Colmar or Como?

Neither place is for a beach vacation, but only Como lets you swim outdoors in any real way. From June to early September there are lidos with lawns and pontoons, Villa Olmo's being the best known, and small pebble strands up the lake at Moltrasio or the Tremezzina, reached by ferry.

Colmar is deep inland on the Alsace plain, so swimming means a municipal pool or a drive to a small Vosges lake. If a summer dip is part of the plan, Como is the only real choice.

Colmar eats and drinks better. Alsatian cooking is hearty and distinctive: choucroute, baeckeoffe, tarte flambée and munster cheese, served in winstubs and washed down with Riesling, Gewurztraminer or Pinot Gris from the slopes just outside town. Cellar tastings in the villages and a handful of ambitious restaurants on the wine route add depth.

Como's Lombard lake cooking, risotto with perch, missoltini and polenta, is good but narrower, and the lakefront terraces often charge for the view. Its strength is the early-evening aperitivo around the cathedral, and the best meals are up the lake rather than in town.

Colmar has more to see. Its old town survives as a whole late-medieval and Renaissance townscape, from the Maison Pfister to the canals of Petite Venise, and the Unterlinden Museum's Isenheim Altarpiece alone justifies the trip.

Como's walled centre is smaller and its highlights are more specialised: the marble cathedral, Romanesque Sant'Abbondio, Terragni's Rationalist Casa del Fascio and the Volta temple. It is a day's sightseeing against Colmar's two, and better suited to architecture enthusiasts than to lovers of painting.

Both are early-night towns with no club scene, so the difference lies in how the evening goes. Colmar's centres on a long dinner and Alsace wine in a few wine bars and brasseries, with Strasbourg the escape for a real night out. Como's follows the Italian pattern of aperitivo on the squares, a few cocktail bars and a stroll along the lakefront on summer nights, with Milan close by for anything bigger.

Como has the more dramatic outdoors right at the door. The funicular lifts you from the lakefront to the ridge trails above Brunate, the Via dei Monti Lariani and Monte Bisbino open views to the Alps, and the lake itself is there for kayaking, sailing and paddling.

Colmar's landscape is gentler and takes more effort to reach: marked paths through the vineyards, then the rounded, forested Vosges and the Route des Crêtes past the Grand Ballon. It is excellent cycling country and comes into its own at harvest time, but you will want a car.

Both make outstanding bases, but the trips feel different. From Colmar they are about villages and borders: Eguisheim, Riquewihr and Kaysersberg a few kilometres apart, Haut-Koenigsbourg on its ridge, Strasbourg by train, and Basel and Freiburg across the frontiers. The villages are best reached by car or bike.

From Como, the lake is the road. Ferries run to Bellagio, Varenna and the villa gardens of Tremezzo, while the train puts the Last Supper in Milan, Lugano and Bergamo's upper town within easy reach without a car.

Colmar is the better family base. Children enjoy the boat rides through Petite Venise, the storks on the rooftops and the December children's market, and nearby are the Hunawihr stork park, the Kintzheim macaques and eagle show, the Mulhouse train and car museums and Europa-Park.

Como is calm and pleasant with a pushchair, and the funicular, ferries and a summer lido go down well. Beyond those it offers little aimed at kids, so it works best for a slow stay with older children who like the outdoors.

In town the two are much alike: both centres are flat and small enough that you will rarely need a ticket. Colmar's rail station is only a stroll from the painted streets, while Como adds a vertical dimension, with the funicular lifting you from the lakefront up to Brunate in minutes.

The difference shows once you leave the centre. Around Colmar, public transport thins out as soon as you are off the rail line along the plain, so a visit to the vineyards or the Vosges works best with your own wheels, and the quiet, level lanes suit a bicycle as well as a car. Around Como the boats let you go without a car altogether, but at the pace of the water, so a run to the far end of the lake can take up much of the day. The lakeside roads are cramped and slow in high season, which makes driving more trouble than it is worth except for the hill villages.

Neither is a fashion destination, but each has a speciality worth buying. In Colmar that means wine straight from the producers, Soufflenheim pottery, kougelhopf moulds and printed table linen, with the Christmas markets the peak of the year. Como's is silk: scarves, ties and fabric from old-town specialists and the mill outlets that supply the fashion houses, plus a short run of Italian boutiques and Milan close by for more.

Colmar is clearly kinder on the budget. Meals, regional wine and village tastings are reasonable, and the main pressure is on rooms in summer and during the Christmas markets, which a bed in a nearby village eases.

Como draws an international luxury crowd, and lakeside hotels, villa rentals and waterfront restaurants are expensive, especially in July and August. Staying back from the water, eating in old-town trattorias and travelling by train and ferry help, and spring and autumn cost noticeably less.

Como has a slight edge in the evenings. The neoclassical Teatro Sociale runs opera, ballet and concerts, moves outdoors to its Arena in summer, and lakeside villas and Romanesque churches host chamber music. La Scala is a short train ride away.

Colmar's small Italian-style theatre has a modest season and visits from the Opéra national du Rhin, but the town comes alive mainly for its July classical festival, its autumn jazz and the wine fair concerts. Outside those weeks you go to Strasbourg or Basel.

Neither has a thermal or bathing tradition, but Como does relaxation better. Its grand villa hotels have proper spas, and the setting itself is restful: still water, gardens running down to the shore and slow ferry rides to quiet villages.

Colmar's spas are mostly hotel facilities, and its calm comes from canal-side evenings and unhurried walks through the vines once the day-trippers leave. It is pleasant for a quiet few days rather than a spa break.