Bergamo or La Spezia?

Neither city has a beach in town, but the gap is real. From Bergamo the nearest swimming is in Lake Iseo, with lidos and grassy shores at Sarnico and Lovere, or on the Lecco arm of Lake Como. That makes a pleasant hot-weather outing, but nobody goes to Bergamo for it.

La Spezia puts the Mediterranean a short bus or train ride away. There is sand and pebble at Lerici and San Terenzo, small coves at Fiascherino and Tellaro, clear rocky water off Palmaria and Monterosso's long beach. Expect paid bathing establishments, and free stretches that fill early in August.

Both kitchens are regional and solid, and both have little beyond Italian food, but they come from different worlds. Bergamo cooks mountain food: casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta with game, and cheeses such as Taleggio and Strachitunt, with Franciacorta to drink and a fine-dining tier for a special evening.

La Spezia eats from the sea and the chickpea. Think farinata from wood ovens, stuffed gulf mussels, pesto on trofie and crisp Cinque Terre whites. It is cheerful snack and trattoria food, with little at the top end.

Here Bergamo is well ahead. Its upper town is an almost complete walled hilltop city inside UNESCO-listed Venetian ramparts, with Santa Maria Maggiore and the Cappella Colleoni gathered around Piazza Vecchia. Down below, the Accademia Carrara holds Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna.

La Spezia grew up as a nineteenth-century naval town of arcaded streets and Liberty facades, with no medieval core. The Museo Amedeo Lia and the Lunigiana stele statues in the Castello San Giorgio are worth a visit, but most of the area's history lies out along the coast.

Neither is a place for a big night out, and in both the evening is built around aperitivo. Bergamo leans towards wine bars and pubs in Borgo Santa Caterina, summer drinks on the walls and a student crowd, with Milan close by for anything later. La Spezia moves outdoors to Via del Prione and the Lerici waterfront, then empties early because walkers are up at dawn.

Bergamo's outdoors is mountain country. Woodland paths in the Colli di Bergamo park climb from the upper town to San Vigilio, and to the north Val Brembana and Val Seriana run into the Orobie Alps, with rifugi, high lakes and serious summer hiking. The catch is that most of it is far easier with a car.

La Spezia's landscape is the bigger draw, and it is closer to hand. The terraced cliffs of the Cinque Terre and the pine woods of the Montemarcello promontory are a train or bus ride away. Palmaria is a short boat crossing from Portovenere, with a loop walk past old forts and sea caves. Add kayaking and diving in the gulf, and the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps an hour inland.

From Bergamo, day trips take you to cities and lakes. Milan is under an hour by train, Lake Iseo and the towns of Lake Como are closer still, and Brescia, Cremona, Verona and the Franciacorta vineyards fill the days after that.

From La Spezia, the trips follow the coast. The five Cinque Terre villages are minutes away on the coastal train, and Lerici and Tellaro close the gulf on the far side. Inland there are walled Sarzana, the Roman ruins at Luni and the Carrara quarries, with Pisa and Lucca about an hour away.

Bergamo is the easier choice with young children. The funiculars up to the Città Alta and San Vigilio are a treat in themselves, and Leolandia, designed for younger children, and the Le Cornelle wildlife park are both close by. The cobbled upper lanes are hard work with a buggy, though.

La Spezia's flat seafront suits a pushchair, and the shallow beaches at San Terenzo and Lerici are good for small swimmers. But it has no zoo, aquarium or theme park, and its main outings are steep villages and packed trains, so it suits older children better.

Bergamo is a city on two levels, with a funicular joining the lower town to the Città Alta and a second running on to San Vigilio. Buses cover the station and the short ride to the airport, and a light-rail line runs up Val Seriana, though the upper valleys still call for a car.

La Spezia is a flat, compact coastal rail hub. Trains along the coast and ferries from spring to autumn take you to the villages, so a car is more trouble than help. The drawback is crowded trains and platforms in summer.

Neither is a shopping destination, and fashion shoppers from both end up elsewhere. Bergamo has a little more: mid-range arcaded streets along Via XX Settembre and the Sentierone, an upper-town lane of delicatessens for Taleggio and salumi, and Milan under an hour away. La Spezia's Via del Prione is plainer, and its best buys are pesto, olive oil and Sciacchetrà.

The two cost much the same, and both are comfortable rather than cheap. In Bergamo the way to save is to sleep in the lower town rather than up in the Città Alta. In La Spezia it is to stay in town rather than in the Cinque Terre villages and to come outside summer, when trail passes, boat trips and bathing establishments mount up.

Bergamo has the stronger stage, built on Donizetti, who was born there. The Teatro Donizetti runs a full season and an autumn festival of his operas, Bergamo Jazz comes round each spring, and La Scala is close enough for an evening.

La Spezia has the Teatro Civico for theatre and concerts, and comes to life mainly in summer, with jazz and open-air concerts in piazzas and castle courtyards. For opera you have to go to Genoa or Pisa.

Bergamo has real spa country nearby. San Pellegrino Terme, a Belle Époque resort forty minutes up Val Brembana, and the sulphur springs at Trescore Balneario, used since Roman times, give it a bathing tradition. The quiet upper town at dawn adds to the calm.

From La Spezia the nearest thermal baths are the small ones at Equi Terme, an hour inland. Rest there means a long lunch in Tellaro or a quiet day on Palmaria, best out of season.