Bologna or Zurich?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Zurich makes far more of its water. The lake is clean and clear, reaching the low twenties in high summer, and you can swim from wooden bathing houses at Utoquai or Mythenquai or drift down the Limmat at the Letten river baths, all within the city.

Bologna is inland, and swimming means a train of about an hour to Rimini or Cervia, where the Adriatic is warmer but the shore is a long row of rented sunbeds and the water is greener. It works as a day out from the summer heat, not as part of daily life.

Food is the sharpest difference between the two. Bologna is the home of tagliatelle al ragù, tortellini in brodo and mortadella, cooked in old osterie and sold in the market lanes of the Quadrilatero, with Parmigiano and Parma ham made less than an hour away. Its weakness is a lack of variety beyond Emilian cooking.

Zurich eats well but rarely memorably: veal in cream sauce with rösti, fondue in guild-house dining rooms, and chocolate and Luxemburgerli as the real highlights. Kreis 4 and 5 add international choice, but there are few markets, and every meal is expensive.

Bologna's appeal is a whole medieval city rather than single sights: the UNESCO-listed porticoes, Piazza Maggiore with San Petronio, the Two Towers, the seven churches of Santo Stefano and the anatomical theatre of Europe's oldest university.

Zurich is stronger on museums than on townscape. The Kunsthaus, the Swiss National Museum and the Rietberg are excellent, and the Grossmünster and the Chagall windows of the Fraumünster anchor a neat old town, but it feels like a good collection of sights rather than a place that is itself the sight.

The two go out about as much as each other, in very different ways. Bologna's nights are student-led and cheap: crowds standing outside bars around Piazza Verdi, small taverns along Via del Pratello, and wine bars after aperitivo, with proper clubs a taxi ride out of town.

Zurich is the place for electronic music, with clubs in Kreis 4, Kreis 5 and Zurich West running until morning and the Street Parade on the lake shore in August, just when Bologna empties out for the summer. The cost of drinks keeps Zurich nights shorter than its clubs would allow.

Zurich has much the grander landscape. The lake with the Glarus Alps at its far end, the forest trails of the Uetliberg and ridge walks along the Albis are close to the centre, and Rigi, Pilatus and winter skiing at Flumserberg are about an hour away by train.

Bologna offers gentler country: the arcaded climb to San Luca, the Colli Bolognesi and the gypsum caves of the Parco dei Gessi. The Via degli Dei over the Apennines to Florence is a fine multi-day walk, but the higher mountains are further off and the summer heat limits outdoor days.

Both are superb rail hubs, and Bologna has the edge for the quality of what it reaches. Florence is barely half an hour away, Ravenna's mosaics, Ferrara, Modena and Parma are short rides, and Venice, Verona and Padua are possible in a day, so you can see several of Italy's great art cities from one base.

Zurich's outings are more varied in kind, mixing towns with scenery: Lucerne's bridges, Bern's old town, Basel's museums, the Rhine Falls with Stein am Rhein, and a boat up the lake to Rapperswil.

Zurich is the better city for children. The zoo, with its Madagascar rainforest hall and elephant park, is a full day in itself, the lake lidos have shallow water and lawns, and the Technorama in Winterthur and the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne are easy trips.

Bologna is pleasant with children, flat, shaded and largely car-free, and pasta and gelato make meals simple. But it has no zoo or large aquarium, so families tend to head out to Mirabilandia or the beach at Rimini, and the summer heat is tough on small children.

Both centres are compact enough to walk, but Zurich adds a public transport system that makes everything else effortless. Trams, S-Bahn trains, funiculars and even lake boats share one ticket, and the airport is a short train ride from the main station.

Bologna has no metro and relies on buses, which matters little because nearly everything is within the walkable old town, sheltered by the porticoes. Its great strength is the station on the edge of the centre, with fast trains across northern Italy.

Zurich has the stronger shopping, built around Bahnhofstrasse with its watchmakers, jewellers and department stores, plus design shops under the railway viaduct arches in Zurich West. Prices are high, and beyond luxury and design the choice is narrow.

In Bologna, what most people take home is food: aged Parmigiano, mortadella, fresh tortellini and balsamic vinegar from the Quadrilatero. Via Farini and the Galleria Cavour hold a small luxury cluster, and the antiques market in Piazza Santo Stefano makes a good weekend browse.

The gap here is very wide. Bologna is mid-priced for Western Europe, with good trattoria meals, aperitivo with food and free churches, and the main expense is hotel rooms, which get scarce during the large trade fairs.

Zurich is among the most expensive cities anywhere: simple rooms, casual lunches, drinks, transport and museums all cost a lot. Supermarket picnics by the lake, the free lidos and the visitor card help, but only a little.

Zurich has the bigger stage. The Opernhaus is one of Europe's leading opera houses, the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in a restored nineteenth-century hall, and the Rote Fabrik by the lake hosts jazz, indie and electronic acts.

Bologna's scene is smaller but has real character. The Teatro Comunale is a historic opera house, basement jazz clubs play most nights in a UNESCO City of Music, and summer brings concerts and film screenings to Piazza Maggiore. In both cities, theatre is mostly in the local language.

Zurich is the more restful city and has better places to soak. Thermal pools fill the stone vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery with a rooftop pool above, the lake bathing houses become saunas in winter with cold dips between sessions, and Roman-era Baden is twenty minutes away.

Bologna has no bathing culture of its own, and the noise of the university quarter and the heavy summer heat work against calm. Its spa options are outside town, at Castel San Pietro Terme nearby and Porretta Terme in an Apennine valley.