Bergamo or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Bergamo has the better swimming, though neither town has a coast. Lake Iseo's lidos at Sarnico and Lovere and the Lecco arm of Lake Como are within reach, with water near 23°C in July. You spread your towel on grass or stone there, not sand.

Rothenburg offers its outdoor pool, or about an hour's drive to the man-made Franconian lakes such as the Altmühlsee, which have grassy bathing areas. That will do for a hot afternoon, but it is no reason to visit.

Bergamo eats far better. Its mountain cooking runs from casoncelli in butter and sage to polenta with game and mushrooms. The valleys behind it produce Taleggio, Branzi and Strachitunt, and Valcalepio and Franciacorta fill the glasses. There is a fine-dining tier too, though little beyond Italian food.

Rothenburg's kitchen is solid Franconian fare: Schäufele, bratwurst and dumplings, with Silvaner from the round Bocksbeutel bottle. Many places around the Marktplatz cater to tour groups, so the better meals are in family guesthouses and wine taverns away from the square. The sugary Schneeball is more photogenic than delicious.

Both are walled towns that most people come to see, but they offer different kinds of visit. Rothenburg is a single medieval whole, with almost nothing modern inside its walls. You walk its covered rampart, look down the Plönlein and step into St Jakob's to see Riemenschneider's Holy Blood Altar, and the Medieval Crime Museum adds a grim, absorbing hour.

Bergamo has a little more depth. Its Città Alta, ringed by UNESCO-listed Venetian walls, has the Cappella Colleoni and Santa Maria Maggiore, and the lower town adds the Accademia Carrara, with Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna. That turns a picturesque visit into a serious art stop as well.

Bergamo's evenings are modest but real. There is aperitivo along Via XX Settembre and in Borgo Santa Caterina, wine bars, a few student haunts, and summer drinks on the walls of the upper town, usually ending around midnight. Rothenburg's main evening event is the night watchman's walking tour, followed by a glass in an inn. For anything bigger you go to Milan from Bergamo, or to Würzburg or Nuremberg from Rothenburg.

Bergamo sits at the foot of the Alps. Woodland paths climb from the upper town to San Vigilio, and the Orobie valleys hold rifugi, high lakes and demanding summer hikes, with small ski areas such as Foppolo in winter. Lakes Iseo and Como add sailing and lakeside cycling.

Rothenburg's countryside is gentle. Paths drop from the walls into the Tauber valley, past mills and the little Topplerschlösschen, and the family-friendly Tauber valley cycle path runs through vineyards downstream. It is lovely in blossom season, but there are no mountains or big lakes.

Bergamo has the richer range of excursions, and they are easier to reach. Milan, with the Duomo, the Last Supper and the Brera, is under an hour by train. Lake Como and Lake Iseo, with the car-free island of Monte Isola, are closer still, and so are Crespi d'Adda and the Franciacorta vineyards. Brescia, Cremona and Verona make longer days out by rail.

Rothenburg's excursions are good but narrower, and most of them are more old towns. Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen in its meteorite crater, Schwäbisch Hall and the Weikersheim palace gardens are all within about an hour by car, and so are Würzburg's Residenz and Nuremberg's castle. Without a car, most of them are slow to reach.

Bergamo has more to fill a family stay. Children like the two funiculars, gelato on the Venetian walls and playgrounds in the parks, and Leolandia's rides and Le Cornelle's animals are both a short drive away. The lakes and valleys can fill the remaining days.

Rothenburg works like a storybook for a day or two: climbing the Rathaus tower, walking the ramparts and following the night watchman. Older children often love the Crime Museum. After that there is little made for children. Both towns have cobbles that are hard work with a pushchair.

Inside their walls, both towns are best on foot. Rothenburg's old town is the simpler of the two: you can cross it in about fifteen minutes, with cars kept outside the gates. Bergamo splits into a flat lower town and a hilltop upper town. The funicular links them and saves you the steep climb.

Beyond the centre, Bergamo is much better connected. It has city buses, a quick bus to the airport, a light-rail line into Val Seriana and direct trains to Milan, Brescia and Lecco. Rothenburg sits at the end of a branch line that usually means changing at Steinach, and its regional buses are sparse.

Bergamo gives you more range. The arcaded Via XX Settembre and the Sentierone in the lower town have Italian chains and mid-range fashion. The narrow main lane of the Città Alta is a run of cheese shops, bakeries and wine sellers, which makes it the place to buy local cheeses and salumi to take home. For luxury labels, Milan is under an hour away.

Rothenburg's Herrngasse and Schmiedgasse sell mostly to visitors. Seasonal decorations take up much of the space, alongside teddy bears, cuckoo clocks, pewter, Franconian wine and boxes of Schneeballen. Fashion and everyday shops are almost absent, so it suits souvenir hunting rather than a shopping trip.

Bergamo is a little easier on the budget. Lower-town hotels are fairly priced, trattorias and aperitivo bars are reasonable, and buses and the funicular cost little. Rooms inside the Città Alta are more expensive.

Rothenburg's prices are those of small-town Germany plus a tourist premium. You feel it most in guesthouses and Marktplatz meals inside the walls, especially in December and on summer weekends. Beer and wine in the inns stay reasonable, and staying in a village outside the walls saves a good deal.

Bergamo has a real stage life built around Donizetti, who was born there. The Teatro Donizetti runs a season of opera, concerts and theatre, with an autumn festival of his works, and Bergamo Jazz has a long history each spring. La Scala in Milan is close enough for an evening.

Rothenburg's performances mostly look back at its own past. The costumed Meistertrunk play retells the town's rescue in the Thirty Years' War, and there are summer open-air productions and organ concerts in St Jakob's. Most evenings have no show at all.

Neither town has a bathing tradition of its own, and both are at their most peaceful early in the morning and in the evening, when a walk on the walls feels unhurried. Bergamo's spas are closer and more distinctive: San Pellegrino Terme, a Belle Époque resort about forty minutes up Val Brembana, and the Roman-era sulphur springs at Trescore Balneario. From Rothenburg, Bad Windsheim's salt-water pool and the older spa town of Bad Mergentheim are each up to an hour's drive away.