Bologna or Padua?

Neither city is a beach destination, and from both you are about an hour from the same shallow, warm Adriatic lined with rented umbrellas. From Bologna, the train runs straight to the long lido strip of Rimini and the Romagna Riviera. From Padua, you go to Sottomarina or to the Lido of Venice by train and boat, and the Lido can easily be combined with a day in Venice.

Bologna is the stronger food city, and plenty of visitors come for the cooking alone. Tagliatelle al ragù, tortellini in brodo and mortadella were born here, the lanes of the Quadrilatero are lined with delicatessens, and the towns that make Parmigiano, Parma ham and aged balsamic vinegar are all less than an hour away.

Padua eats well in a plainer Venetian style: bigoli with duck sauce, baccalà and risotto with spring peas, with the ingredients sold every morning in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta. The early-evening spritz, drunk standing in the squares with small bites, is as much a part of eating here as anything on the plate. Neither city offers much beyond its own regional cooking.

The two are evenly matched, but they reward different kinds of sightseeing. In Bologna the main sight is the city itself: miles of brick porticoes, the Two Towers, San Petronio and the seven churches of Santo Stefano. It takes two or three days of walking to see properly.

Padua's sights are fewer but more concentrated, with Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel among the great works of European painting, the UNESCO-listed fresco cycles and Donatello's bronzes at Saint Anthony. You need to book the timed chapel visit in advance. Both have old university anatomical theatres, but only Padua has the historic botanical garden.

Bologna offers the longer and livelier night out. Its large student population fills Piazza Verdi and Via Petroni, Via del Pratello's taverns stay open late, and the evening moves from aperitivo to wine bars with little effort.

In Padua the evening is mostly the early spritz hour, when crowds stand in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori, followed by a few pubs around the old ghetto. Both cities send clubbers to the outskirts and both go quiet in high summer, but Padua winds down sooner.

Hills against plain is the real difference here, though neither has much of an advantage over the other. Bologna's green Apennine foothills start where the city ends: you can walk from the centre up to San Luca, explore the gypsum caves of the Gessi park, or set off from Piazza Maggiore on the Via degli Dei to Florence. Further south, Corno alle Scale has summer hiking and modest skiing.

Padua is surrounded by flat farmland, so you have to travel a little to get outdoors. The volcanic Euganean Hills, about 15km away, have vineyards, chestnut woods and quiet roads for cyclists. Closer in, the Brenta towpaths make easy, level rides, the lagoon is good for birdwatching, and for proper mountain walking you can drive to the pre-Alps.

Both are outstanding bases with fast rail links, and the real difference is which way they point. Bologna looks south and along the Via Emilia, with Florence barely half an hour away and Ravenna's mosaics, Ferrara, Modena and Parma all close by.

Padua looks towards the Veneto, with Venice under half an hour away, Vicenza's Palladian buildings in a quarter of an hour, and Verona and Treviso easily reached, as well as the Brenta villas. The two cities are about an hour apart by train, so either one can cover the other's region on a single long day.

Neither city is built around children, but Bologna gives them a little more. Climbing the Asinelli tower and walking the long arcade up to San Luca feel like small adventures, the porticoes keep everyone in the shade, and Mirabilandia and the Rimini beaches are an easy addition.

Padua is safe and largely pedestrianised. Children can run around the huge oval of Prato della Valle, and older ones may enjoy the botanical glasshouses, but most of the sights are frescoes, so families usually head out to Gardaland and the shores of Lake Garda.

The two are equally easy. Each has a small, flat, arcaded centre that is best explored on foot, and a main-line station that does most of the work. The difference is small: Padua has a tram running from the station to the centre and Prato della Valle, while Bologna relies on buses, though its station is right at the edge of the old town and its long porticoes shelter almost every street.

Bologna offers more to buy. Its Quadrilatero delicatessens are the best place in either city for edible souvenirs, Via Farini and the Galleria Cavour gather the luxury fashion houses, and there are flea and antiques markets at the Montagnola and in Piazza Santo Stefano.

Padua's shopping is quieter: Italian shoe and fashion shops along the arcades, bookshops for the university, the market squares for cheese and Euganean wine, and an antiques fair in Prato della Valle once a month. Anyone serious about fashion goes on to Venice or Milan.

Padua is a little easier on the budget, mainly because its hotels are fairly priced for a region where Venice is expensive. That is why many visitors sleep there and spend their days elsewhere by train.

Bologna makes up for some of this at the table and at the sights: its trattoria meals and aperitivo with food included are good value, and most of its churches are free, while the Scrovegni Chapel charges an entry fee. Rooms in Bologna's old town cost more, though, and in both cities prices rise when the big trade fairs are on.

Bologna is the better place for an evening of music. The Teatro Comunale is a historic opera house with a full season, the city has UNESCO's City of Music title, and small jazz cellars and student indie venues have something on most nights.

Padua has a smaller programme: some opera and drama at Teatro Verdi, and chamber concerts in the frescoed Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica of Saint Anthony. For major opera, visitors from Padua travel to the Fenice in Venice or to the summer Arena in Verona.

This is Padua's clearest advantage. Abano and Montegrotto Terme, about 12km away, are among Europe's largest thermal resorts, with spring water as hot as 87°C, mud treatments dating back to Roman times and spa hotels that take day visitors, so you can fit in a soak between sights.

Bologna has no real spa culture. Its options are hotel spas, the spring-fed pools at Castel San Pietro and the old Apennine spa town of Porretta, which are fine for a half day but no reason to choose it.