Bergamo or Stuttgart?

Neither city has a beach, but Bergamo at least has good summer swimming. The lidos and grassy shores of Lake Iseo, and the Lecco arm of Lake Como, are within an hour and warm up well by July, though the shores are pebble or concrete rather than sand.

From Stuttgart, swimming means the city's outdoor pools, some of them fed by its mineral springs. Lake Constance, the nearest real open water, is more than two hours away.

The two are evenly matched, and both serve hearty regional food rather than much from elsewhere. Bergamo cooks Lombard mountain dishes: casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta with braised meats, and valley cheeses such as Taleggio and Strachitunt, with Franciacorta sparkling wine from next door.

Stuttgart's Swabian kitchen gives you Maultaschen, Käsespätzle and Zwiebelrostbraten. Its vineyards lie inside the city, so you can drink Trollinger at a grower's seasonal Besen tavern. Both have a serious fine-dining scene.

Bergamo has the stronger historic core: an almost intact walled hilltop town, with Piazza Vecchia, Santa Maria Maggiore and the marble Cappella Colleoni all close together, and Raphael and Bellini at the Accademia Carrara below.

Stuttgart's strengths are industry and modern design. The Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums, the Staatsgalerie and the Le Corbusier houses on the Weissenhof Estate are the highlights, while wartime bombing left its old centre only in pockets around Schlossplatz.

Stuttgart offers more of a night out. The bars and lounges along Theodor-Heuss-Strasse fill at weekends, and there are basement clubs with a loyal electronic music crowd. The Cannstatter Volksfest beer tents liven up the autumn.

Bergamo's evenings are about a long aperitivo in Borgo Santa Caterina, or a drink on the walls in summer, and they are usually over by midnight. For clubs, people go to Milan.

Bergamo has the bigger landscape. Woodland paths climb from the upper town to San Vigilio, and Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with rifugi, high lakes and serious summer hiking. A car makes most of it easier.

Stuttgart's countryside is gentler and closer to hand: vineyard trails above the Neckar, deer in the Rotwildpark, and the cliffs and caves of the Swabian Jura about an hour away. It is good walking and cycling country, but it is not high mountains.

Both make excellent bases, but they lead to different kinds of trips. From Bergamo you reach the big names: Milan in under an hour, the shores of Como and Iseo, and Verona and Cremona further out.

From Stuttgart the trips are to palaces and small historic towns: baroque Ludwigsburg, Tübingen's lanes, Heidelberg's castle and Hohenzollern on its hilltop, with Strasbourg possible for a long day. Bergamo just edges ahead, because its lakes add a whole type of day out that Stuttgart cannot match.

Stuttgart is easier with children. Wilhelma's zoo and gardens fill a day, Killesberg has a narrow-gauge railway and a lookout tower, older children enjoy the car museums, and there are plenty of outdoor pools and beer gardens with play areas.

Bergamo charms children with its funiculars and walks along the walls, but its cobbled lanes are hard going with a buggy. Its biggest draws are outside the city: Leolandia, a proper theme park of the kind Stuttgart lacks, and the Le Cornelle wildlife park.

The two are close, and both are built on slopes. In Bergamo, a funicular links the lower town to the Città Alta, the airport is a short bus ride away, and a car is needed only for the valleys and lakes.

Stuttgart has the fuller network. One ticket covers the Stadtbahn, S-Bahn, buses and a rack railway, and the public stairways called Stäffele give walkers shortcuts up the hillsides.

Stuttgart is the better shopping city. Königstrasse is a long pedestrian street of big brands, Breuninger covers designer fashion, and the outlet town of Metzingen is half an hour away.

Bergamo has mid-range chains under the arcades of Via XX Settembre, and the best things to take home come from the cheese, salumi and wine shops of the Città Alta. For fashion, Milan is the place to go.

Bergamo costs a little less. Hotels in the lower town are fairly priced, and trattorias and aperitivo bars are reasonable, though staying inside the Città Alta costs more.

Stuttgart's hotel prices follow the business calendar: they are expensive during trade fairs and better value at weekends. Meals in Swabian taverns give good value for the portions.

Stuttgart is far ahead here. The Stuttgart Ballet, one of Europe's most respected companies, shares the state theatre with a bold opera company, and the Liederhalle adds orchestras and a strong Bach tradition. There are also long-running musicals and live jazz through the week.

Bergamo's stage life centres on Donizetti, its native composer. The Teatro Donizetti holds an autumn festival of his works, and there is the Bergamo Jazz festival in spring. Otherwise its programme is provincial, and La Scala in Milan is within reach for an evening.

Stuttgart has its bathing culture inside the city. At the Mineralbad Cannstatt and the Mineralbad Leuze, you soak in naturally carbonated warm water indoors and out, with saunas in the larger baths.

From Bergamo, a spa day means a trip out: to the Belle Époque baths of San Pellegrino Terme, about forty minutes up Val Brembana, or to the old sulphur springs at Trescore Balneario. Its own calm is the quiet of the Città Alta early in the morning.