Bergamo or Zurich?

Neither city has a sea, and in both you swim from grass, piers or concrete rather than sand. Zurich does it better because the swimming is in the city itself: wooden bathing houses line the lake shore, the river baths at Letten float swimmers down the Limmat, and a dip fits between museums.

From Bergamo the water is a day out. You go to the lidos of Lake Iseo around Sarnico and Lovere, or to the Lecco arm of Lake Como. They are pleasant on a hot day, but you have to travel to reach them.

The two are broadly level, but the cooking is very different. Bergamo serves hearty Lombard mountain food: casoncelli with butter and sage, polenta, game, and valley cheeses such as Taleggio and Strachitunt, with Franciacorta from over the border to drink. It is all reasonably priced.

Zurich is more polished and more international. There is veal in cream with rösti, fondue in the guild houses, the Luxemburgerli of the Paradeplatz tea rooms, and a wider spread of styles in Kreis 4 and 5. It costs far more at every level.

Bergamo has the more memorable sights. The Città Alta is an almost complete walled hilltop town inside UNESCO-listed Venetian ramparts. Around Piazza Vecchia stand the Cappella Colleoni and Santa Maria Maggiore, and down the hill the Accademia Carrara holds Raphael, Bellini and Mantegna.

Zurich's appeal is spread across good museums rather than one great set piece. The Kunsthaus, the Swiss National Museum and the Rietberg are all strong, and the Altstadt adds the Grossmünster and Chagall's windows in the Fraumünster. It is worth seeing, though it is less striking than Bergamo's upper town.

Zurich is far livelier after dark. Its electronic music scene runs deep, with clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and in the old industrial buildings of Zurich West open until morning at weekends. Langstrasse stays loud late, and the Street Parade takes over the lake shore each August.

Bergamo's evenings are gentler: a long aperitivo, wine bars along Via XX Settembre or Borgo Santa Caterina, and summer drinks on the walls of the upper town. Most nights end around midnight. For anything bigger, people take the train to Milan.

Both cities sit at the foot of the Alps, but Zurich makes the mountains easier to enjoy. The Uetliberg ridge is a short train ride away, the lake shore has promenades and boat trips, and Rigi, Pilatus and ski slopes such as Flumserberg can all be reached without a car.

Bergamo starts well, with the Colli di Bergamo park climbing from the upper town to San Vigilio. The Orobie Alps up Val Brembana and Val Seriana offer serious hiking and rifugi, but you really need a car to get the most from them.

Both are excellent bases, but they lead to different countries. From Bergamo you reach Lombardy and the Veneto: Milan's Last Supper, the towns of Lake Como, Monte Isola on Lake Iseo, and further out Brescia, Cremona and Verona.

From Zurich the Swiss rail network spreads in every direction. Lucerne's wooden bridges, the arcades of Bern, the Rhine Falls and the abbey library of St Gallen are all easy trips by train. Bergamo's day trips lean towards art cities, and Zurich's towards lakes, mountains and old Swiss towns.

Zurich is the easier city with children. The zoo, with its Madagascar hall and elephant park, is the highlight, and the lake lidos have shallow areas and lawns. Trams take buggies without fuss, and the Technorama is a short train ride away.

Bergamo is calm and safe, and children enjoy the funiculars and gelato on the walls. But the steep cobbles of the upper town defeat buggies, and Leolandia and the Le Cornelle wildlife park are easiest to reach by car.

Zurich runs almost perfectly. Trams, S-Bahn, funiculars and even the lake boats share one ticket, the airport is a short train ride away, and a car is more trouble than it is worth.

Bergamo works well within its limits. Funiculars link the lower town to the Città Alta and San Vigilio, a short bus reaches the airport, and trains run to Milan and Brescia. For the valleys and lake shores, though, hiring a car saves real time.

Zurich is the shopping destination. Bahnhofstrasse is lined with watchmakers, jewellers and old department stores, the viaduct arches in Zurich West hold design shops, and there are antique shops in the Niederdorf. Everything is expensive.

Bergamo's strength is food to take home. The main lane of the Città Alta is full of cheese shops, salumi and Valcalepio wine, while the arcades of the lower town have mid-range chains. Anyone after fashion goes to Milan.

The gap here is huge. Bergamo is comfortable rather than cheap, but rooms in the lower town and meals in its trattorias cost a fraction of what Zurich charges. Many travellers stay in Bergamo precisely to explore Lombardy more cheaply.

In Zurich, even a simple hotel room or a casual lunch costs more than in most European capitals. Picnics by the lake and the free lidos help, but a tight budget will be strained all the way through.

Zurich has the stronger stage. The Opernhaus is among Europe's most respected opera houses, the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in a fine nineteenth-century hall, and the Rote Fabrik and the clubs of Kreis 4 and 5 bring in touring bands.

Bergamo's stage life centres on Donizetti, who was born there. The autumn festival at the Teatro Donizetti draws real opera lovers, and Bergamo Jazz livens up the spring. Otherwise the programme is that of a provincial city, with La Scala as the evening out.

Both offer a quiet pace and a historic spa town nearby, so the difference lies in where you bathe. Zurich has its baths inside the city, in the stone vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery and in the wooden lake houses that turn into saunas in winter, and Baden's hot springs are about twenty minutes away.

From Bergamo you travel out to soak, to the Belle Époque spa of San Pellegrino Terme or the sulphur springs of Trescore Balneario. In town, the calm comes from early mornings on the walls of the upper town.