Bergamo or Portofino?

Bergamo has no sea at all. Swimming means a day at the lakes, either at Iseo's lidos around Sarnico and Lovere or on the Lecco arm of Como, where you lie on grass, pebbles or concrete platforms. It is a nice escape on a hot day, but it is an outing rather than part of your daily routine.

Portofino gives you the sea itself. Ladders and rock platforms on the way to the lighthouse lead into very clear, deep water, Paraggi's sheltered bay is a short walk away, and you can reach San Fruttuoso's pebble cove by boat or on foot. Just expect small spots, mostly paid loungers at Paraggi and a crowd in high summer.

Bergamo is the better place to eat. Its Lombard mountain cooking gives you casoncelli in butter and sage, polenta with braised meats and game, and cheeses such as Taleggio, Branzi and Strachitunt. You can drink Valcalepio or Franciacorta with them, and you can choose between trattorias in the upper town and everyday places below.

Portofino's Ligurian dishes, such as trofie with pesto, fritto misto and Recco's cheese focaccia, are appealing on paper. But the few harbour terraces charge for the yachts and the view, and the cooking is rarely more than solid. Keen eaters head to Camogli or the hill trattorie.

There is far more to see in Bergamo. The Città Alta is a nearly complete walled town inside Venetian fortifications. Piazza Vecchia leads to Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni, and below the hill the Accademia Carrara holds Mantegna, Lotto and Raphael.

Portofino is mostly about its setting. You have the painted horseshoe of houses, San Giorgio above the bay, Castello Brown's rooms and gardens, and the medieval abbey at San Fruttuoso, which you can only reach by boat or on foot. There are no museums of any size.

Neither place is for a big night, but Bergamo keeps going longer. After a long aperitivo, people move on to wine bars and pubs around Via XX Settembre and Borgo Santa Caterina, and students keep a few places busy. On summer nights in the upper town, people drink along the walls. Clubs are few and far out, and Milan is close by train.

Portofino's evening is dressing up for a drink and dinner facing the moored yachts. After that there is almost nothing, and outside July and August the village goes quiet early.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, but in very different ways. From Bergamo you walk straight up through the Colli park to San Vigilio. Further north, the Orobie valleys have rifugi, high lakes, serious hiking and small ski areas such as Foppolo, and there is road and gravel cycling in the foothills. For the higher ground, you really need a car.

Portofino's protected headland is small and right beside the sea. Cliff paths, some with chains, cross Monte di Portofino to San Fruttuoso and Punta Chiappa. The marine reserve below offers diving among red coral and to the Christ of the Abyss statue, along with kayaking around the point.

From Bergamo you have a wider spread of outings. Milan's Duomo and Last Supper are under an hour by train, and Brescia, Cremona and Verona are all straightforward rail days. Lake Iseo and Lake Como are closer still, and Mantua is a longer trip but worth it. Crespi d'Adda's factory village has no station, but it is about half an hour away by road.

Portofino's outings follow the coast. Camogli, Rapallo and Santa Margherita are a short bus or boat ride away, Genoa's palaces are under an hour, and summer ferries reach the Cinque Terre and Portovenere. Outside the ferry season, it all takes more planning.

Children get far more out of Bergamo. Most love the funiculars, the gelato walk along the walls and the city playgrounds. Leolandia's rides for younger children and the Le Cornelle wildlife park are both short drives away, though the cobbled upper lanes are hard work with a buggy.

Portofino is safe, and boats and rock swimming please most children. Still, nothing there is designed for them, Paraggi's sand is mostly taken by paid clubs and the stepped paths defeat a pushchair. Families usually stay in Santa Margherita or Rapallo and go to Genoa for the aquarium.

Bergamo works smoothly once you understand its two levels. Funiculars climb to the Città Alta and on to San Vigilio, buses connect the station and the airport, and direct trains run to Milan, Brescia and Lecco. You only need a car for the upper valleys.

Portofino is a few minutes across on foot, but getting in and out is the problem. A single narrow road runs about 5km from Santa Margherita, parking is scarce and the summer buses are packed. From spring to autumn, the ferries are often the most pleasant way in.

Bergamo offers more real shopping. Its arcaded Via XX Settembre and the Sentierone have Italian chains and mid-range fashion, and the upper town's main lane is the place for Branzi, salumi and Valcalepio to take home. For serious fashion, Milan is close.

Portofino's few lanes are a different world. They are full of big-name fashion and jewellery boutiques and resort wear aimed at the yachts, plus a little Ligurian lace and pesto. You can see it all in under an hour, and for anything ordinary you need to go to Chiavari or Rapallo.

Bergamo is comfortable rather than cheap, and the bill depends mostly on where you sleep. Rooms inside the Città Alta, and almost anything on a summer weekend, cost noticeably more than a bed in the lower town. Staying below and riding the funicular up keeps the old town close at a lower price, and the buses and funiculars add very little to the cost.

In Portofino, the hillside hotels in summer charge as much as the priciest addresses in Europe's big cities. Even on a day visit the extras mount up, but some of them can be avoided. You can swim from the rocks on the lighthouse path or claim a place on Paraggi's narrow free strip early, rather than paying for a lounger. Coming by bus or ferry also spares you the cost of scarce parking. A drink on the piazzetta or a hired boat is where you pay for the view, and there is no cheap version of either.

Bergamo has a real stage life for its size, built around Donizetti, who was born there. The Teatro Donizetti runs an opera and concert season and holds an autumn festival of his works, the Teatro Sociale stages smaller productions and Bergamo Jazz comes in spring. La Scala is an easy evening trip.

In Portofino, there is little more than the odd summer concert in the piazzetta or at the castle. For a proper season, you need to go to the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa.

Bergamo has thermal spas within reach. San Pellegrino Terme, a Belle Époque resort famous for its mineral water, is up Val Brembana, and Trescore Balneario's sulphur springs have been used since Roman times. The quiet upper town at dawn and dusk adds to the calm.

Portofino offers no public baths, only the hillside luxury hotels' spas. Its restful side is the pace: long lunches facing the water and shaded paths early or late in the day. It loses that calm at midday in high summer, when the tour boats arrive.