Bern or Lugano?

Neither city has a beach, and the swimming is about equally good in both, from June to early September. The difference is in the water. In Bern you walk upstream from the Marzili, jump into the fast, glacier-green Aare and let it carry you back past the Federal Palace. That is great fun for strong swimmers and wrong for small children.

Lugano's swimming is quieter: lake water a few degrees warmer, entered from lawns, decks and ladders at the Cassarate lido or in villages around the shore. Bern's answer for calm water is Lake Thun, twenty minutes away by train.

The two are about level, small and dear, and neither is adventurous. They differ in their traditions. Bern's cooking is Alpine and hearty: the Berner Platte of smoked meats, rösti and fondue in guildhall dining rooms and vaulted cellars, Emmental cheese at the markets and very good chocolate.

Lugano eats in the Italian way. Its signature is the grotto, a hillside or lakeside tavern serving polenta, risotto and salumi at granite tables, with Ticino Merlot from vineyards nearby. Across the border, Italy offers more range for anyone who wants it.

Bern has much more to see. Its whole old town is a UNESCO site of sandstone arcades, painted fountains and the Zytglogge. Add the Minster, the Federal Palace, the largest collection of Paul Klee's work and the flat where Einstein worked out special relativity, and two days go quickly.

Lugano's sights take about a day. Highlights are Luini's Passion fresco in Santa Maria degli Angioli, the view from San Lorenzo, the art collection split between LAC and Palazzo Reali, and the Hermann Hesse museum up in Montagnola.

Neither is a party town, but Bern gives you more to do after dinner. Its vaulted cellar bars under the arcades and the streets around Aarbergergasse fill up at weekends. The Reitschule hosts late, rough-edged parties, and in summer people gather at bars along the Aare.

Lugano's evenings are an aperitivo by the lake and a long dinner, among a smart, mostly local crowd, and the town is usually asleep before midnight. Young locals head to Milan to go out.

Both are superb for the outdoors, but in different ways. From Bern the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are about an hour away by train, with high-mountain hiking, cable cars and winter skiing. Gentler walking and cycling run along the Aare, over the Emmental and up the Gurten.

In Lugano the mountains rise straight from the lake. Funiculars climb Monte Brè and San Salvatore from the edge of town, the shore path runs to Gandria, and the Monte Lema to Tamaro ridge is a fine day hike. Lugano is best in spring and autumn. Bern is the one for snow.

Bern's day trips stay within Switzerland, while Lugano's cross into Italy. From Bern the choice is wide and the connections are easy: Lucerne, Basel and Zurich within an hour, Fribourg and the cheese dairies of Gruyères, walled Murten, baroque Solothurn and the Lavaux terraces above Lake Geneva.

Lugano faces south. Milan and The Last Supper are just over an hour away, Como half an hour, and Bellinzona's castles a short ride north. Boats reach Morcote, and Lake Maggiore leads on to the Borromean Islands. Either city could fill a week of outings.

Bern has more that is made for children: the bear park below the old town, the Dählhölzli zoo with free paths through parts of it, the natural history dioramas and the playground on the Gurten. The trams are easy with a pushchair, and the Marzili has shallow pools.

In Lugano the lake does the work: boat trips, lido slides, funiculars and the long-loved park of Swiss landmarks in miniature at Melide. But the town is steep and there is no zoo or big museum, so it suits younger children on outdoor days best.

Bern is the easier city to get around. You can walk from the station to the bear park in about twenty minutes under arcades that keep the rain off. The station sits at the top of the old town, which makes leaving for day trips easy.

Lugano is also walkable along the lakefront, but it is built on a slope. The station is high above the old town and you need a funicular to link the two, with buses for the hillside districts. Its lake boats and mountain railways are as much part of the vacation as a way of getting about.

Shopping is modest in both. Bern's is the more varied: a long run of arcaded streets with chocolate and watch shops and a long-established department store, then cellar shops down steep steps selling antiques, books and crafts.

Lugano's centres on Via Nassa, with Swiss watchmakers, jewellers and Italian fashion houses for a wealthy clientele, and a designer outlet towards Mendrisio. It has more luxury than Bern but less depth. Serious shoppers go to Milan.

Both are among the most expensive places in Europe to stay, with almost nothing between them. How you save differs. In Bern many of the best things are free, from the bear park and the river paths to tours of the Federal Palace, and market stalls and supermarket counters keep lunch cheap.

In Lugano the grotti and set lunches are the sensible way to eat well, and some visitors eat in Italian lakeside towns on day trips. Hotel guests in both cities usually get free local transport.

Bern has a wider spread of venues. You can see opera and ballet at the Stadttheater, symphony concerts at the Casino above the Aare, new music and dance at the Dampfzentrale and alternative gigs at the Reitschule. There is a jazz festival in spring and the Gurtenfestival on the hill in July.

Lugano's cultural life is concentrated in LAC, a fine lakeside concert hall with a resident orchestra, plus mostly Italian-language theatre. In summer Estival Jazz holds free concerts in Piazza della Riforma. For opera, people go to La Scala in Milan.

Both are calm places to slow down, and neither has a historic bathing tradition. Bern has more proper spa time within the city, with a thermal bath complex on its western edge and a hammam-style spa in the old town. Its quiet Sundays and riverside terraces set the pace.

Lugano relaxes you through its setting instead: the palm-lined shore, mild sunny weather and afternoons in Parco Ciani. For spas it relies on lakeside hotels and an indoor pool complex near Rivera.