Como or Heidelberg?

Como at least gives you a summer swim. There are lidos with lawns and pontoons, such as the one by Villa Olmo, and pebble jetties at Moltrasio and Cernobbio, with cleaner water further up the lake. Heidelberg has no swimming spot of its own, only outdoor pools and the gravel-pit lakes out on the Rhine plain. Neither city works for a beach vacation, but on a hot day in Como the lake is right there.

The two are close, but they eat and drink very differently. Como's cooking comes from the lake and the mountains: perch risotto, sun-dried missoltini, polenta from the valleys, and an evening aperitivo with small plates on the squares around the cathedral.

Heidelberg's strength is in the glass. Riesling and Pinot come from the Bergstrasse and the Palatinate, spring brings white asparagus, and the students keep cheap food easy to find. Both cities have tourist traps, the lakefront terraces in Como and the Hauptstrasse in Heidelberg. Eat better up the lake or in the hills above Como, and in Neuenheim or the wine villages around Heidelberg.

Heidelberg has the more complete set of sights. The red sandstone castle ruin looks down on a well-preserved baroque Altstadt and the Old Bridge, and the university, founded in 1386, adds the Old University and the graffiti-covered Student Prison.

Como is smaller, but some of its sights are of high quality. The marble cathedral and the Romanesque churches of San Fedele and Sant'Abbondio are worth seeing, and Terragni's Casa del Fascio brings in architects from around the world. Visits to the Volta temple and the silk museum fill out a single day.

Heidelberg has student life, which Como lacks. In term time the small pubs on the Untere Strasse fill up late, the old student taverns keep their carved tables, and a few clubs stay open past midnight. In Como the evening is the aperitivo, a long dinner and a stroll along the lakefront, followed by a nightcap near Piazza Duomo. For a real night out, Milan is the escape from Como and Mannheim or Frankfurt the escape from Heidelberg.

Here Como is far ahead. It sits at the tip of a glacial lake hemmed in by steep mountains. From Brunate the ridge paths run to the Volta lighthouse, the Via dei Monti Lariani crosses the western slopes, and Monte Bisbino looks towards the Alps. On the water you can kayak, sail or paddle, and you can watch seaplanes take off from the city shore.

Heidelberg's landscape is softer. You can climb the Philosophers' Walk or take the funicular up to the Königstuhl at 568m, where forest trails continue for hours. The Neckar cycle path runs past castles, and the Palatinate Forest is about an hour away. It is good country for walking and cycling, but these are wooded hills, not mountains.

Both cities make excellent bases, and Como has the wider range. From the city you can reach Bellagio, Varenna and Villa del Balbianello by boat, the Last Supper in Milan by train in about forty minutes, and Lugano in Switzerland in about half an hour. Bergamo and Lake Maggiore are also within reach.

Heidelberg's outings are more about history. You can see the cathedrals at Speyer and Worms, the palace gardens at Schwetzingen and the monastery at Maulbronn, take a riverside day among the castles at Neckarsteinach, or go to Strasbourg on a long day.

Heidelberg is built for children in a way Como is not. It has a compact zoo by the river and a small fairy-tale park at the top of the funicular. The Technik Museum Speyer, with a space shuttle and a submarine to climb into, is about half an hour away, and a large theme park is under an hour away. The cobbled, sloping Altstadt is the one drawback with a pushchair.

Como is the opposite. The flat promenade and the Villa Olmo gardens are easy with a pushchair, and boats, the funicular and a lido please young children, but the villas and churches are for adults.

Both centres are easy to walk, and Heidelberg has the more joined-up transport. One fare covers trams, buses and the S-Bahn across the Rhine-Neckar area, so Speyer or Schwetzingen are a simple ride. The only small catch is that the station is a tram ride from the Altstadt.

Como's flat old town is just as easy on foot, and its direct trains to Milan and Lugano are a plus. The lake is the problem. Slow ferries take a long time to go far, summer traffic clogs the narrow shore roads, and parking in the centre is hard.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but each has its own speciality. In Como you buy silk: scarves, ties and fabric from old-town specialists and mill outlets that supply the fashion houses. In Heidelberg there is the long Hauptstrasse, with chain stores at one end and cuckoo clocks and Studentenkuss chocolates at the other, and Bergstrasse wine is the best thing to take home. For serious fashion, Como's shoppers go to Milan and Heidelberg's go to Frankfurt.

Heidelberg is the cheaper of the two. Its main cost is rooms, which get scarce during congresses, graduations and summer weekends, but student cafés and taverns keep meals cheap, and many visitors simply stay in Mannheim.

Como draws an international luxury crowd. In July and August lakeside hotels and villa rentals cost far more than in most Italian cities. To make it work, stay back from the water, eat in the trattorias in the hills and travel in spring or autumn.

Heidelberg has much more on stage. Its municipal theatre and philharmonic play through the season, the Heidelberger Frühling brings leading soloists in spring, and in summer the castle courtyard hosts plays and concerts against the ruins. Jazz and cabaret venues fill the quieter nights.

Como's Teatro Sociale is an elegant opera house with a summer open-air Arena, and chamber concerts in lakeside villas are memorable, but many nights have nothing on. Music lovers in Como take the train to La Scala.

The two are level, but they relax you in different ways. Como has no bathing tradition, so it relies on spas in its grand villa hotels and on the setting itself: still water, gardens and slow ferry rides. Heidelberg has the thermal pools and saunas that Como lacks, in the Kraichgau spa towns about half an hour away and in Baden-Baden about an hour away. In town, quiet Heidelberg evenings are spent on the Neckar meadows in Neuenheim.