Bergamo or Salzburg?

Neither city has a beach, and in both swimming means a lake trip on a hot day. The lakes themselves are very different. From Bergamo you go to the Italian lidos of Lake Iseo at Sarnico or Lovere, or to the Lecco arm of Lake Como, and you swim off grass, pebbles or concrete platforms.

Salzburg's lakes are in the Salzkammergut, Fuschlsee, Wolfgangsee and Mondsee, with clear green water and wooden jetties among steep hills. Salzburg also has ponds and open-air pools on the edge of town, so a quick swim does not have to take up a whole day.

Bergamo eats better. Its mountain cooking has a real identity: casoncelli in butter and sage, polenta with braised meats and game, and cheeses from the surrounding valleys such as Taleggio, Branzi and Strachitunt. Valcalepio wine and Franciacorta sparkling wine are both made nearby, and the cheese counters in the Città Alta are worth a slow look.

Salzburg's food is hearty Austrian fare: schnitzel, Kasnocken and the Salzburger Nockerl soufflé. Its best moments are coffee and cake in the old coffee houses, or beer from wooden barrels at the monastery brewery in Mülln. In the old town, though, many restaurants serve tourist menus at high prices, so the better cooking means heading out to inns in the suburbs and hills.

The two are closely matched, but the character differs. Bergamo's Città Alta is a complete walled hilltop town inside Venetian ramparts, centred on the Cappella Colleoni and Santa Maria Maggiore. Down the hill, the Accademia Carrara is the stronger picture gallery of the two, with Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna.

Salzburg's draw is a whole Baroque prince-archbishops' city: the cathedral, the Residenz, the vast Hohensalzburg fortress and Mirabell's gardens. Mozart's two houses, the rock-cut catacombs of St Peter and Hellbrunn add more variety, so it takes a day longer to see properly.

Neither is a party city, but Bergamo gives a little more. The evening starts with a long Italian aperitivo, then moves on to wine bars around Via XX Settembre and Borgo Santa Caterina, and in summer people drink out on the squares and along the walls of the upper town. Milan, with its proper club scene, is under an hour away.

In Salzburg, an evening usually means a concert, dinner and a litre mug in a beer hall, and the old town is quiet by midnight. Apart from a few later student bars on Rudolfskai, there is little else, and Munich is too far for a casual night out.

Salzburg has the better outdoors. You can walk wooded ridges without leaving the centre, on the Mönchsberg and Kapuzinerberg. A cable car takes you up the Untersberg to about 1,800m, and the Gaisberg is a bus ride away for hiking or paragliding. The Königssee and Berchtesgaden National Park are about half an hour across the border, and bigger ski areas are about an hour away.

Bergamo also has the mountains close by. The Colli park climbs from the upper town, and Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps with their rifugi and high lakes. Most serious hiking there needs a car, though, and its ski areas are small.

Both are good bases, but Bergamo has more within easy reach, and most of it is by train. Milan is under an hour away, and Brescia, Lecco and the Lake Como towns are about as close. Crespi d'Adda and Franciacorta are nearer still, and Cremona and Verona are each about an hour and a half.

Salzburg's best trips are lake villages and salt-mining heritage: Hallstatt, St Wolfgang, Bad Ischl, the mines at Hallein and Berchtesgaden, and the clifftop fortress at Werfen. Munich is a big-city alternative. Several of the lake villages are slow to reach by bus, so a car makes the most of a stay.

Salzburg has more for children inside the city itself. Hellbrunn's trick fountains soak visitors who aren't expecting it, the zoo is next door, and Haus der Natur is a large hands-on museum. Add the fortress funicular and the marionette theatre, plus wooden slides and underground boat rides in the nearby salt mines, and two or three days are easily filled.

In Bergamo, the city part is shorter: funicular rides, the walls and a gelato. The bigger outings are out of town. Leolandia, a theme park built for younger children, has something Salzburg lacks entirely, and Le Cornelle wildlife park is an easy half day.

Both are easy without a car in town, but they are laid out differently. Bergamo is built on two levels, with funiculars linking the flat lower town to the Città Alta and on to San Vigilio. The airport is a short bus ride away, and a light-rail line runs up Val Seriana.

Salzburg's sights are all within about fifteen minutes' walk of each other on largely pedestrian streets. Trolleybuses cover the rest of the city, and the flat riverside paths make cycling easy. In both cities, a car pays off once you head for the lakes and valleys.

Salzburg has slightly more to buy. Its specialism is Tracht: dirndls and loden jackets, often made to measure in workshops around Getreidegasse. There are also wooden toys, Christmas decorations and the long-established Advent market on Domplatz.

Bergamo's best shopping is food: cheese shops, delicatessens and wine sellers along the main lane of the Città Alta. Down in the lower town there are mid-range chains under the arcades. Neither city has much luxury shopping, but Milan is close enough to Bergamo to make up for it.

Bergamo is clearly the cheaper stay. Lower-town hotels are fairly priced, trattorias and aperitivo bars are reasonable, and local transport costs little. That is why many people use it as a base for touring Lombardy, though rooms inside the Città Alta cost more.

Salzburg is expensive for a small city all year. During the summer festival and the Advent markets, rooms and restaurant tables become scarce and much dearer. A city card, staying across the river, and eating in suburban inns and beer halls are the usual ways to keep costs down.

On stage, Salzburg is in another class. The summer Festival puts leading performers in the Grosses Festspielhaus and the Felsenreitschule, which is cut into the cliff, and Jedermann is played outside the cathedral. Mozart Week and the Easter Festival add two more seasons, and the Mozarteum, the Landestheater and the Marionette Theatre keep the programme going the rest of the year.

Bergamo's highlight is opera at the Teatro Donizetti, especially the autumn festival devoted to the composer, along with the long-running Bergamo Jazz in spring. Between those, the programme is modest, though La Scala is close enough for an evening.

The two are evenly matched, and both have their spa towns just outside the city. From Bergamo, San Pellegrino Terme lies about forty minutes up Val Brembana, with its grand Belle Époque thermal spa, and Trescore Balneario's sulphur springs go back to Roman times.

Salzburg has the advantage of a public bath in town: the Paracelsus Bad, with saunas and a view of the Kapuzinerberg. Bad Reichenhall's brine spas are twenty minutes away, and the radon springs of the Gastein valley are further south.