Bologna or Hallstatt?

Neither place is a swimming destination, and what differs is the water. From Bologna the Adriatic is an hour away by train at Rimini, warm and shallow in high summer but lined with rows of rented sunbeds in organised lidos.

Hallstatt has its lake right below the village, clear, deep and cold, with a small jetty lawn and a larger lido at Obertraun. It makes a bracing dip after a hike rather than a day spent lying in the sun.

Eating is one of the main reasons to go to Bologna, and Hallstatt can't compete. Bologna is the home of tagliatelle al ragù and tortellini in brodo, with pasta rolled in shop windows, the delicatessens of the Quadrilatero, and Parmigiano and Parma ham from towns close by. Its only real weakness is that it cooks Emilian food and little else.

Hallstatt has a few guesthouse dining rooms serving schnitzel and dumplings, and kitchens close early. The one dish worth seeking out is char or whitefish from the lake, eaten on a terrace by the water. For anything more, people drive to the old patisseries of Bad Ischl.

Bologna gives you days of sightseeing where Hallstatt gives you one. Bologna's brick centre and its porticoes, Piazza Maggiore with San Petronio, the Two Towers, Santo Stefano's cluster of churches and the old university buildings make for two or three full days.

Hallstatt is smaller but goes much further back in time. The salt has been mined for some seven thousand years, the Iron Age finds here gave their name to the Hallstatt culture, and the painted skulls of the Beinhaus are unlike anything in Bologna. The salt mine and the museum cover it all in a day.

Bologna goes out, and Hallstatt doesn't. Bologna's students keep Piazza Verdi and Via del Pratello busy until late, and evenings in the centre start with aperitivo and drift on to wine bars, though clubbing means a taxi out of town and August goes quiet.

In Hallstatt the evening is dinner, a glass of wine on a terrace and a walk by the lake in the dark. For some visitors that calm is the reason to stay overnight.

For walkers and anyone after big scenery, Hallstatt is in another league. Bologna's outdoors is gentle and close at hand: the arcaded climb to San Luca, the gypsum caves and karst ridges of the Parco dei Gessi, and the Via degli Dei setting off from Piazza Maggiore over the Apennines to Florence. North of the city the plain is good for cycling but dull to look at.

Hallstatt's lake lies in a glacial trough beneath the Dachstein. Across the water at Obertraun, a cable car climbs the Krippenstein to the Five Fingers platform and the ice caves. From the village itself, paths lead up the Echerntal past waterfalls, and the Gosausee, with the mountain mirrored in it, is one of the classic views of the Alps.

Bologna is the far better base for day trips because of its railway junction. Florence is about half an hour away by fast train, Ravenna's mosaics and Ferrara's walls are close, and Modena, Parma, Verona, Padua and Venice are all easy days out without a car.

Hallstatt's outings are lake towns in the Salzkammergut: the Kaiservilla at Bad Ischl, St Wolfgang's altarpiece, Gmunden's lake castle, and Salzburg as a long day. They are lovely, but without a car the limited buses and the lakeside railway take some planning.

Neither place has much made for children, but they appeal in different ways. Bologna is easy day to day: a flat centre mostly closed to cars, porticoes for shade, gelato at every turn. Its sights, though, are aimed at adults, so families usually add Mirabilandia or the beach at Rimini.

Hallstatt has fewer comforts but bigger moments: the miners' slides and underground lake in the salt mine, and the cable car and ice caves for older children. The steep, crowded lane is hard going with a pushchair, which is why many families stay in Obertraun.

Both places are compact and largely free of traffic, but Bologna also connects easily to everywhere else. Its flat centre is quick to cross on foot under the arcades, buses reach the hills, and the main station sits at the edge of the old town.

Hallstatt takes minutes to walk end to end, though the paths are steep and full of steps. Arriving by train means taking a boat across from the station on the far shore, buses are sparse outside summer, and many visitors find a car worth having.

Bologna has the better shopping, and mostly it is food. The visitor's haul is mortadella, aged Parmigiano and balsamic vinegar from the Quadrilatero, with high-street chains on Via dell'Indipendenza, a small luxury cluster around the Galleria Cavour, and weekend antiques in Piazza Santo Stefano.

Hallstatt's main lane is souvenir shops. The one buy worth making is salt from the mine above the village, in grinders or bath mixes.

Bologna is the cheaper stay by some way. Trattoria meals, aperitivo with food and local wine cost less than in Italy's main tourist cities, and most sights are free churches and squares. Hotel rooms are the main expense, especially during the big trade fairs.

Hallstatt has few rooms and visitors from all over the world, so guesthouses charge well above the Austrian norm. Meals cost what they do in Alpine resorts, and the salt mine and cable car tickets add up. Staying in Obertraun or Bad Goisern brings the cost down.

Opera at the Teatro Comunale, jazz in basement clubs and student gigs in small venues give Bologna a steady musical calendar, and UNESCO has named it a City of Music. In summer Piazza Maggiore and the courtyards add outdoor concerts and open-air films.

In Hallstatt, music means the brass band on feast days and the odd church concert in summer. For an evening of opera or operetta you have to go to Salzburg or Bad Ischl.

Spa water is a short trip from either place, so the real difference is how restful each one feels. From Bologna it is about twenty minutes to the spring-fed pools of Castel San Pietro Terme, or an hour by train to the old spa town of Porretta Terme. In the city itself, relaxing mostly means a long lunch under the arcades, away from the noisy student quarter and the summer heat.

Hallstatt's calm comes from the landscape: mist on the lake at dawn and an empty waterfront in the evening, with the brine baths of Bad Ischl half an hour away. Around midday, though, the crowds mean you have to escape onto the water or into the hills.