Bergamo or Nice?

This is where the two differ most. Nice has 7km of pebble shore right below the Promenade des Anglais and a clear, warm sea for much of the year. Beach clubs soften the stones, and sandy bays at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Juan-les-Pins are within easy reach.

Bergamo has no coast at all. Its swimming means a day out at the lidos and grassy shores of Lake Iseo or the Lecco arm of Lake Como, which is pleasant on a hot afternoon but not a beach trip.

Both cities have strong regional cooking, but Nice's is more distinctive and easier to enjoy as a visitor. Hot socca in Vieux Nice, pissaladière, stuffed vegetables and the morning market on the Cours Saleya make eating part of every walk, and the small Bellet vineyards add a local wine you rarely find elsewhere. The catch is the set-menu terraces on the promenade and the main squares.

Bergamo's food is heavier mountain fare: casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta with game and mushrooms, and some of Italy's best cheeses, including Taleggio and Strachitunt. It rewards a slow lunch in a Città Alta trattoria, though there is little choice beyond Italian cooking.

These two are about level, but they offer different things. Bergamo's appeal is concentrated: the Venetian-walled Città Alta, Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni form one compact ensemble, and below the hill the Accademia Carrara holds Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna. A day or two covers it.

Nice spreads further and leans towards modern art. The Matisse and Chagall museums in Cimiez and Yves Klein at MAMAC sit alongside the baroque lanes of Vieux Nice, Belle Époque villas and the Russian Orthodox Cathedral, which is enough for two or three days.

Neither city is a party destination, but Nice gives you more of an evening. The lanes of Vieux Nice fill with wine and cocktail bars that spill onto the street, the port has more grown-up bars, and in summer the beach clubs keep people out late.

Bergamo's evenings are an aperitivo around Borgo Santa Caterina or drinks on the walls of the Città Alta, and they usually end around midnight. For anything bigger you take the train to Milan.

Both cities sit at the foot of the Alps, but Nice has the sea as well, which gives it the wider range. You can walk the coastal paths around Cap Ferrat, cycle the corniches, go diving or paddleboarding, or drive into the Mercantour for larch forests and ibex. In winter, Isola 2000 is close enough to ski in the morning and see the sea in the afternoon.

Bergamo's outdoors starts with the woodland paths of the Colli di Bergamo just above the upper town. From there, Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with rifugi and high lakes, and Lake Iseo is good for sailing and cycling. Most of this is easier with a car.

Both are excellent bases, but the trips are different. From Bergamo you mostly visit cities and lakes. Milan is under an hour by train, Lake Como and the car-free island of Monte Isola are closer still, and Brescia, Cremona and Verona are all realistic day trips.

From Nice, the outings follow the coast. Monaco, Menton, Èze and Antibes are each a short ride away, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Grasse lie in the hills behind, and Sanremo is just across the Italian border. None of them needs a car.

For families the two are level, with different strengths. Bergamo has the funicular rides and the walls for an easy afternoon, and its big draws are just outside town: the Leolandia theme park and the Le Cornelle wildlife park, both easiest by car.

Nice keeps children busy in the city itself, with the flat promenade for bikes, the water jets along the Promenade du Paillon and Parc Phoenix. It has no theme park, though, and the pebbles are hard on small feet. Both old towns are awkward with a buggy.

Nice is the easier city to get around. Its centre is flat, the old town, port and promenade are all within a short walk, and a tram runs straight from the airport into town. Coastal trains then cover nearly every day trip, so you only need a car for the mountains.

Bergamo works well too, but it is built on two levels. A funicular links the lower town to the Città Alta, and the climb on foot is steep. For the upper valleys and the lake shores, a car saves a lot of time.

Nice has more to offer shoppers. Avenue Jean Médecin is the high street, there are luxury fashion houses around rue Paradis, and Vieux Nice sells olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics. The Cours Saleya adds an antiques market once a week.

Bergamo's shopping is mostly mid-range chains along the Sentierone and the food shops of the Città Alta. Its cheeses, salumi and Valcalepio wine are the things worth taking home, and for fashion people go to Milan.

Bergamo is clearly easier on the wallet. Hotels in the lower town are fairly priced, which is why many visitors use it as a base for touring Lombardy, and trattorias and the funicular cost little. Only the Città Alta is pricier.

Nice is expensive, especially from June to September, when sea-view rooms, private loungers and promenade terraces all cost more. Cheap trams, regional trains and socca lunches help, and spring or late autumn bring prices down.

The two are evenly matched, and both have a regional calendar built around opera and jazz. In Bergamo, Donizetti's home town, the Teatro Donizetti holds an autumn festival devoted to his works, Bergamo Jazz comes in spring, and La Scala in Milan is close enough for an evening.

Nice has its red-and-gold opera house with ballet and the Philharmonic, the long-running Nice Jazz Festival in July and the February Carnival with its flower battles. Outside those, live music in Nice mostly means small bars in the old town.

Bergamo is better for a restful trip. San Pellegrino Terme, about forty minutes away, has a grand Belle Époque thermal spa, Trescore Balneario's springs have been used since Roman times, and the Città Alta is quiet in the early morning and evening.

Nice has no bathing tradition, so spa time means hotel treatment rooms or the thalassotherapy centres along the coast. Its calm is the Riviera kind, an early swim and an evening walk on the promenade, and the summer crowds and heat take much of that away.