Bergamo or Saint-Tropez?

Saint-Tropez is the beach destination here. Pampelonne gives about 5km of fine pale sand on the Ramatuelle side, with public stretches between the clubs, and Escalet, Cap Taillat and Gigaro offer quieter coves further south.

Bergamo has no coast at all. Its summer swimming means a trip to Lake Iseo or the Lecco arm of Lake Como, where lidos sit on pebble, grass or concrete platforms. It makes a nice hot-day outing, but not a reason to choose it.

Bergamo eats better and more easily. Its cooking is hearty Lombard mountain food: casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta, game, and valley cheeses such as Taleggio, Branzi and Strachitunt, with lower-town trattorias that stay sensibly priced. The cheese counters of the upper town are a pleasure in themselves.

Saint-Tropez offers Provençal fish, bouillabaisse and rosé lunches on the sand, plus the market on the Place des Lices and the tarte tropézienne. The top end is polished, but many quayside tables trade on the view, simple meals are hard to find, and much of it shuts in winter.

Bergamo has far more to see. The Città Alta is a nearly complete walled hilltop town whose Venetian fortifications are UNESCO-listed, with Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni close together, and the Accademia Carrara below adds Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna.

Saint-Tropez's heritage is modest. The Musée de l'Annonciade and its pointillist and Fauvist paintings are the highlight, alongside the citadel's maritime museum and the lanes of La Ponche, and it can all be seen in a day.

Saint-Tropez has the bigger night out, at least in summer. Afternoon beach-club parties at Pampelonne lead to champagne on the harbour and a few famous clubs open until dawn, all moneyed, with table service and a dress code. By October that has gone quiet.

Bergamo's evenings are gentler and last all year: a long aperitivo, wine bars around Via XX Settembre and Borgo Santa Caterina, drinks on the walls in summer, and home around midnight. For clubbing, locals head to Milan.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, but the landscapes are opposites. Bergamo has mountains on its doorstep: the Colli di Bergamo park climbs from the upper town, and Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps with rifugi, high lakes and serious hiking, plus small ski areas in winter, though a car helps.

Saint-Tropez is all coast. The Sentier du Littoral runs past coves and headlands to Camarat and Taillat, the gulf is made for sailing and snorkelling, and Port-Cros and Porquerolles form a protected island park. Summer heat and fire risk close some trails, so spring and autumn suit it best.

Bergamo is the far stronger base. Milan is under an hour by train, Lake Como and Lake Iseo with Monte Isola are closer still, and Crespi d'Adda, Brescia, Cremona and Verona all make easy days out, most of them without a car.

From Saint-Tropez the outings are pretty but smaller: the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle, Gassin and Grimaud, the canals of Port Grimaud by boat, wine estates, Porquerolles and Roman Fréjus. None is of great historic weight, and summer traffic on the gulf road can eat much of the day.

Bergamo is the easier choice with children. The funicular rides to the Città Alta and San Vigilio, a gelato on the walls, Leolandia twenty minutes away and the Le Cornelle wildlife park give plenty to do, though the cobbled upper town is hard with a buggy.

Saint-Tropez has gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro that small children love, but little else is aimed at them, and high prices and summer jams make long stays wearing. Many families stay across the gulf and come over by boat.

Bergamo is much simpler to get around. Funiculars link the lower town to the Città Alta and San Vigilio, buses run to the station and the airport, and direct trains reach Milan, Brescia and Lecco, so only the upper valleys and lake shores really call for a car.

Saint-Tropez itself is a few minutes from end to end on foot, but it has no railway and slow buses. The beaches lie several kilometres out, the single gulf road jams for hours in July and August, and the passenger boat from Sainte-Maxime or Port Grimaud is often the best way in.

Saint-Tropez is the place to shop, if your taste runs to luxury and resort wear. Big fashion houses keep summer boutiques behind the port, the hand-stitched Tropézienne sandal is made in old-town workshops, and the Place des Lices market adds linen, baskets and pottery. Much of it closes in winter.

Bergamo's shopping is everyday chains and mid-range fashion under the Sentierone arcades, and its real treasure is edible: cheeses, salumi and Valcalepio wine from the delicatessens of the upper town. For serious fashion, Milan is under an hour away.

The gap here is wide. Bergamo is moderate for northern Italy, with fairly priced lower-town hotels, reasonable trattorias and cheap buses and funiculars, and only the Città Alta and summer weekends push costs up.

Saint-Tropez is among the most expensive stops on the Mediterranean. Rooms, loungers, harbour meals and the taxis you need without public transport all add up, and budget visitors usually stay inland or across the gulf and picnic from the market.

Bergamo has a real stage life built around Donizetti, who was born there. The Teatro Donizetti runs a season of opera, concerts and theatre plus an autumn festival of his works, the Teatro Sociale adds smaller productions, Bergamo Jazz fills the spring, and La Scala is an easy evening trip.

Saint-Tropez offers summer concerts in gardens and on the citadel and the colourful Bravade procession in May, but little else, and for opera you face a long drive to Toulon or Nice.

Bergamo offers more ways to unwind. San Pellegrino Terme's Belle Époque spa is about forty minutes up Val Brembana, Trescore Balneario has sulphur springs used since Roman times, and the upper town is quiet in the early morning and evening.

Saint-Tropez's wellness means luxury hotel spas, mostly for their own guests. Its calm depends on timing: crowded and loud in high summer, but slow and restful in May, June and September, with long lunches and pétanque under the plane trees.