Bern or Milan?

Neither city has a coast, but Bern makes swimming part of an ordinary summer day. Locals walk upstream from the Marzili, jump into the cold, fast Aare and let it carry them back past the Federal Palace. The riverside lidos add lawns and pools, and Lake Thun is about twenty minutes away for calmer water.

In Milan itself you have only the Idroscalo basin and the public pools, so a proper swim means an hour on the train to the pebbly lidos of Como or Maggiore. Those lakes are warmer, around 23°C in August, and gentler than the Aare, which is only for strong swimmers.

Milan is by far the better place to eat. Saffron risotto, ossobuco and cotoletta, good cooking from Italy's other regions and a serious fine-dining scene give it a depth that a small city like Bern cannot reach. The aperitivo hour in Brera, Isola and along the Navigli can also stand in for a light supper.

Bern's food is hearty and traditional: the Berner Platte, rösti and fondue in old guildhall dining rooms and vaulted cellars, Emmental cheese at the markets and excellent chocolate. It satisfies for a few days, but the choice is narrow and eating out is costly.

Milan's sights carry more weight: the marble Duomo with its rooftop among the spires, Leonardo's Last Supper, the Brera paintings and Michelangelo's Rondanini Pietà in the Castello. The catch is that they come in clusters scattered across a modern, businesslike city.

Bern is the other way round. The whole old town on its loop of the Aare is a UNESCO site, with arcades, painted fountains and the Zytglogge, and the Zentrum Paul Klee and Einstein's flat add real interest. It is a more complete place to wander, but two days covers it.

Milan offers a real night out. Aperitivo leads on to the bars along the Navigli towpaths, calmer evenings in Brera, a mixed crowd and the gay scene around Porta Venezia, and clubs ranging from dressy Corso Como venues to warehouse nights. It thins out in August.

In Bern, going out means cellar bars under the arcades and the streets around Aarbergergasse at weekends. The Reitschule hosts rougher late parties, and the riverside terraces fill in summer. On weeknights the city goes quiet early.

Bern has the Alps on its skyline and within easy reach. The Jungfrau region is about an hour away by train, with high-mountain hiking, cable cars and skiing, and Lake Thun is closer still. The Gurten funicular and the wooded Aare paths start from town, and the Emmental and the Jura offer gentler walking and cycling.

Milan's own green space is limited to Parco Sempione, the Giardini Pubblici and the canal towpaths out to the rice fields. Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and the Grigne ridges are about an hour away and very fine, but the ski resorts take a full day.

Both are excellent rail hubs, so the difference is in where the trains take you. Bern's trips are short and Swiss: Lucerne, Basel and Zurich in about an hour, medieval Fribourg and Gruyères, and the lakeside towns of Murten, Thun and Neuchâtel. You can see a different small town each day with almost no planning.

Milan's high-speed lines reach bigger Italian cities, such as Verona with its arena, Turin with its palaces, and Bologna. Closer in are Bergamo, the Lake Como villages, the Certosa di Pavia and the Borromean Islands. Choose Milan for big names and variety, and Bern for easy trips and mountain scenery.

Bern is the easier city with children. The bear park, the Dählhölzli zoo by the river, the animal dioramas at the Natural History Museum and the playground at the top of the Gurten funicular all make simple, calm outings. The mountains are close for bigger days, and the fast Aare is the only real hazard.

Milan has the Science and Technology Museum with its submarine and the small aquarium by Parco Sempione. Leolandia and Gardaland appeal to older children. Its main sights and its summer humidity are harder going for young ones.

You can walk across Bern's centre, 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, so leaving for a day trip takes no effort. Trams, buses and short funiculars cover the rest, and only the climbs up from the river slow you down.

Milan is bigger and you will rely on its five metro lines and dense tram network, which are easy to use. Its centre is flat. The downsides are the heat underground in summer and the long transfer from Malpensa.

Milan is worth visiting for the shopping alone. The Quadrilatero della Moda around Via Montenapoleone holds the flagships of the Italian fashion houses, and the Galleria and La Rinascente stand beside the Duomo. Corso Buenos Aires, the Brera boutiques, the design showrooms and the Navigli antique markets cover everything else.

Shopping in Bern is a pleasant stroll under the arcades of Spitalgasse, Marktgasse and Kramgasse for watches and chocolate, plus antiques and crafts in the cellar shops of Gerechtigkeitsgasse. There is very little fashion.

Neither city is cheap, but Bern is much harder on a budget. Hotels, meals and even a beer on a terrace cost far more than in most of Europe. You can save by using the transit pass that hotels usually provide, enjoying free pleasures like the bear park and the Federal Palace tours, and eating supermarket lunches.

Milan is expensive by Italian standards, but less so than Bern. Aperitivo snacks can replace a light supper, set lunches for office workers are good value and public transport is fairly priced. Hotel rates jump during the big trade fairs and fashion weeks.

Milan has La Scala, one of the world's great opera houses, with a season of opera, ballet and concerts and gallery seats for visitors who plan ahead. Add the Piccolo Teatro, a fine symphony orchestra and big stadium concerts at San Siro, and it is a city you can plan a trip around. Summer is quieter for classical music.

Bern has opera and drama in German at the Stadttheater, the Bern Symphony Orchestra at the Casino, contemporary dance at the Dampfzentrale, a spring jazz festival and the Gurtenfestival in July. That is enough for a good evening out, but not a reason to travel.

Bern is the more restful of the two, mainly because the city itself is calm. It is small and quiet enough that a few days of river views, easy strolls and slow meals unwind you without any planning. For a wet afternoon there is a thermal complex with saunas on the western edge and a hammam-style spa in the old town, and the mountain spa hotels of the Bernese Oberland are close enough for a night or two of proper treatment.

Milan sets a busier pace, driven by offices and traffic, so rest takes more effort. In summer its thermal spa near the centre and the 1930s Bagni Misteriosi pools make a good half-day off. For a real slowdown, though, you have to leave the city for the lakes, which turns relaxing into a day trip rather than part of the stay.