Bergamo or Strasbourg?

Neither city is near the sea, but Bergamo has the better summer swimming. Lake Iseo has lidos and grassy shores around Sarnico and Lovere, the Lecco arm of Lake Como is also close, and by July the water is about 23°C. The shores are mostly pebble, grass or concrete platforms rather than sand.

Strasbourg can only offer old gravel-pit lakes such as the Baggersee, which you can reach by tram. They are calm, lifeguarded in high summer and fine for a hot afternoon, but there is no lake scenery to make a day of it.

Strasbourg has the richer table. The winstub is a real local institution, where choucroute, baeckeoffe or tarte flambée come with a pichet of Riesling. Foie gras, Munster from the markets and plenty of local beer add to it. Avoid the tourist menus around the cathedral and Petite France.

Bergamo's mountain cooking is more of a niche: casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta with braised meats, and some of Italy's finest cheeses, such as Taleggio and Strachitunt. Franciacorta sparkling wine is the local treat. Neither city has much choice beyond its own cuisine.

The two cities are close here, but they are built differently. Bergamo puts its best into one hilltop: the Venetian-walled Città Alta, Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble front of the Cappella Colleoni, with the Accademia Carrara's Raphael and Mantegna below the hill. It all fits into a day or two.

Strasbourg spreads further and has more museums. The pink sandstone cathedral and its astronomical clock, the timbered lanes of Petite France and the German-built Neustadt form one listed ensemble. The Palais Rohan, the Alsatian Museum and the European institutions fill two or three days.

Strasbourg has the livelier evenings, mostly thanks to its large university. The Krutenau quarter and the streets around Place Saint-Étienne are full of student bars and beer cellars, and the riverside terraces stay busy on summer nights. Clubs are still scarce.

In Bergamo, a night out means a long aperitivo and then a wine bar, around Borgo Santa Caterina or up on the walls in summer, and it is usually over by midnight. Milan's nightlife is close enough for anyone who wants more.

Bergamo is the place for real hills. You can walk from the upper town through the Colli di Bergamo park, and Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps for serious summer hiking. The lakes add sailing and shoreline cycling.

Strasbourg is flat. Its strength is long, level bike rides along the Rhine and the canals, and riverside forests with storks and beavers. For the Vosges ridges or the fir woods of the Black Forest you need to travel about an hour, and the hiking there is gentler than in the Orobie.

Both cities make excellent bases, and Bergamo has a slight edge. Milan's Duomo and Last Supper are under an hour by train, Lake Como and Lake Iseo with Monte Isola are nearer still, and Brescia, Verona and Cremona are all easy days by rail.

Strasbourg's outings are of a different kind. Colmar and the wine route villages such as Riquewihr and Eguisheim are on one side, and Baden-Baden, Freiburg and Heidelberg are across the Rhine. Trains serve the towns well, but the vineyards are easier by car or bike.

Strasbourg is the easier city with children. The flat, mostly car-free centre, boat trips around the island, rowing boats and storks in the Orangerie and the Le Vaisseau science centre fill the days without much effort, and Europa-Park makes a big outing about an hour away.

Children in Bergamo love the funiculars and an ice cream on the walls, but the cobbled lanes of the upper town are hard going with a buggy. The best outings, Leolandia and the Le Cornelle wildlife park, are easiest by car.

Strasbourg is the simpler city to get around. You can cross the pedestrianised island on foot in about twenty minutes, trams run to the station, the European quarter and even Kehl, and separated bike lanes make cycling the quickest way about. You will not need a car in the city.

Bergamo works well too, but it sits on two levels. The funicular and buses handle the steep climb to the Città Alta, and the airport is close. For the upper valleys and the lake shores, though, a hire car saves a lot of time.

Strasbourg has more to browse. There are chain stores and a department store around Place Kléber, independent bookshops near the cathedral, and good things to take home, such as Soufflenheim pottery, printed linens and kougelhopf moulds. In December the Christmas market fills the centre.

Bergamo's shopping is mainly food. The main lane of the Città Alta is lined with cheese shops, delicatessens and wine sellers, while the lower town has mid-range fashion. For serious fashion, people from both cities go elsewhere, and from Bergamo that means Milan.

Bergamo is somewhat easier on the wallet. Hotels in the lower town are fairly priced, which is why many people use it as a base for Lombardy, but rooms inside the Città Alta cost more.

In Strasbourg, the main expense is the hotel. Rooms get much dearer during the Christmas market and in the weeks when the European Parliament sits. Winstub meals, wine by the pichet, cheap trams and the free old town help balance that.

Strasbourg has the fuller stage calendar. The Opéra national du Rhin, a philharmonic orchestra, the Théâtre National de Strasbourg and the autumn Musica festival of contemporary music give you something worth booking for most of the season.

Bergamo's stage life centres on Donizetti, who was born there. The theatre named after him holds a festival of his operas every autumn, and the spring Bergamo Jazz festival has a long history. Outside those, the programme is modest, but La Scala is an easy evening trip.

The two cities are much alike here, and in both the best spas are a short trip away. Bergamo's are San Pellegrino Terme, a Belle Époque resort about forty minutes up Val Brembana, and the old sulphur springs at Trescore Balneario. The quiet early mornings in the Città Alta also do a lot to slow you down.

Strasbourg has a tiled public bathhouse with a hammam right in the city, and Baden-Baden's Friedrichsbad and Caracalla baths are under an hour away.