Bologna or Lausanne?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation, but Lausanne at least lets you swim without leaving town. In summer locals swim in Lake Geneva from the lawns at Bellerive, Vidy and Pully, with mountain views. The season is short, though, and the shores are grass, steps and shingle.

From Bologna, swimming means a train of about an hour to the Adriatic at Rimini or Cervia. There the sea is warm and shallow but lined with rows of rented sunbeds. It works as a day out from the heat rather than as part of the city stay.

Eating is one of the main reasons to choose Bologna, and the gap with Lausanne is wide. Tagliatelle al ragù, tortellini in brodo and lasagne verdi come from family trattorias, and the Quadrilatero lanes are lined with delicatessens. Parmigiano, Parma ham and balsamic vinegar are made within the hour.

Lausanne's strength is narrower. It has lake perch, papet vaudois and winter fondue, plus Chasselas poured straight from the Lavaux growers' caveaux and a handful of celebrated top-end tables. Between those, ordinary meals are unremarkable and cheap eating is hard to find, which never happens in Bologna.

Bologna's appeal is the whole old city: kilometres of UNESCO-listed porticoes, Piazza Maggiore with San Petronio, the Two Towers, and the anatomical theatre of Europe's oldest university. You take it in mainly by walking the streets.

Lausanne turns that around. Its old town is small and steep, with the Gothic cathedral and its night watchman as the highlight, so the museums carry more of the weight. These are the Olympic Museum at Ouchy, the cluster at Plateforme 10 and the strange, memorable Collection de l'Art Brut. Both need two or three days, but Bologna gives you more history to walk through.

Students set the tone of Bologna's evenings, and they go out most nights of the week. Crowds stand outside cheap bars around Piazza Verdi and along Via del Pratello on ordinary weeknights, after an aperitivo around the Quadrilatero. It is informal and cheap rather than polished. August is the exception, when the students leave and the city goes quiet.

Lausanne packs its nightlife into the Flon, a former warehouse valley where clubs and late bars sit in old industrial buildings, and that gives it more proper clubbing in the centre than Bologna has. Summer evenings spill out along the waterfront at Ouchy. It is busy at weekends and hushed midweek, and drinks cost far more.

Lausanne's setting is one of its main attractions. The French Alps rise straight out of Lake Geneva opposite the city, and the vineyard paths between Lutry and Saint-Saphorin are a fine walk. Sailing, glacier trips at Glacier 3000 and skiing at Villars or Les Diablerets are all within about an hour.

Bologna has pleasant walking in the Colli Bolognesi, the gypsum caves of the Parco dei Gessi, and the Via degli Dei trail to Florence starting in Piazza Maggiore. Beyond that the Apennines are modest, and the plain to the north is flat farmland.

Both are excellent bases, but Bologna's rail junction puts more great towns within reach. Florence is barely half an hour away. Ravenna's mosaics, Ferrara, Modena and Parma are all short rides, and Venice, Verona and Padua are within about an hour and a half.

Lausanne's outings lean towards lakes and castles. Vevey, Montreux and Chillon are just along the shore, and Gruyères, Bern and Geneva are each about an hour away. Boats cross the water to Évian. These trips mix scenery with towns, where Bologna's are mostly art cities.

Lausanne has more aimed at children. There is the hands-on Olympic Museum, the aquarium-vivarium, and the animal park, pedal boats and lookout tower in the Sauvabelin woods. Summer adds paddle steamers and lakeside pools. The steep streets and the cost of meals out are the main drawbacks.

Bologna is easy with children, being flat, mostly closed to traffic and well supplied with gelato. The sights are adult ones, though, so families usually head out to Mirabilandia or the beach at Rimini. The summer heat also wears small children out.

Bologna is a flat city you cross on foot, while Lausanne is a steep hillside you go up by metro. In Bologna the porticoes give shade in summer and keep you dry when it rains. There is no metro, so buses cover the hills, and a car only gets in the way in the traffic-free centre.

Lausanne climbs in layers from the lake to the cathedral, so walking means stairs, bridges and real climbs. The m2 metro takes most of the strain, running up from Ouchy through the station and the Flon to the upper town, and lake boats link the towns along the shore.

Bologna has the edge, mostly because of what you can carry home to eat: aged Parmigiano, mortadella, fresh tortellini and balsamic vinegar from the Quadrilatero. It also has a compact luxury cluster around Via Farini and Galleria Cavour, the Montagnola market, and vintage shops and bookshops in the university quarter.

In Lausanne the souvenirs are chocolate, Swiss watches and Lavaux wine, sold along Rue de Bourg and around Place Saint-François. The choice of independent shops is thin.

The gap is large. Bologna is mid-priced for Western Europe, with honest trattoria meals, aperitivo with food, free churches and a centre you can walk across. Rooms are the main cost, especially during trade fairs.

Lausanne is very expensive in every respect, from hotels and lunches to wine and taxis. Even a careful visitor ends up picnicking by the lake and keeping restaurant meals for special occasions. The same budget buys noticeably more days in Bologna.

The two are on a par, with different strengths. Bologna's is music: the historic Teatro Comunale for opera and symphonic concerts, a long jazz tradition in basement clubs, and free summer concerts and films in Piazza Maggiore.

Lausanne leads in dance and contemporary theatre, as home to the Béjart Ballet and the Prix de Lausanne, with the Théâtre de Vidy staging work that tours Europe. In July the Montreux Jazz Festival is a short train ride along the lake.

Lausanne is the easier place to unwind. It has lakeside promenades at Ouchy and Vidy, quiet lanes through the vines, grand hotel spas, and warm springs at Yverdon-les-Bains and Lavey-les-Bains within an hour.

Bologna has thermal pools nearby at Castel San Pietro Terme and in the old valley spa of Porretta Terme. In town, though, relaxing mostly means a long lunch under the arches, between a noisy university quarter and heavy summer heat.