Genoa or Interlaken?

Genoa has the sea on its doorstep. The pebble cove at Boccadasse, the bathing establishments along Corso Italia and the rock platforms at Nervi are all within the city. Camogli, Sestri Levante and the sandier shore at Varazze are a short train ride away, with clear, warm water from June into September.

In Interlaken, swimming means a cool lake dip after a day in the mountains. You can swim from the grassy lidos and shingle at Neuhaus on Lake Thun, or in the colder turquoise water of Lake Brienz at Bönigen, but only in high summer. Neither is a true beach vacation, but only Genoa lets a swim become part of most days.

Genoa is the home of pesto, and eating there is a reason to go in itself. You can start the day with focaccia, have trofie or pansoti in walnut sauce at lunch, and pick up farinata and fried fish from the friggitorie in the old town. The harbour trattorias serve seafood with a glass of Vermentino, and the Mercato Orientale shows off what Liguria grows.

Interlaken feeds its visitors adequately on fondue, rösti and an international mix of restaurants, but little is worth seeking out. Its best meals are on hut terraces above Grindelwald or Mürren, and many visitors simply live on supermarket picnics.

On culture the two are about as far apart as they could be. Genoa has one of Europe's largest medieval quarters in its caruggi and the Rolli palaces on Via Garibaldi, with Van Dyck and Rubens in their painted halls. Add the Cathedral of San Lorenzo, the Lanterna lighthouse and the marble sculpture of Staglieno cemetery, and there is enough for several full days.

Interlaken has a row of grand nineteenth-century hotels, the Kursaal and a few old timber houses in Unterseen, and little more. From there, museums mean a train to Bern or Lucerne.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Genoa has evenings worth staying up for. There is aperitivo in the small bars around Piazza delle Erbe and the university lanes, waterfront drinks at the Porto Antico, and in summer the evenings move out to Corso Italia. Interlaken goes to bed early, and going out there means a few backpacker pubs and basement clubs near the hostels, a drink on the Höheweg or the casino in the Kursaal.

For a city, Genoa has good walking. There are fortress trails on the ridges above Righi, cliff paths across the Portofino promontory down to San Fruttuoso and the Cinque Terre by train, and boats leave the harbour to see whales and dolphins in the Pelagos Sanctuary.

Interlaken is on another level, because the Alps start at the edge of town. Lauterbrunnen's waterfalls, the Jungfraujoch above the Aletsch glacier and the high trails from Grindelwald First or Schynige Platte are all within an hour by rail. Paragliding, canyoning and rafting run from the town, and in winter there is skiing at Wengen and Mürren. The one catch is low cloud, which can hide the peaks for days.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference is in the kind of trip. From Genoa the trips are mostly along the coast: Portofino, Camogli, Sestri Levante and the Cinque Terre all lie on one railway line, and Milan or Turin are about an hour and a half inland for a museum day.

From Interlaken you get Swiss towns and lakes instead of fishing villages. Bern's arcaded old town is under an hour away, and paddle steamers reach the castles at Thun, Spiez and Oberhofen. There is woodcarving at Brienz and the open-air museum at Ballenberg, and Lucerne is reached on the scenic line over the Brünig Pass.

Interlaken is the easier place with children. It is safe and flat on the valley floor, and its rack railways, gondolas and steamers are outings in themselves. The summit stations have playgrounds, summer toboggan runs and cliff walks, and the St Beatus caves make a change. Its weak points are rainy days and the high altitudes, which can trouble very young children.

Genoa's big attraction is the large aquarium at the Porto Antico, with the Galata museum's walk-through submarine beside it. Away from the harbour, though, the steep, dark lanes and endless stairs are hard work with a pushchair.

Getting around Genoa takes some effort. The old town and the Porto Antico are close enough to walk, but the caruggi twist back on themselves and anything above the harbour means stairs, a funicular or one of the old public lifts. Buses crawl through the narrow streets, so the coastal train does most of the useful work.

Interlaken is the easier of the two by some way. Its flat town can be crossed on foot between the two stations, and beyond it mainline trains, mountain railways, cable cars and lake steamers run to timetables that meet, so one day can take in Bern and a high ridge without a car. The only snag is the summer crush on the busiest trains to the peaks.

Genoa is the better place to browse, although neither is a shopping destination. Its old town keeps long-established shops selling candied fruit, olive oil and pesto, alongside workshops making silver filigree and coral, and the arcades of Via XX Settembre cover the familiar Italian labels. Interlaken's Höheweg is given over to watch stores, army knives, cuckoo clocks and souvenirs for tour groups, and Brienz woodcarving is the one craft worth taking home.

Money goes much further in Genoa. A sit-down trattoria lunch is fairly priced, and a room in the centre costs less than a similar one in Venice or Florence. The bill rises mainly on Riviera beach days, when loungers at the bathing establishments and summer prices in Portofino or Santa Margherita add up.

Interlaken charges full Swiss rates for beds, meals and even a glass of wine, and the excursions that justify the trip cost the most of all: the train to the Jungfraujoch first, then paragliding or canyoning on top. Hostels, regional passes and the transport card many hotels give their guests all help, but however carefully you spend, it stays expensive.

Genoa has a proper stage. There are opera, ballet and symphony concerts at the Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari, Italian drama at the Teatro Nazionale, Paganini concerts, and small clubs that carry on the city's singer-songwriter tradition. Interlaken's offer is seasonal and folkloric, mainly the amateur open-air William Tell in the woods each summer and evenings of yodelling and alphorns, so serious concert-goers head to Bern.

Neither city has a bathing culture, and in both the spas are mostly in the better hotels. The difference is in where you find calm. In Genoa it is the seafront promenade and villa gardens at Nervi and slow lunches in the Riviera villages, with the thermal waters of Acqui Terme a little over an hour inland.

Several of the grand Höheweg hotels in Interlaken have sizeable spas, and the town has a public wellness area. Early mornings on the lakeshore, steamer crossings and the quiet of Wengen or Mürren do the rest. Both town centres are busy rather than restful.