Bergamo or Venice?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Venice has a proper one close by. The Lido is a short boat ride away, with kilometres of fine sand and shallow, warm Adriatic water that suits children. Quieter Pellestrina and the big resorts of Jesolo and Sottomarina are within about an hour.

Bergamo has no sea at all. Swimming there means a lake day at Sarnico or Lovere on Lake Iseo, or on the Lecco arm of Como, from pebble, grass or concrete platforms. The lakes make a fine hot-weather outing, but they are not a beach vacation.

The food is equally good in both, but it is very different. Bergamo cooks Lombard mountain food: casoncelli in butter and sage, polenta with braised meat and game, and some of Italy's finest cheeses from the valleys, Taleggio and Strachitunt among them. The pleasure is a slow sit-down meal in a Città Alta trattoria.

Venice eats from the lagoon and often standing up, with cicchetti and a spritz at the counter of a bacaro near the Rialto, then cuttlefish risotto in its own ink. The difference lies in the effort. Bergamo's old streets are reliable, while in Venice the picture-menu places on the main routes mean good meals have to be sought out.

Venice is on another level here. The whole city is the monument: San Marco, the Doge's Palace and the Grand Canal, plus a depth of painting that runs from the Accademia to Titian in the Frari and Tintoretto at San Rocco, with the Biennale on top. You could spend a week and still miss things.

Bergamo is a fine counterpart on a smaller scale. Its intact walled hilltop town, the Colleoni chapel and Santa Maria Maggiore, and the Accademia Carrara's Raphael and Bellini are worth the trip, but they fit comfortably into a day or two.

Both cities wind down around midnight, and the evening in each is built on the aperitivo. In Bergamo it carries on in wine bars and pubs along Via XX Settembre and in Borgo Santa Caterina, or on the walls on summer nights. Students keep a few places going, and a handful of clubs sit on the city's edge.

Venice has no club district, only a few late bars. Its late crowd gathers in Campo Santa Margherita and along the Misericordia, and after that the pleasure is a silent walk by the canals. For a real night out, Bergamo has Milan under an hour away by train, while Venice looks to the mainland or to Jesolo's beach clubs in summer.

Bergamo is much the better base for the outdoors. Paths climb straight from the upper town through the Colli park, and Val Brembana and Val Seriana lead into the Orobie Alps, with rifugi, high lakes and small ski areas such as Foppolo. The lakes add sailing and cycling, though a car helps for the mountains.

In Venice the outdoors means the lagoon: salt marshes around Torcello with egrets and flamingos, kayaking, rowing lessons and flat rides along the Lido's sea walls. Real hills are an hour away, and the Dolomites more than two.

Both cities make excellent bases, each for its own region. From Bergamo the draw is Lombardy: Milan's Duomo and Last Supper under an hour away, Lake Como and Lake Iseo's Monte Isola, the factory village of Crespi d'Adda, Brescia and the Franciacorta vineyards.

Venice opens up the Veneto instead, with Giotto in Padua, Palladio in Vicenza and along the Brenta, and the Prosecco hills. It also has island trips that need no train, to Murano, Burano and Torcello. Verona is an easy day from either.

Bergamo is the easier city with children. It is calm and compact, the two funiculars feel like rides in themselves, the walls make a good gelato walk, and parks have playgrounds. Leolandia and the Le Cornelle wildlife park are short drives away. Only the upper town's cobbled slopes are tough with a buggy.

Venice excites children, with boats instead of buses and no traffic, and the Lido beach and Murano's glass-blowing are hits. Day to day it is harder work, with stepped bridges, packed summer routes and few playgrounds. It suits a short stay with older children best.

Both are easy once you are in the centre, but they work in completely different ways. Bergamo is a city on two levels joined by funiculars, with buses to the station and an airport a short ride away. Direct trains run to Milan, Brescia and Lecco, though a car saves time in the valleys.

Venice runs on foot and by water. Everything central is within a long walk, and vaporetti and traghetti cover the rest. The price is hundreds of stepped bridges, which are hard on suitcases and wheels, and slow, crowded boats on the main lines.

Venice gives shoppers much more to find. Its crafts have centuries behind them: Murano glass, Burano lace, papier-mâché masks, marbled paper and furlane slippers, best bought in the workshops of Dorsoduro, Castello and Murano rather than from the imitation stalls on the main routes. The big fashion names cluster near San Marco.

Bergamo's best buys are edible: Taleggio, salumi and Valcalepio wine from the delicatessens on the upper town's main lane. Below, the Sentierone offers chains and mid-range fashion, and anyone after designer labels goes to Milan.

Bergamo is far kinder on the wallet. It is comfortable rather than cheap, but lower-town hotels and trattorias are fairly priced and local transport costs little. Only rooms inside the Città Alta and summer weekends push costs up.

Venice is among the most expensive places to stay in Italy. Hotels, boats and entry to most sights and churches all add up, and sitting down on the main piazza is notoriously costly. Cicchetti at the counter, a quieter sestiere or a bed in Mestre, and a winter visit all ease the bill.

Venice has the stronger stage. La Fenice is one of Italy's great opera houses, sharing a full season of opera, ballet and concerts with the Malibran, and the Biennale adds contemporary music, theatre and dance. On most evenings there is also Vivaldi in a church, sometimes excellent and sometimes routine.

Bergamo's stage life centres on its own composer, Donizetti. The Teatro Donizetti holds a regular season and the autumn festival of his operas, while Bergamo Jazz brightens the spring. Outside those, the programme is modest, though La Scala is an easy evening trip.

Bergamo has the edge for a restful stay. San Pellegrino Terme, a Belle Époque spa town, is about forty minutes up Val Brembana, and the sulphur springs at Trescore Balneario are older still. The Città Alta is quiet at either end of the day.

Venice's spas are mostly hotel spas in palazzi or on the Lido and Giudecca, and the nearest thermal pools are at Abano, about an hour away. The calm here comes from the absence of traffic: Castello, Cannaregio and Giudecca are hushed at dawn, while San Marco by day is anything but.