Como or Turin?

Neither city is a beach destination, but only Como lets you swim without a long journey. There are lidos with lawns and decks, the best known beside Villa Olmo, and small pebble strands and jetties at Cernobbio and Moltrasio, reached by ferry. The water is cleaner further up the lake than at the town's busy southern tip.

Turin has no water of its own. The Ligurian coast around Varazze is nearly two hours away, and the small lakes at Avigliana and Viverone are the local substitute. If you want a swim as part of the trip, choose Como. If you want the sea, neither will do.

Turin is one of Italy's great eating cities, while Como has the cooking of a pleasant provincial town. Turin's Piedmontese food is rich and precise: vitello tonnato, agnolotti del plin, bagna cauda in winter and white truffles from the Langhe in autumn, with Barolo and Barbaresco on every wine list. Add the vermouth aperitivo, bicerin in the arcade cafés, gianduiotti, and the huge Porta Palazzo market, and you could plan a whole trip around eating.

Como is good for lake perch risotto, missoltini and polenta from the valleys, but there isn't much range. The lakefront terraces charge for the view more than the food, so the best meals are in family-run places up the lake or in the hills.

Turin is a former royal capital and Como is a handsome small town, and that makes a big difference to how long the sights last. Turin can fill several days with the Museo Egizio, the Royal Palace and armoury, Palazzo Madama, the Shroud in the cathedral and the vast Reggia di Venaria. The National Cinema Museum inside the Mole, the Lingotto factory and the contemporary art at Rivoli add a modern side.

Como's sights are fewer but fine: the marble cathedral, the Romanesque churches of San Fedele and Sant'Abbondio, the Tempio Voltiano and the silk museum. Architects make the trip for Terragni's Casa del Fascio, but most visitors see the town in a day and then turn to the lake.

After dinner, Turin keeps going and Como mostly goes to bed. In Turin the aperitivo leads on to the wine bars of the Quadrilatero Romano, the student crowds on the pavements of San Salvario, the more alternative Vanchiglia, and the riverside Murazzi in summer, with a few clubs in old industrial buildings. The mood is sociable rather than wild, and it quietens outside term time.

Como offers a handful of cocktail and wine bars around Piazza Duomo and San Fedele and a stroll along the lakefront. Its young people take the train to Milan for a big night.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, but the landscapes are very different. Como's mountains drop straight into the lake, so you can start walking from the town: the funicular to Brunate, the ridge path to the Volta lighthouse, the Greenway between villages, kayaking and paddleboarding from the shore, and the cycling climb to Madonna del Ghisallo.

Turin sits on a flat plain, with the high Alps an hour or more away. In exchange you get the ibex and hut-to-hut trails of Gran Paradiso, climbing in the Susa valley and winter skiing on the Via Lattea, which Como can't offer. Closer in, the Superga hills and the Po paths through Valentino park cover the gentler days.

Both are among the best bases in northern Italy, and the difference is the kind of day out. From Como the trips are mostly by boat, to Bellagio, Varenna and the gardens of Villa Carlotta and Balbianello. Milan is about forty minutes away and Lugano in Switzerland about half an hour.

Turin's days out are about wine and old towns: Alba, Barolo, La Morra and Bra in the Langhe, Asti and the Monferrato, the Sacra di San Michele on its rock, and longer trips to Aosta or Genoa's port. For lake villas and a second country, pick Como. For vineyards and truffle towns, pick Turin.

Turin is the easier city with children, mostly because there is more for them to do. The long arcades keep pushchairs out of the rain and sun, the glass lift up the Mole, the car museum and the Egyptian mummies keep older children interested, and the rack railway to Superga and the Zoom Torino zoo park make good outings.

Como charms younger children with ferry rides, the funicular and paddling at a lido, but almost nothing there is made for them, and the villas and churches are for adults. It suits a slow family week of outdoor days better than a busy one.

Both have flat, compact centres that you walk, so the differences show up beyond them. In Turin, a regular grid of arcades links the station, the main squares and the river. One driverless metro line and a network of trams cover the rest, though the trams take some working out.

Como's problem is the lake itself. The ferries reach every village but are slow over longer distances, and in summer the narrow shore roads fill with buses and cars. Trains to Milan and Lugano make it easy to leave, and in both cities a car is only worth having for the hills.

Turin has a much wider range, but Como has one thing worth buying. Como has been Europe's silk capital for centuries, so scarves, ties and fabric from old-town shops and mill outlets make the best souvenirs. Beyond that there is a short run of boutiques on Via Vittorio Emanuele II, and serious fashion shopping means a trip to Milan.

Turin has big labels under the arcades of Via Roma, mainstream shops on Via Garibaldi, antiques on Via Maria Vittoria and the Balon flea market every Saturday. Its best buys are edible: chocolate, truffles, cheese and Piedmontese wine.

Turin is much easier on the wallet. Its central hotels are fairly priced for most of the year, apart from trade fair dates, and the city's habit of a generous aperitivo, its trattorie and Porta Palazzo market keep food costs down. You spend more on fine dining and in truffle season.

Como is priced for the international crowd the lake attracts, and in July and August its lakeside hotels and villa rentals are expensive. You can cut costs by staying back from the water, eating in old-town or hillside trattorias and coming in spring or autumn. Trains and ferries are cheap.

Turin has a full year-round calendar, while Como's is a modest local programme. In Turin there is opera and ballet at the Teatro Regio, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, concerts in Renzo Piano's Lingotto auditorium, jazz clubs in the centre and long-running festivals. Spoken theatre at the Carignano is almost all in Italian.

Como has the neoclassical Teatro Sociale, which moves into its open-air Arena in summer, and chamber concerts in Romanesque churches and lakeside villas, where the setting does much of the work. On many nights nothing is on, and Milan's La Scala is the nearest step up.

Neither city has thermal springs, and in both, spas mostly mean hotel spas. What differs is how you unwind. Como relaxes you with its setting: still water, villa gardens running down to the shore, slow ferry crossings and villages that go quiet early, though the lakefront gets busy in midsummer.

Turin relaxes you through city habits: long breaks in historic cafés, evening walks under the arcades and along the Po, and afternoons in Valentino park. Real thermal baths are at Acqui Terme or in the Aosta valley, each close to two hours away.