Bergamo or Turin?

Neither city is a swimming destination, but Bergamo comes closer. Lake Iseo is near enough for an easy summer afternoon on the grassy lidos at Sarnico or Lovere, and the Lecco arm of Lake Como is within reach too.

From Turin, the Ligurian coast is close to two hours away, which makes for a long day trip, and the local lakes such as Avigliana are small. If you want to swim on a city vacation, Bergamo's lakes are the more practical choice.

Turin eats a good deal better. Piedmont's cooking is refined and wide-ranging, from agnolotti del plin and bollito misto to autumn truffles from the Langhe, and the wine list runs through Barolo and Barbaresco. Add the historic cafés serving bicerin, the gianduja makers and Porta Palazzo market, and food can easily fill a whole trip.

Bergamo's table is heartier and narrower: casoncelli, polenta with braised meat, and some of Italy's finest cheeses, such as Taleggio and Strachitunt. Its best food moments are the cheese counters and pastry shops of the upper town, not a long list of restaurants.

Turin has the greater depth. The Museo Egizio alone is worth the trip, and around it stand a royal capital's palaces, the Shroud's cathedral, the Savoy residences, the cinema museum in the Mole and the Fiat story at the Lingotto. That is several days of sightseeing.

Bergamo offers one superb set piece instead. The Città Alta, inside its Venetian walls, packs the Cappella Colleoni and Santa Maria Maggiore around Piazza Vecchia, and the Accademia Carrara holds Raphael and Bellini. It is more compact and more complete as a townscape, but you will see it in a day or two.

Turin gives you more of an evening. After the aperitivo you can move between distinct districts: wine bars in the Quadrilatero Romano, students crowding San Salvario, the more alternative Vanchiglia, and the summer riverside along the Murazzi, with clubs in old industrial buildings for later.

In Bergamo, evenings are mostly a long aperitivo, a glass of wine on a square in the upper town and home around midnight. People after a big night go to Milan.

Both cities have the Alps close by, but Turin's mountains are bigger and wilder. The Gran Paradiso, with its ibex and high trails, the Susa valley and the Via Lattea ski area offer proper hut-to-hut hiking, climbing and full-scale skiing, and Valentino park and the Superga hill give green space in town.

Bergamo's outdoors starts closer to the centre, with paths climbing from the upper town through the Colli di Bergamo. Further out are the Orobie valleys and their rifugi, and Lake Iseo and Lake Como offer sailing and cycling. Its ski areas, such as Foppolo, are small by comparison.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference lies in what surrounds them. From Bergamo, the day trips are lakes and old Lombard towns: Lake Como and Monte Isola on Iseo, Brescia, Cremona's violin makers, Verona, and Milan in under an hour.

From Turin, the days out lean towards wine and mountains: Alba, Barolo and the Langhe villages, Asti and the Monferrato, the Sacra di San Michele on its rock, and Genoa or Aosta for a longer day. Choose Bergamo for water and art towns, Turin for vineyards and the Alps.

The two are about equally easy with children, in different ways. Bergamo's fun is in the ride, with two funiculars and the walls to walk, and Leolandia and Le Cornelle wildlife park are close by. The steep cobbles of the upper town are hard going with a buggy, though.

Turin is flatter, and its arcades shelter pushchairs from rain and sun. It has more for older children, with the glass lift up the Mole, the car museum and the Egyptian mummies, but its main animal park, Zoom, needs a car.

Getting around is equally easy in both cities, but they feel very different. Bergamo is split in two, and the funicular joining the lower town to the hilltop Città Alta is part of the experience. The airport is close, and trains reach Milan and Brescia directly.

Turin is a flat grid you can walk under the arcades from Porta Nuova to the Po, with a single metro line and slower trams for the rest. In both cities you will want a car only for the mountains or the lakes and vineyards.

Turin has more to shop for. Via Roma's arcades hold the big fashion labels, there are antique dealers on Via Maria Vittoria, and the Balon flea market is a Saturday fixture. The chocolate and truffle shops make some of the best souvenirs in Italy.

Bergamo is mostly mid-range chains on the Sentierone and a lane of cheese and salumi shops in the upper town. It is good for edible gifts and little else, and serious shoppers go to Milan.

Both are comfortable rather than cheap, and Turin stretches a little further. A generous aperitivo can stand in for dinner, Porta Palazzo is cheap to eat from, and much of the centre is walked.

In Bergamo, the lower town is fairly priced, but staying or eating inside the Città Alta costs more, and summer weekends fill up. In Turin, truffle season and big trade fairs are when costs rise.

Turin has the fuller calendar. The Teatro Regio runs a complete opera and ballet season, and the RAI orchestra plays at its own auditorium. Add jazz clubs and long-running music festivals, and there is something to see most weeks.

Bergamo's stage life rests on one name. Donizetti was born here, and the autumn festival of his operas at the Teatro Donizetti is a real draw for opera lovers, as is the spring jazz festival. Outside those dates, the programme is modest.

Bergamo is the better choice for real thermal water. San Pellegrino's historic spa is within an hour up Val Brembana, and Trescore Balneario's sulphur springs, in use since Roman times, are nearer still.

Turin's spas are hotel spas, and Acqui Terme and the Aosta baths are close to two hours away. What Turin offers instead is unhurried city time: long café breaks under the arcades and slow afternoons in Valentino park.