Bern or Genoa?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Genoa has the sea and Bern does not. In Bern, swimming means jumping into the cold, fast Aare and drifting back down to the Marzili baths. That is for confident swimmers only. For calmer water you take the train to Lake Thun.

Genoa has clear Mediterranean water inside the city, at the Boccadasse cove, the bathing establishments along Corso Italia and the platforms at Nervi. Better pebble bays at Camogli and Sestri Levante are a short train ride away. Expect to rent a lounger and to find summer weekends crowded.

Genoa is much the better place to eat. It is the home of pesto, and the food runs from focaccia at breakfast to farinata and fried fish from the old-town friggitorie, and on to seafood with Vermentino in the harbour trattorias. The Mercato Orientale shows what the region grows.

Bern's cooking is hearty and traditional: the Berner Platte, rösti and fondue served in guildhall dining rooms and vaulted cellars, Emmental cheese at the markets and very good chocolate. It is filling but narrow in range, and every meal out costs a lot.

Bern's whole old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is compact and handsome, with its arcades, painted fountains, the Zytglogge and the Minster. Its museums are better than you would expect in a city this size, above all the Zentrum Paul Klee and Einstein's flat on Kramgasse, but two days covers it.

Genoa has more to see. The UNESCO listing covers the Strade Nuove and the Rolli palaces on Via Garibaldi, where the painted halls hold Van Dyck and Rubens. Below them, the medieval caruggi make up one of Europe's largest historic quarters. With the striped cathedral, the Lanterna and the marble sculpture at Staglieno as well, you can fill several full days.

Neither city is for a big night out, but Genoa has a little more going on. Students fill the squares around Piazza delle Erbe for aperitivo until late at weekends, and in summer people head out to Corso Italia and the beach clubs.

Bern's evenings happen in the vaulted cellar bars under the arcades, the bars along Aarbergergasse and the terraces on the Aare. The Reitschule hosts rough-edged late parties. Weeknights are quiet in both cities.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, and the difference is mountains against sea. From Bern, the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are about an hour away by train for high-mountain hiking, cable cars and winter skiing. Closer in are the Gurten, the paths along the Aare and the Emmental farmland.

Genoa's hills drop straight into the Mediterranean. There is the fortress trail above Righi, the cliff paths of the Portofino park down to San Fruttuoso and the terraced Cinque Terre trails, plus whale watching, kayaking and diving. Pick Bern for snow and Alpine lakes, and Genoa for coastal walks in spring and autumn.

Both make excellent bases, but the trips are very different. Bern sits at the centre of the Swiss rail network. Fribourg, Murten and Thun are close by, Lucerne, Basel and Zurich are each about an hour away, and from Fribourg you can go on to the castle and cheese dairies of Gruyères. Each day can bring a new town, and sometimes a new language.

Genoa's trips run along a single coastline: Camogli, Portofino and the Cinque Terre to the east, and Finale Ligure Borgo and Noli to the west. Milan and Turin are about an hour and a half inland. Bern gives you more variety, and Genoa gives you the sea.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Bern is calm and easy. It has the bear park, the Dählhölzli zoo, the playground on the Gurten and trams that take pushchairs, though the Aare is too fast for young swimmers.

Genoa has the bigger single attraction in its aquarium, one of Europe's largest, along with the walk-through submarine at the Galata museum and the funiculars. Away from the Porto Antico, though, the steep, dark lanes and endless stairs make the days harder.

Bern is much the easier city to get around. You can walk the centre from the station to the bear park in about twenty minutes, the arcades keep you dry, and punctual trams, funiculars and a public lift cover the rest on one fare system.

Genoa is a steep maze, and its single short metro line and slow buses in congested streets help only a little. The funiculars, the lifts and the coastal railway are the useful links, and you will still do a lot of climbing on foot.

Neither is a shopping destination, and in both the best buys are local. Bern's arcaded run of Spitalgasse, Marktgasse and Kramgasse has Swiss watches and chocolate, and the cellar shops of Gerechtigkeitsgasse sell antiques, books and crafts.

Genoa has the Italian labels on Via XX Settembre and Via Roma. The better finds are candied fruit, olive oil and pesto from long-established old-town shops, and silver filigree and coral from small workshops.

The gap here is wide. Bern is very expensive, from plain hotels to a beer on a terrace. Visitors on a budget eat supermarket takeaway lunches and lean on the free pleasures: the river paths, the bear park and the guided tours of the Federal Palace.

Genoa is mid-range and feels good value for Italy. Focaccia and farinata make cheap meals, trattoria lunches are fairly priced and the funiculars are inexpensive. Only the Riviera resorts and lounger hire on summer beach days push costs up.

The two are on a similar scale, with enough for an evening or two in either. Bern has opera and drama in German at the Stadttheater, the symphony orchestra in the Casino, contemporary dance at the Dampfzentrale, a spring jazz festival and the Gurtenfestival in July.

Genoa has opera at the Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari and concerts honouring Paganini, and small live-music clubs keep its singer-songwriter tradition going.

Bern is the more restful of the two. The pace is slow and Sundays are quiet. A large thermal bath complex on the western edge of the city has warm pools and saunas, and the mountain spa hotels of the Bernese Oberland are there for more serious spa time.

Genoa's centre is noisy with port traffic and crowded lanes, and its spas are mostly in hotels. Calm means the villa gardens at Nervi or a long lunch in a Riviera village. The thermal waters of Acqui Terme are over an hour away.