Como or Strasbourg?

Como is the better place for a swim, though neither is a beach destination. The lake reaches about 23°C in high summer. You swim from lawns and pontoons at the lido beside Villa Olmo or from the pebble strands and jetties at Cernobbio and Moltrasio, with mountains rising behind you.

Strasbourg has only its old gravel-pit lakes, such as the Baggersee, which you can reach by tram. They have grassy banks and calm water, and they suit a hot afternoon but are not much of a view.

Strasbourg eats much better. The winstub is a real institution, serving choucroute garnie, baeckeoffe and tarte flambée with a pichet of local Riesling. Add a strong fine-dining tier, a good covered market and plenty of local beer, and food becomes a reason to visit, as long as you avoid the tourist menus around the cathedral.

Como's lake-and-mountain cooking, with perch risotto, missoltini and polenta, is worth trying, and the aperitivo on the squares by the cathedral is a pleasant ritual. The range is small, though, and the lakefront terraces charge for the view. The better meals are up the lake or in the hills.

Strasbourg has much more to see. The pink sandstone cathedral, the timber-framed lanes of the Grande Ile and Petite France, and the imperial Neustadt together form a UNESCO-listed townscape. The Palais Rohan, the Oeuvre Notre-Dame and the modern art museum by the river fill two or three days, and the European Parliament quarter adds a modern side.

Como's sights are few but good: a marble cathedral, the Romanesque San Fedele and Sant'Abbondio, Terragni's Casa del Fascio for anyone interested in architecture, and the Volta and silk museums. They fit easily into a single day.

Neither city goes out late, but Strasbourg has more life after dinner. Its big student population keeps the bars and beer cellars of the Krutenau and Place Saint-Étienne busy, and the riverside terraces stay full on summer evenings. There are a few clubs.

In Como, the evening is the aperitivo, a long dinner and a stroll along the lakefront, followed by a nightcap in one of a handful of bars near the cathedral. Anyone who wants a club takes the train to Milan.

Como's outdoors starts at the door. The funicular, running since 1894, climbs to Brunate for the ridge walk to the Volta lighthouse. The Via dei Monti Lariani and Monte Bisbino look towards the Alps, and the lake itself is there for paddling, sailing and kayaking. Road cyclists have the Triangolo Lariano climbs.

Strasbourg is flat, and that is the point of it: long, level bike routes along the Rhine and the canals, and riverside forests with storks, herons and beavers. For proper hills you need to travel about an hour to the Vosges or the Black Forest, ideally by car.

Both are excellent bases, and Como has a slight edge for how much lies close at hand. Many of its trips are by boat, to Bellagio, Varenna, Villa Carlotta and Villa del Balbianello. By train, Milan's Last Supper is about forty minutes away, and Lugano or Bergamo make easy outings.

Strasbourg's trips are mostly by land and cross a border. Colmar and its Isenheim Altarpiece are half an hour south, with the vineyards and wine-tasting villages of the Alsace wine route in between. Freiburg, Heidelberg and Basel lie across the Rhine, but the wine villages are much easier with a car or a bike.

Como suits a quiet family stay more than a busy one. Children usually like the funicular up to Brunate, the ferry rides and an afternoon paddling at a summer lido, and the Villa Olmo gardens and the long promenade are easy with a pushchair. Beyond that there is no zoo, aquarium or theme park nearby, and the villas and churches are made for adults.

Strasbourg gives children more to look forward to. Inside the cathedral, the moving figures of the astronomical clock usually hold their attention, and the Vosges, about an hour away, have stork and monkey parks and sandstone castle ruins to scramble over. In December the Christmas market is magical for children, as long as you can cope with the crowds.

Strasbourg is the easier city to get around. You can cross the island centre on foot in twenty minutes, trams reach the station, the European quarter and even Kehl in Germany, and the separated bike lanes often make cycling the quickest option.

Como's own centre is just as walkable, and trains to Milan and Lugano are simple. The lake is where it gets slow. Slow ferries take a long time to go far, the narrow shore roads clog in summer, and parking in the centre is hard.

Strasbourg has the wider choice: chain stores and a department store around Place Kléber, delicatessens and bookshops near the cathedral, plus regional wines, Soufflenheim pottery and printed linens. It has little fashion or luxury, though.

Como really does one thing well, and that is silk. You can buy scarves, ties and fabric in the old town or at mill outlets on the edge of the city, but the boutiques are few and serious fashion means Milan.

Neither is a budget destination, but Como costs noticeably more. The lake draws a luxury crowd, and in July and August the lakeside hotels and villa rentals are priced for it. You can keep costs down by sleeping back from the water, eating in old-town or hillside trattorias and coming in spring or autumn, and the trains and ferries are cheap.

Strasbourg is priced like a large French regional city. Winstub meals, tarte flambée and wine by the pichet are fair value, and the cathedral and old-town streets cost nothing. Rooms are the main expense, and they climb sharply during the Christmas market and in the weeks when the European Parliament sits.

Strasbourg's arts calendar is far richer. There is the Opéra national du Rhin on Place Broglie, a full Philharmonic season and the Théâtre National de Strasbourg, one of France's leading stages. The Musica festival makes the city a centre for contemporary music, and a jazz festival and touring bands add more.

Como has the Teatro Sociale with its tiers of boxes and an open-air Arena for summer evenings, as well as chamber concerts in churches and lakeside villas. On many nights nothing is on, and La Scala is the train ride away.

For proper bathing, Strasbourg is the better choice. Locals use the tiled pools, hammam and saunas of the early twentieth-century Bains municipaux, and the Friedrichsbad and Caracalla thermal baths at Baden-Baden are under an hour away.

Como has no thermal tradition, so a spa there means a grand villa hotel. What it offers instead is the calm of still water, gardens running down to the shore and slow ferry rides, at its best in spring and autumn.