Bern or Verona?

Neither city has a coast, and in both swimming is a summer extra rather than the reason to go. In Bern you swim in the Aare itself: walk upstream from the Marzili, jump in and let the cold, quick current carry you back past the Federal Palace. It is a thrill for strong swimmers rather than a lazy afternoon.

Verona's water is Lake Garda, about half an hour away. The southern shore has warmer, still water, lidos and small pebble beaches, and Sirmione's limestone shelves are the favourite spot. Bern has calm lake bathing too, at Thun, but for genuinely warm water Garda is the gentler swim.

Verona is clearly the better place to eat. Its osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta cook a distinctive regional menu: Amarone risotto, bigoli with duck, and bollito with peppery pearà. The Valpolicella and Soave vineyards are a short drive away, so the evening glass is always a local one.

Bern's cooking is hearty and reliable rather than exciting. Think of the Berner Platte, rösti and fondue in guildhall dining rooms and arcade cellars, Emmental cheese at the markets and very good chocolate. Eating out there costs much more, and you run out of choices sooner.

Both old towns sit in a river loop and both are UNESCO-listed, but Verona has more history to explore. The Arena, the Roman theatre, the bronze doors of San Zeno and Castelvecchio in its Carlo Scarpa setting span two thousand years. Together they fill two or three days without strain.

Bern's strength is how well it holds together. The arcaded sandstone streets, the Zytglogge and the Minster form one well-kept whole. The Zentrum Paul Klee and Einstein's old flat give it better museums than its size suggests, though two days covers it.

Neither city is a place for big nights out, and both go quiet early during the week. The difference is in style. Bern's going out happens underground, in vaulted cellar bars beneath the arcades and along Aarbergergasse. The Reitschule hosts rougher, later parties, and the riverside terraces fill up in summer.

Verona's evenings are spent outdoors around the aperitivo, with spritz and Valpolicella at tables in Piazza delle Erbe. Veronetta has cheaper student bars, and on summer nights the opera crowd leaving the Arena near midnight brings the centre back to life.

Bern has the stronger outdoors by a clear margin. You can see the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau from the old town, and the Jungfrau region is about an hour away by train, with high-mountain hiking, cable cars and winter skiing. The Gurten, the wooded Aare paths and the Emmental farmland give easier days closer to the city.

Verona's surroundings are softer. There are vineyard walks in Valpolicella, the Adige cycle route heading north, and Monte Baldo and the Lessinia plateau further out. Garda's reliable wind for sailing and windsurfing is a genuine draw, but the high mountains are too far for a comfortable day.

Both are excellent bases with strong rail links, and Verona comes out slightly ahead for variety. Venice, Padua, Vicenza and Mantua are each about an hour or less away. The Garda harbour towns and the Valpolicella and Soave wine country are closer still, so you can switch between great art cities, lakesides and wine cellars.

From Bern, the outings are easy to the point of needing no planning. Lucerne, Basel and Zurich are about an hour away, and Fribourg, Gruyères, Murten and Thun are nearer. The connections are effortless, but the towns have more in common with one another than Verona's mix does.

Both work well with children, but in different ways. Bern's attractions are gentle and right in town: the bear park, the Dählhölzli zoo along the river, the natural history dioramas and the playground on the Gurten. The Aare, though, is for strong swimmers only.

Verona's big attractions for children lie outside the city. There is Gardaland, the water parks around the lake, the Parco Natura Viva safari zoo and shallow lake swimming. Most of these need a car or a transfer, and summer afternoons in town get very hot.

Bern is the easier city to get around. You can walk from the station to the bear park in about twenty minutes, mostly under the shelter of the arcades. Trams, buses, funiculars and a public lift fill the gaps on one fare, and the station sits at the top of the old town, which makes day trips simple.

Verona's centre is just as walkable and flatter, but it has no trams, and the station is a twenty-minute walk from Piazza Bra. The wine villages, the Lessinia and some Garda attractions are hard to reach without a car.

Bern sells Swiss specialities under its arcades, while Verona's Via Mazzini is a marble-paved street of Italian fashion and accessory labels. In Bern the things to buy are watches and chocolate along Spitalgasse and Kramgasse. Further down, on Gerechtigkeitsgasse, steep steps lead to cellar shops selling antiques, books and crafts.

Verona is the smarter of the two but still provincial, and its best souvenirs are for the table: Amarone, Garda olive oil and pandoro. Neither city has much fashion range. From Verona, serious shoppers take the train to Milan.

Verona is far easier on the budget. Rooms in the centre are the main expense, especially on summer opera nights. Veronetta's student osterie, wine counters and good-value local bottles keep everyday spending reasonable, and walking everywhere costs nothing.

In Bern, hotels, meals and drinks cost far more than in most of Europe, and saving money takes effort. Most budget travellers rely on supermarket lunches, the local transport pass that hotels usually provide, and free pleasures such as the bear park and the river paths.

In summer, Verona has the bigger draw. From June to early September there is grand opera by Verdi and Puccini on the stone tiers of the Arena, lit by candles as darkness falls, plus Shakespeare, dance and jazz in the Roman theatre. Outside the season, the Teatro Filarmonico offers a more modest programme.

Bern keeps up a steady mix through the year. The Stadttheater stages opera and drama in German, the symphony orchestra plays at the Casino and the Dampfzentrale puts on contemporary dance, with a jazz festival in spring and the Gurtenfestival in July. It makes for a good evening out, but it is not a reason to travel.

In Bern the warm water comes from built spas, while around Verona it rises from natural springs. Bern has a large thermal and wellness complex on its western edge, a hammam-style spa in the old town and several hotel spas. For anything more serious, people go to the mountain spa hotels of the Bernese Oberland.

Verona's springs have been used for centuries: at Caldiero since Roman times, in Sirmione's sulphur baths facing Lake Garda and in the spring-fed lake near Lazise, all a short trip out of town. In the city itself, you slow down with an evening passeggiata by the Adige or on the terraces of the Giardino Giusti. In Bern, it is the quiet Sundays under the arcades.