a place to go out, but Chamonix keeps later hours. In winter, après-ski spills from the bars at the foot of the slopes into a lane of pubs in the old town, and two or three small clubs run into the early hours for a young, English-speaking crowd.

Bergamo's evenings are slower and more Italian: a long aperitivo around Via XX Settembre or Borgo Santa Caterina, wine in the upper-town squares in summer, and home around midnight. For a proper night out, people in Bergamo take the train to Milan.

Bergamo has real countryside on its doorstep: the wooded Colli di Bergamo climbing to San Vigilio, the Orobie valleys with rifugi and high lakes, and two lakes for sailing and cycling. The mountains are much easier to reach with a car.

Chamonix is in another league. The Mont Blanc massif rises almost 4km above the valley, and a single cable-car ride to the Aiguille du Midi puts you among the glaciers. The Vallée Blanche, the Tour du Mont Blanc and world-class climbing all start from town.

Bergamo is by far the better base. Milan is under an hour by train, Lake Como, Lake Iseo and the island of Monte Isola are closer still, and Crespi d'Adda, Brescia, Cremona, Verona and Mantua stretch the list across northern Italy.

Chamonix's outings depend on crossing borders: Courmayeur and Roman Aosta through the tunnel, Geneva and Annecy just over an hour away, and Martigny on the Mont Blanc Express. Beyond those the choice comes down to other resorts on slow mountain roads.

Both are small, safe and manageable with children, but the days look different. In Bergamo the treats are the funiculars, the walls and a gelato, with Leolandia's rides and miniature Italy and the Le Cornelle wildlife park as outings. The cobbled upper town is hard going with a buggy.

Chamonix is for active families: ski schools and sledging in winter, then the summer luge, treetop courses, the Merlet animal park and the red train to the Mer de Glace. It suits older children best, as the highest lifts are too much for small ones and wet days leave little to fall back on.

Once you arrive, both are easy without a car, in different ways. Bergamo is a city on two levels joined by a funicular, with buses to the station, a short ride to the airport and direct trains to Milan, Brescia and Lecco.

Chamonix has a flat, walkable centre strung along a valley, and its buses and the Mont Blanc Express are free with the guest card. Winter ski buses get packed, though, and most visitors arrive by shuttle from Geneva airport.

Bergamo offers more range. Italian chains and mid-range fashion line the arcades of Via XX Settembre and the Sentierone, and the upper town's main lane is packed with cheese shops, delicatessens and wine sellers. Milan is under an hour away for serious fashion.

Chamonix is narrower but has one real speciality. Its climbing and ski shops, some generations old, are where mountaineers come to buy technical gear. Otherwise it offers Savoyard cheese, génépi, rock crystals and souvenirs.

Bergamo is comfortable rather than cheap, but it costs far less than Chamonix. Lower-town hotels and trattorias are fair for northern Italy, and buses and the funicular are inexpensive. Only the Città Alta and summer weekends push prices up.

Chamonix charges famous-resort rates for rooms, meals, lift passes and guides, especially at Christmas, in the February school vacations and in high summer. Self-catering, free valley transport and trails that need no lift soften the bill, but only so far.

Bergamo has a genuine stage life built around its native composer, Donizetti. There is an opera and concert season at the Teatro Donizetti, an autumn festival of his works, smaller productions at the Teatro Sociale and the long-running Bergamo Jazz in spring. La Scala is an easy evening trip.

Chamonix has almost none, beyond a summer jazz festival with some sets played high in the mountains and occasional church concerts. For opera, you have to drive to Geneva.

Both have thermal bathing nearby, but the mood differs. Bergamo's calm comes from the Città Alta at dawn and dusk, the Belle Époque spa at San Pellegrino Terme and the sulphur springs of Trescore Balneario, used since Roman times.

In Chamonix you relax after a day of effort: hot outdoor pools and saunas facing the glaciers after skiing, with the thermal gorge at Saint-Gervais down the valley. The town itself starts early and stays busy, so it rests the body more than the mind.