Como or Verona?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Verona gives the better swimming even though you have to travel for it. About half an hour away on Lake Garda's southern shore you find clear, calm water, lidos with sunbeds, and Sirmione's flat limestone shelves, where you can lie in the sun between swims.

Como's swimming is closer but more limited. There is the lido by Villa Olmo, and up the lake there are small pebble strands and jetties at Moltrasio or the Tremezzina, reached by ferry. The water at the city end is not very inviting, and the shore is mostly walls and gardens.

Verona eats and drinks noticeably better. Its osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta serve Amarone risotto, bigoli with duck and bollito with peppery pearà, and the vineyards of Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino are a short drive away, so a glass at a wine counter is one of the city's real pleasures.

Como's lake cooking has its own character, with perch risotto, sun-dried missoltini and polenta from the valleys. But the town itself has a narrow choice, the lakefront terraces charge for the view, and the best meals are often in family places up the lake or in the hills.

Verona is in another league here. Its UNESCO-listed centre layers a Roman amphitheatre, a Roman theatre, the medieval squares of the della Scala lords and San Zeno, one of Italy's finest Romanesque churches, with Scarpa's Castelvecchio museum on top. That is two or three unhurried days of sightseeing.

Como's sights are fewer but well chosen. There is the marble cathedral, the Lombard Romanesque of Sant'Abbondio, and Terragni's Casa del Fascio, which draws architecture lovers. Most visitors see them in a day.

Neither is a late-night town, but Verona keeps going longer. After the aperitivo in Piazza delle Erbe, the student bars and pubs of Veronetta stay busy, and on summer opera nights the Arena crowd brings the centre back to life around midnight.

Como's evenings usually end after dinner and a few cocktail bars near the cathedral, with a walk along the lakefront in summer. Anyone wanting clubs goes to Milan.

Como has the more dramatic outdoors, right on its doorstep. A funicular from 1894 lifts you from the lakefront to Brunate's ridge trails, Monte Bisbino looks towards the Alps, and you can kayak, sail or paddleboard from the city shore. Road cyclists come for the climbs of the Triangolo Lariano.

Verona's countryside is gentler: vineyard walks and bike rides in Valpolicella, and the long Adige cycle route north. The big scenery is around an hour away, at Monte Baldo above Lake Garda and on the Lessinia plateau.

Both are excellent bases, but the trips are of different kinds. From Como, most outings are by boat: Bellagio, Varenna, and the gardens of Villa Carlotta and Balbianello. Milan and Swiss Lugano are each well under an hour away by train.

From Verona, the trips are mostly to art cities by rail. Venice, Palladio's Vicenza, Giotto's chapel in Padua and Gonzaga Mantua are all easy, and Sirmione and the Valpolicella and Soave cellars are closer still.

For children, Como's fun is mostly in getting about: a boat out onto the lake, the little railway climbing the hillside to Brunate, an afternoon splashing at the Villa Olmo lido. Beyond those, the days turn to villa gardens and churches that hold little for a child, so it works for an unhurried stay where the lake and the open air are the entertainment.

Verona has far more to fill a family week, though most of it sits around Lake Garda, about half an hour out. Gardaland, Italy's biggest theme park, can take a whole day, the water parks along the southern shore take another, and at Parco Natura Viva you drive among the animals in the safari section. Back in town, a Roman amphitheatre where gladiators once fought is an easy sell to a ten-year-old. In July and August, plan the outings for the morning, because the afternoons are hot, and allow for a car or transfers, since few of these parks are easy to reach by public transport.

Both centres are flat and easy to walk, so the difference is in how you get further out. In Como, the old town connects to the hills by funicular and to the villages by ferry. The ferries are beautiful but slow up the lake, and the narrow shore roads jam in summer.

Verona's traffic-free centre within the loop of the Adige is just as easy on foot, and the train takes the place of the boat, with fast lines to Venice, Milan and Peschiera on Lake Garda. In both, a car is needed only for the hill villages.

Verona has the broader shopping, with Italian labels along marble-paved Via Mazzini and smaller boutiques and jewellers on Corso Porta Borsari. The best things to take home are Amarone and pandoro.

Como's offer is narrower but more distinctive. Silk scarves and ties come from shops in the old town and from mill outlets on the edge of the city. For fashion, people from both cities go to Milan.

Como is the harder place to make a budget last, and most of the gap is in where you sleep. In summer, a room with a lake view is among the dearest in Italy, because the villa hotels along the shore set the price for everyone else. A room in the old town or a few streets back from the water costs much less, especially if you eat in the hills rather than on the lakefront and come in spring or autumn. The trains and ferries are cheap.

A mid-range budget goes further in Verona. Rooms inside the river loop are still dear for a city this size, and they climb steeply when the Arena opera season or a large fair fills the town. But a bed near Porta Nuova station or across the Adige in Veronetta is an easy walk from the sights. Everything else costs little. A glass of Valpolicella at a wine counter comes with a snack, the student osterie charge fair prices, and since you can walk the whole centre, getting around costs almost nothing.

Verona has one of Europe's great summer stages: grand productions of Verdi and Puccini in the Roman Arena, sung to thousands on the stone tiers by candlelight. In winter the Teatro Filarmonico takes over, and in summer the Roman theatre hosts Shakespeare and jazz.

Como's Teatro Sociale is a handsome neoclassical opera house with a summer open-air Arena alongside, and there are chamber concerts in its churches and lakeside villas. On many nights the calendar is quiet, and keen music lovers take the train to La Scala.

Both are calm places to slow down, but in different ways. Como's wellness lies in the setting and in the spas of its grand villa hotels: still water, gardens running down to the shore and slow ferry rides.

Verona has actual thermal water nearby. There are Sirmione's sulphur pools facing Lake Garda, a spring-fed lake in a villa garden near Lazise, and springs at Caldiero that have been used since Roman times, plus the quiet terraces of the Giardino Giusti in town.