Bergamo or Lugano?

Neither city has the sea, so swimming means a lake. Lugano has it right on the doorstep. The lido at the mouth of the Cassarate and the bathing decks towards Castagnola and Paradiso are a short walk from the centre, and boats run to village lake baths.

From Bergamo, a swim means a day out to Lake Iseo at Sarnico or Lovere, or to the Lecco arm of Lake Como. Both lakes warm to about the same summer temperature, and in neither place will you find sand.

Both cook mountain food based on polenta and braised meat, but Bergamo's table is richer and more varied. It has casoncelli with butter and sage, the great valley cheeses such as Taleggio, Branzi and Strachitunt, and a fine-dining tier, with Valcalepio and Franciacorta to drink.

Lugano's strength is the grotto, a rustic meal of salumi and risotto at granite tables under chestnut trees, with Ticino Merlot. Beyond that the range is narrow and the bills are high, which is why many visitors save their serious meals for Italy.

This is where Bergamo pulls well ahead. Its hilltop Città Alta is an almost complete walled town on the UNESCO list. Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni fill a morning, and the Accademia Carrara adds Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna.

Lugano is pleasant but slight by comparison. It has an arcaded old town around Piazza della Riforma, San Lorenzo cathedral, Luini's Passion fresco and the art collection split between LAC and Palazzo Reali. Hesse's house in Montagnola is a gentle extra, but a day covers it all.

Neither is a place for a big night, and young locals in both head to Milan. Bergamo is the livelier of the two. Students keep bars busy around Via XX Settembre and Borgo Santa Caterina, and on summer evenings people drink on the upper-town squares and along the walls.

Lugano's evening is an expensive aperitivo by the lake, a long dinner and an early night. Its crowd is well-dressed, its clubs are few, and only the promenade on summer weekends stays up for long.

Both have mountains close by, but Lugano puts the scenery within easier reach. Funiculars lift you straight to Monte Brè and San Salvatore, the lakeside path to Gandria starts in town, and Monte Generoso's rack railway and the Verzasca and Maggia valleys give big days out with no car.

Bergamo's wilderness is wilder but further off. Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with rifugi and high lakes, and there is winter skiing at Foppolo. For most of it, though, you will want a car. The Colli di Bergamo park above the upper town is the easy option on foot.

Both are first-rate bases, and both have Milan about an hour away. The difference is in direction. From Bergamo you look across Lombardy: Crespi d'Adda, Brescia, Cremona's violin makers, Verona, Mantua, and Monte Isola on Lake Iseo.

Lugano's trips cross a border. Bellinzona's castles, Locarno and the Borromean Islands on Lake Maggiore are on one side, Como and the Mendrisiotto vineyards on the other, and Lucerne is reachable through the Gotthard.

Both are safe, calm towns on steep slopes that are hard work with a pushchair, and both suit younger children best. Bergamo's best family days are a short drive away, at the Leolandia theme park and the Le Cornelle wildlife park.

Lugano keeps children busy with the lake itself: boat trips, lido slides, funicular rides, and the Swiss landmarks in miniature at Melide.

Each town has a funicular to deal with its hill, but Lugano is the easier place to manage without a car. Its small centre, lake boats, mountain railways and the Swiss rail network cover nearly everything a visitor wants, and hotel stays usually include regional transport.

Bergamo's two levels are well linked by funicular and bus, and trains reach Milan and Brescia directly. Its upper valleys and lake shores, however, are far quicker to reach by road.

Bergamo's shopping is everyday and edible, while Lugano's is upmarket. In Bergamo the arcaded Sentierone and Via XX Settembre carry Italian chains and mid-range fashion, and the lane through the Città Alta is the place to buy cheese, salumi and Valcalepio to take home.

Lugano's Via Nassa is lined with Swiss watchmakers, jewellers and Italian fashion houses for a wealthy clientele, and there is a large designer outlet near Mendrisio. Neither town goes much deeper than this, and from either one Milan is the trip for a proper day of shopping.

The gap is wide. Bergamo is moderate for northern Italy. Lower-town hotels and trattorias are fairly priced, and transport costs little, so it works as a base for a longer stay. Only rooms inside the Città Alta push the bill up.

Lugano has full Swiss prices for hotels, wine, boat trips and mountain railways. Grotti and set lunches soften the cost a little, but a week there costs far more than a week in Bergamo.

The two are roughly level, but in different ways. Bergamo is an opera town, as Donizetti's birthplace. The Teatro Donizetti stages an autumn festival of his works, and Bergamo Jazz comes in spring.

Lugano centres on the LAC concert hall and its resident Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, plus free summer jazz on Piazza della Riforma. From either town, La Scala is close enough for an evening.

Bergamo has the better access to real bathing. The Belle Époque thermal spa at San Pellegrino Terme is forty minutes up Val Brembana, and Trescore's sulphur springs go back to Roman times. The quiet Città Alta walls make a calm walk too.

Lugano has no spring water to speak of. Its rest comes from the pace: lakeside benches in Parco Ciani, long grotto lunches and hotel spas, with a large pool and sauna complex near Rivera.