Como or Trieste?

Como's swimming is a lake affair. People use lidos with lawns and pontoons, like the one by Villa Olmo, or the village jetties at Cernobbio and Moltrasio, reached by ferry. The water at the city's own crowded tip is the least appealing, and the season is short.

Trieste is the better place to swim. It has real sea, clear and warm through the summer, reached by a short bus ride to Barcola's stepped platforms or further out to the coves below Sistiana and Duino. Piran's shore is close too. Neither city has much sand, so in both you get in from steps, ladders or pebbles.

Como cooks from the lake and the valleys: perch risotto, sun-dried missoltini, polenta with game. The aperitivo on the squares by the cathedral is the pleasant daily habit. Choice in town is limited, though, and the waterfront terraces charge for the view, so the best meals tend to be up the lake.

Trieste has the more distinctive table. You can stand at a buffet counter over boiled pork with horseradish, order jota and fried sardoni, and drink coffee in a local language of 'nero' and 'capo in b'. Above the city, the farmhouse osmize on the Karst pour Vitovska and Terrano. Neither is a fine-dining city, but Trieste's everyday eating is worth travelling for.

Como's sights are few but good. They include the marble cathedral, the Romanesque San Fedele and Sant'Abbondio, Terragni's Rationalist Casa del Fascio for anyone interested in architecture, and the Volta temple and silk museum on the shore. A single day covers it.

Trieste has more to fill your days. There is the vast sea-facing Piazza Unità, the canal-side grid of the Borgo Teresiano with San Spiridione, and the cathedral, castle and Roman theatre on San Giusto. Further out are Miramare Castle, the large synagogue and the sobering Risiera di San Sabba. Its mix of empire, borderland and literature gives you two or three days of sightseeing rather than one.

Both cities are made for an aperitivo and a long dinner rather than a late night. Como is the quieter of the two. After a few bars around Piazza Duomo and San Fedele and a lakefront stroll it winds down, and young locals catch the train to Milan.

Trieste has a little more life. University students keep some wine bars and pubs busy in Cavana and the old town, and in summer the kiosks along Barcola stay open into warm nights by the sea. There are few clubs in either.

Como has the more striking outdoors. The funicular lifts you from the lakefront to Brunate for ridge walks to the Volta lighthouse, and the Via dei Monti Lariani and Monte Bisbino open views towards the Alps. Cyclists climb to the Madonna del Ghisallo, and kayaks, sailing boats and seaplanes share the water.

Trieste's nature is limestone and sea. You can walk the Strada Napoleonica above the gulf, take the Rilke Path along the Duino cliffs, scramble in the Val Rosandra gorge, visit the Grotta Gigante and the Škocjan Caves, or snorkel in the Miramare marine reserve. It is varied and very close to town, but it lacks Como's mountain walls rising straight out of the water.

Como's day trips are closer and more famous. Ferries and hydrofoils reach Bellagio, Varenna, Villa Carlotta and Villa del Balbianello. Milan's Last Supper and Duomo are about forty minutes away by train, Lugano is closer still, and Bergamo and Lake Maggiore round out a list that rarely needs a car.

Trieste offers more variety across borders. Aquileia's mosaics, star-shaped Palmanova and Cividale are in Friuli, while Piran, Ljubljana and Postojna are in Slovenia. Venice is a long but manageable day by train. The distances are greater, though, and Croatian Istria realistically needs a car.

Como gives children the funicular, the lake boats and a paddle at a summer lido. Beyond that it offers little for them, with no aquarium or zoo, and villa and church visits are aimed at adults.

Trieste has a few more things for children. There is a small aquarium on the waterfront, a hands-on science centre, the huge Grotta Gigante and the gardens of Miramare. Older children will get the most from it, as swimming is off rocks and the hills behind the centre are steep and stepped, which is hard going with a pushchair.

Both have flat, walkable centres, so the difference is in how you get further. In Como the lake shapes everything. Trains to Milan and Lugano are quick, but the ferries are slow for distant villages, and the shore roads clog in summer.

In Trieste the hills behind the waterfront are the hurdle. It is a long climb on steps to San Giusto, but a dense bus network covers the coast to Miramare and the Karst plateau, and passenger boats cross to Muggia.

Neither is a shopping destination, but each has one thing worth buying. In Como it is silk: scarves and ties from old-town specialists and from the mill outlets that supply the fashion houses, with Milan's boutiques a train ride away.

Trieste's best buys are edible: coffee from local roasters, Karst wine and honey, and presnitz. Its antique and second-hand shops in the old town lanes make for the more interesting browsing.

Como is the expensive choice. The lake draws an international luxury crowd, so villa rentals and waterfront hotels cost a lot in summer, and lakefront tables charge for the setting. Staying back from the water and going in spring or autumn helps.

Trieste is noticeably easier on the wallet. A buffet lunch or a coffee at the bar costs little, rooms are reasonable most of the year, and swimming at Barcola and walking the Karst are free. Smarter hotels and seafood restaurants still charge ordinary city prices.

Como's Teatro Sociale is a handsome opera house. Its season is partly shared with other Lombard houses, and summer brings open-air shows in the Arena next to it and chamber music in churches and villas. Most other nights are quiet, and serious music lovers head to La Scala in Milan.

Trieste offers a fuller programme at home. The waterfront Teatro Verdi runs a proper opera and ballet season, the city keeps up a Habsburg taste for operetta that is rare in Italy, and the Politeama Rossetti and a Slovenian-language theatre add drama. Live bands are scarce in both cities.

Neither has thermal baths. In both, spa treatments come from hotel spas and a few day spas. The calm is the real attraction, and it takes a different form in each. In Como it is the lake itself: still water, villa gardens, slow ferries and villages that go quiet early, best enjoyed outside the busy midsummer weeks.

Trieste's quiet is urban. You sit for long hours in old coffee houses with a newspaper and walk the Molo Audace pier as the sun sets over the gulf, in a city whose older population keeps an unhurried pace.