Bern or Lucca?

Bern has no sand. Swimming means drifting down the fast, glacier-green Aare from the Marzili baths, which is a thrill for strong swimmers in July and August but too cold and powerful for children. Lake Thun gives calmer water under the Alps.

Lucca has the real thing within easy reach. The long sandy Versilia shore begins at Viareggio, about 25 minutes by train, with gentle shelving, warmer water and a choice between tidy rows of umbrellas at the beach clubs and the wilder pine-backed dunes of the Lecciona. It works best as a half-day trip, but it is proper seaside.

Lucca eats better. Its rustic provincial cooking has real character: spelt soup from the Garfagnana, meat-filled tordelli in ragù, chestnut dishes in the cooler months, cecina by the slice and buccellato from the bakeries, with mild hill olive oil and Montecarlo wines to go with it. Prices in the family trattorias are fair.

Bern's table is heavier and pricier: the Berner Platte, rösti, fondue and veal in cream, often in guildhall dining rooms and vaulted cellars, with excellent chocolate and Emmental cheese at the markets. Neither city offers much range beyond its own tradition.

The two are well matched, and in both the townscape is the main sight. Bern's UNESCO old town is all sandstone arcades, painted fountains, the Zytglogge and the Minster tower. Its museums are the stronger pair of the two, with the Zentrum Paul Klee and the Einstein Museum close to the flat on Kramgasse where he worked out special relativity.

Lucca's strength is its churches rather than its galleries. There are the stacked Romanesque arcades of San Michele, the gold mosaic of San Frediano, and the cathedral with the Ilaria del Carretto tomb, all inside Renaissance walls that survive complete. Add the oval amphitheatre piazza and the tree-topped Torre Guinigi. Two days covers either city.

Neither is a party town, but Bern has more life after dark. Weekends fill the vaulted cellar bars under the arcades and the streets around Aarbergergasse. The Reitschule hosts late, rough-edged parties, and in summer the riverside terraces draw a crowd.

Lucca's evening is an aperitivo in Piazza San Michele, a long dinner and a stroll on the walls, and the centre is quiet by midnight. Anyone wanting to dance in summer has to go out to the Versilia beach discos and arrange a late ride back.

Bern has the grander outdoors. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are visible from the old town and about an hour away by train, with cable cars, high trails and skiing in winter. Closer in, there is the Gurten funicular, the wooded Aare paths and the softer Emmental and Jura for cycling.

Lucca's landscape is gentler: the 4km ring of the walls, olive groves and villa gardens. The marble-scarred Apuan Alps and the chestnut woods of the Garfagnana offer serious hiking within an hour, and Massaciuccoli is good for birdwatching. Summer heat on the plain pushes walkers towards spring and autumn.

Both are outstanding bases, and the difference lies in what you see. From Bern, the Swiss rail hub, you can reach Lucerne, Basel and Zurich in about an hour, as well as lakeside Murten, Thun, Fribourg and Gruyères' cheese dairies, all without having to plan around connections.

From Lucca it is Pisa in half an hour, Florence in a little over an hour, Pistoia and Montecatini on the same line, and the marble towns of Pietrasanta and Carrara up the coast. The Cinque Terre and San Gimignano are possible with an early start. The villa gardens and hill villages are easier with a car.

Bern does more for children. There is the bear park below the old town, the Dählhölzli zoo along the river, the dioramas at the Natural History Museum and the big playground at the top of the Gurten funicular, and Marzili has shallow pools for little ones. The one caution is the fast Aare itself.

Lucca is flat and largely free of traffic, and riding the walls on a family quadricycle is a lovely outing. The Pinocchio Park at Collodi and the beaches fill other days, and Lucca Comics & Games delights teenagers in autumn. Beyond that, the sights are mostly churches and palaces.

Bern is the easier place to get around. You can walk the old town end to end in about twenty minutes under cover of the arcades, and punctual trams, buses, funiculars and a public lift share one fare system. The station sits right at the top of the centre, so you will never need a car.

Lucca is a joy inside the walls, flat and closed to most traffic, with bikes for hire at every gate and the station just outside the southern walls. Once you head for the villas, hill villages or the Garfagnana, though, buses are sparse and a car becomes almost essential.

Shopping is modest in both, with Bern slightly broader. Its long arcaded line of Spitalgasse, Marktgasse and Kramgasse has watch and chocolate shops and a department store, and cellar shops down steep steps sell antiques, design and crafts. A shopping centre on the edge of town covers mainstream brands.

Lucca's Via Fillungo has fashion and jewellery shops behind old Liberty shopfronts, and its lanes sell oil, farro and buccellato to take home. The best reason to shop is the monthly antiques market around the cathedral. Neither city has much luxury.

There is a wide gap here. Bern is very expensive: plain hotels, sit-down dinners and even a terrace beer cost far more than visitors expect. The free bear park, river paths and Federal Palace tours help, as does the transport pass most hotels give guests, and budget travellers lean on supermarket lunches.

Lucca costs what central Italy usually costs, and less than Florence. Trattoria meals, regional trains and the paid sights are fairly priced, and the walls and many churches are free. Rooms inside the walls are the main expense, so staying just outside often saves money.

Lucca has the edge, because Puccini gives it a thread that runs through the year. Short recitals of his arias in a central church mean even a brief stay can include opera. There is also the Teatro del Giglio season, open-air opera beside the lake at Torre del Lago, and the Lucca Summer Festival's star concerts in Piazza Napoleone.

Bern's offer is that of a small capital. It has German-language opera, ballet and drama at the Stadttheater, the symphony orchestra at the Casino, contemporary dance at the Dampfzentrale, and the jazz festival in spring and the Gurtenfestival in July.

Both relax you through their pace rather than through a bathing culture. Bern has quiet Sundays and riverside lunches, and it is the one with spa facilities in town: a thermal and sauna complex on the western edge, a hammam-style spa and hotel spas, with mountain spa hotels further afield.

Lucca has almost nothing of that inside its traffic-free walls, but the spa day trips are richer. You can try the belle époque baths of Montecatini, the warm cave pools at Monsummano or the steam grottoes of Bagni di Lucca.