Bergamo or Freiburg?

Neither city has a coast, but Bergamo's summer swimming is better. Lake Iseo has lidos at Sarnico and Lovere, the Lecco arm of Lake Como is close, and by July the water is comfortably warm. The shores are pebble, grass or concrete rather than sand.

In Freiburg, swimming means cycling out to the old gravel pits on the Rhine plain or the city's open-air pools. Titisee and Schluchsee in the Black Forest are lovely settings, but they are an hour away and the water stays cool even in high summer.

The two cities eat equally well, in quite different styles. Bergamo cooks hearty Lombard mountain food: casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta with braised meat and game, and cheeses such as Taleggio and the blue Strachitunt, with Valcalepio red or Franciacorta sparkling wine.

Freiburg's Baden cooking is lighter and has a French touch, with Flammkuchen, Schäufele, Black Forest ham and spring asparagus, served with Pinot from the Kaiserstuhl. Its daily market around the Münster has no real equivalent in Bergamo. Neither city offers much beyond its own regional cooking.

Bergamo has much more to see. The Città Alta is a genuinely old hilltop town inside UNESCO-listed Venetian walls, with Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni close together. Down in the lower town, the Accademia Carrara holds Raphael, Mantegna and Lotto.

Freiburg's red sandstone Münster, with a tower you can climb, is a fine sight, and the Augustinermuseum has good medieval sculpture. Much of the centre, though, was rebuilt after wartime bombing, so it feels less authentic than Bergamo's upper town.

Freiburg is the better place for an evening out, thanks to its large student population. Pubs, wine bars and beer gardens fill the lanes around the Martinstor, people sit by the Dreisam until late in summer, and a few clubs play techno and indie. The city is noticeably quieter during the semester break.

Bergamo's evening centres on a long aperitivo in Borgo Santa Caterina or a drink on the walls of the Città Alta, and it usually ends around midnight. The few clubs are out on the edge of the city, and people looking for a big night go to Milan.

Freiburg has the edge, mainly because you can reach so much without a car. The Schlossberg rises right behind the old town, the Schauinsland cable car climbs to ridge trails with views to the Alps, and the Feldberg is about an hour away for hiking or reliable winter snow. The mountain biking is excellent, and the Kaiserstuhl vineyards are good for gentle cycling.

Bergamo's hills are higher and wilder. The Colli di Bergamo park climbs to San Vigilio, and Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with mountain huts (rifugi) and high lakes. Reaching most of it is much easier with a car, and the ski areas such as Foppolo are small.

Both cities make good bases, and Bergamo's list of day trips is stronger. Milan is under an hour by train, Lake Como and Lake Iseo are closer still, and Brescia, Cremona and Verona are all comfortable day trips. Crespi d'Adda and the Franciacorta wine country are close by.

Freiburg's appeal is having three countries within reach. Basel is 45 minutes by train, Colmar and the wine villages of Alsace are about an hour by car, and Strasbourg is a longer outing. On the German side there are Staufen, Breisach and Baden-Baden.

Freiburg is clearly easier with children. It is flat, green and full of families on bikes. Children float toy boats along the Bächle, the Mundenhof animal park is free, and the Schauinsland cable car is an adventure in itself. Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about 40 minutes north. Freiburg has few indoor options for rainy days, though.

Bergamo has its own highlights, such as the funicular rides and a gelato on the Venetian walls. Leolandia is aimed at younger children, and Le Cornelle wildlife park makes an easy half day. The steep cobbles of the upper town, however, are hard work with a buggy.

Freiburg is the simpler city to get around. Almost everything is within a twenty-minute walk of the car-free old town, trams run to the cable car, cycling is easy everywhere, and the regional trains climb the Höllental valley into the Black Forest. Many hotels give guests a card for local buses and trains.

Bergamo is built on two levels, and visitors spend a lot of time on the funicular between the lower town and the Città Alta, or climbing steeply on foot. Its airport is a short bus ride from the centre, which is handy, but for the valleys and lake shores you will want a car.

Shopping is modest in both cities, and the difference is in what you take home. In Bergamo it is mostly food: the cheese shops, delicatessens and wine sellers along the main lane of the Città Alta are the place to buy. Fashion shoppers head to Milan.

Freiburg has more independent shops, with boutiques, bookshops and organic stores in the Gerberau and Konviktstrasse quarters, plus cuckoo clocks and wood carvings. For bigger shopping trips, people go to Basel.

Bergamo is the less expensive of the two, and most of the difference lies in where you sleep. A lower-town hotel in Bergamo costs less than a comparable room in Freiburg. Freiburg has too few beds for the visitors who want them, so prices climb on summer weekends and during trade fairs, and some people end up sleeping in a Black Forest village and travelling in each day. Bergamo also gets busy on summer weekends, but its lower town is a cheap base for a week of train trips around Lombardy.

Once you have a bed, the gap narrows. A plate of casoncelli in a lower-town trattoria and a Flammkuchen in a Freiburg wine tavern are both fair value, and the Münster and most of Freiburg's sights cost very little to see. Bergamo's buses and funicular are a little cheaper than Freiburg's trams. Each city also has a part that costs more: in Bergamo it is staying and dining inside the Città Alta, and in Freiburg it is any day trip over the border to Basel.

The two cities are evenly matched for live performance, but they are known for different things. Bergamo is Donizetti's birthplace and is all about opera: the Teatro Donizetti holds an autumn festival of his works that draws serious opera fans, Bergamo Jazz runs in spring, and La Scala is an easy evening trip.

Freiburg's highlight is the Freiburger Barockorchester, a leading period-instrument ensemble that plays at the Konzerthaus. Theater Freiburg puts on opera, drama and dance through the year, and the Zelt-Musik-Festival fills a tent village with concerts every summer.

Freiburg is the better place for spas. A thermal bath with saunas sits on the city's own edge, Bad Krozingen's warm outdoor pools are twenty minutes south, Badenweiler has a modern thermal bath beside the remains of a Roman one, and Baden-Baden is an hour away by train.

Bergamo's main spa trip is to San Pellegrino Terme, a Belle Époque resort about forty minutes up the valley, and the sulphur springs at Trescore Balneario are older still. In the city itself, relaxing mostly means quiet early mornings in the Città Alta and a slow walk along the walls.