Bergamo or Munich?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both send summer swimmers to the lakes. The difference is where the water is. In Munich people swim and sunbathe on the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher, inside the city. Bergamo has nothing like that, so a swim means a trip out to the lidos and grassy shores of Lake Iseo or the Lecco arm of Como. Those lakes are a little warmer than the alpine-fed Starnberger See and Ammersee, which are reached by S-Bahn.

Both cities eat well, and both cook hearty regional food with little range beyond it. Bergamo's table is pasta and polenta: casoncelli in butter and sage, braised game, and mountain cheeses such as Taleggio and Strachitunt from the cheese counters of the upper town, with Valcalepio or Franciacorta to drink.

Munich is built around beer. You eat roast pork, Schweinshaxe and white sausage in beer halls and chestnut-shaded gardens, and the Viktualienmarkt is the place for grazing. Choose Bergamo for pasta, cheese and wine, Munich for beer and big plates of meat.

Bergamo's strength is a single, intact setting. The Venetian walls, Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni form a hilltop town that has survived almost whole. The Accademia Carrara adds Raphael and Bellini below the hill.

Munich has far more to see. The Kunstareal alone holds the Alte Pinakothek, the Glyptothek and the Lenbachhaus's Blue Rider painters, and the Residenz, Nymphenburg and the vast Deutsches Museum add days more. Its old town is handsome but largely rebuilt, so the pleasure lies in the collections rather than the streets.

Evenings in Bergamo are an aperitivo, a wine bar around Borgo Santa Caterina or a drink on the walls of the Città Alta, and most people are home by midnight. Anyone wanting more takes the train to Milan.

Munich offers a good deal more. Beer halls fill early, the Glockenbachviertel has a dense run of cocktail and gay bars, and a few serious techno clubs go on until morning at weekends. It is orderly rather than wild, but there is a real night out to be had.

Bergamo's hills begin at the city walls. The Colli park climbs from the upper town to San Vigilio, and Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with rifugi and high lakes. Most of that high country is much easier to reach with a car.

Munich gives you more, and more of it by train. The Zugspitze, the Wetterstein around Garmisch and Tegernsee are reached by regional rail, the Five Lakes are good for cycling and sailing, and the English Garden, with surfers on the Eisbach, is open country in the middle of the city.

Both are excellent bases, and the choice comes down to what you want to see. From Bergamo the trips are short and Italian: Milan's Duomo and Last Supper within an hour, Lake Como, Monte Isola on Lake Iseo, the factory village of Crespi d'Adda, and Verona and Cremona a little further.

From Munich the trips are longer and cover two countries: Salzburg and Innsbruck across the border, Nuremberg and Regensburg to the north, and the royal castles of Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee.

Bergamo works best for families as a base rather than a destination in itself. Leolandia, near the Adda, is pitched at younger children, with rides, shows and a miniature Italy of famous landmarks, and Le Cornelle at the foot of the hills fills an easy half day. The rest of a good family stay comes from adding days on the shores of Lake Iseo or up in the mountain valleys.

Munich keeps children busy for longer without leaving town. The Sea Life aquarium in the Olympic Park and the trains and cars of the transport museum fill the gaps between grown-up sights, and the English Garden makes an easy summer afternoon. For a big day out, Legoland Deutschland is about an hour and a half away by car.

Bergamo is easy on foot once you are in either part of town, and the funicular saves the steep climb between them. The airport is a short bus ride away and trains run straight to Milan. The valleys and lake shores, though, are much simpler by car.

Munich is easier all round. The flat, pedestrianised centre is linked to the museums, Nymphenburg and the airport by one integrated U-Bahn, S-Bahn and tram network. Cycling along the Isar is a pleasure, and regional trains make a car unnecessary even for the mountains.

In Bergamo the best shopping is food. The main lane of the Città Alta is lined with cheese shops, delicatessens and wine sellers, while Via XX Settembre has mid-range chains, and for fashion people go to Milan.

Munich has far more to offer: luxury houses on Maximilianstrasse, department stores on Kaufingerstrasse, independent boutiques in Glockenbach and the old delicatessen Dallmayr. It also has a souvenir Bergamo cannot match in Tracht from specialist tailors, plus the craft stalls of the December Christmas markets.

Bergamo is the cheaper stay. Lower-town hotels are fairly priced for a city with this much to see, and the buses and funicular cost little. Rooms inside the Città Alta and summer weekends cost more.

In Munich, hotels are expensive all year and climb steeply during the Oktoberfest and the big trade fairs. A beer garden picnic, the free parks and lakes and token-fee museum Sundays help, but a stay here costs clearly more.

Bergamo's stage life centres on its native composer. The Teatro Donizetti holds an opera season and an autumn Donizetti festival that draws serious opera fans, and Bergamo Jazz has a long history. Beyond those, the programme is a provincial city's, though La Scala is an easy evening trip.

Munich is a different league. The Bavarian State Opera in the National Theatre is one of the world's leading companies, three major orchestras play halls such as the Herkulessaal, and the Cuvilliés Theatre and Gärtnerplatztheater add chamber opera and operetta.

Bergamo's relaxation is mostly out of town, at the Belle Époque spa of San Pellegrino Terme up Val Brembana or the old sulphur springs of Trescore Balneario. In town, the quiet mornings in the Città Alta do the rest.

Munich has a bathing culture in the city itself. There is the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad with its Roman-style steam bath, and public saunas with infusion rituals, mixed and textile-free in the German way. The huge thermal complex at Erding is forty minutes away, and a lazy afternoon in a beer garden counts as rest too.