Genoa or Lucerne?

Genoa has the real thing: the Mediterranean, warm enough by late summer for a daily swim. You can bathe at the little pebble cove of Boccadasse, from the platforms below Nervi's promenade or from the bathing establishments along Corso Italia, and the train reaches Camogli, Sestri Levante and the sandier shore at Varazze. Expect pebbles, rows of rented loungers and crowded summer weekends.

Lucerne offers lake swimming instead, from the Lido, the old wooden baths and the lawns at Ufschötti. The water is clean, calm and framed by mountains, but it is cooler, the season is short and the shore is mostly lawns and jetties rather than sand.

Food is one of Genoa's main attractions and a minor part of a stay in Lucerne. Genoa's cooking is tied to its own landscape: trofie with pesto, pansoti in walnut sauce, chickpea farinata and panissa from the old friggitorie, the produce stalls of the Mercato Orientale and fish in the harbour trattorias.

Lucerne eats well but narrowly. Chügelipastete, rösti, fondue and lake perch fill wood-panelled guild houses, and many places near the Chapel Bridge cater to coach parties. Meals are good but expensive, and after a few days the menus start to repeat.

Genoa gives you far more to explore. Its caruggi form one of Europe's largest medieval quarters, and above them Via Garibaldi and Via Balbi hold the UNESCO-listed Rolli palaces with Van Dyck, Rubens and Paganini's violin. Add the striped cathedral and the marble sculpture of Staglieno, and you have several days of sightseeing.

Lucerne's sights are fewer but iconic: the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower, the towers of the Musegg Wall, the Lion Monument and a fine Picasso and Klee collection at the Rosengart. One or two days cover them comfortably.

Neither is a party city, but Genoa offers more after dark. Students and locals spill out of the small bars around Piazza delle Erbe late into weekend nights, and in summer the Corso Italia and the beach clubs keep the seafront going.

Lucerne goes quiet early, and its lakefront is mostly empty by midnight, apart from a few cocktail bars in the Neustadt. The exception is Fasnacht, when the whole town parties in costume until dawn.

Lucerne's setting is in another league. Pilatus, Rigi and the Stanserhorn rise straight from the lake, Titlis keeps its glacier and snow all year, and steamers make it easy to combine a boat ride, a train and a ridge walk in one day. Winter brings skiing and sledging, though low cloud can hide the peaks for days at a time.

Genoa's outdoors is maritime rather than Alpine. There is a funicular to Righi and the fortress trail, cliff paths on the Portofino promontory down to San Fruttuoso, the Cinque Terre terraces, and boats out to watch whales and dolphins in the Pelagos Sanctuary.

Both are excellent bases, and what differs is the kind of outing. From Genoa, one coastal railway strings together Camogli, Portofino, Sestri Levante and the Cinque Terre, with quieter Noli and Finale Ligure to the west, and Milan or Turin are within reach for a big-city museum day.

Lucerne's outings are mostly towns and the lake. Zurich, Bern and Basel are each under an hour by train, and the steamer itself makes a day out, calling at Weggis and Vitznau and continuing to the Rütli meadow, where the Swiss Confederation began.

Both work about equally well with children, each with one big attraction. Genoa has its aquarium, along with the Galata museum's submarine and the funiculars at the Porto Antico, but the steep, dark lanes and many stairs are hard work with a pushchair.

Lucerne has the Swiss Museum of Transport, a centre that is flat, compact and very safe, and lakeside lawns for picnics. Its cogwheel trains and toboggan run depend on clear skies, and rainy days can run short of ideas.

Lucerne is much easier to get around. The station, the boat piers and the Old Town sit side by side, most sights are a flat walk along the Reuss, and one integrated ticket system covers buses, steamers, trains and mountain railways.

Genoa takes more effort. The old town is a maze that climbs steeply from the water, buses crawl through congested streets and there is only one short metro line. Its funiculars and public lifts help, and the coastal train is the most useful link of all, for Nervi and the Riviera.

Neither suits a serious shopping trip, but they sell very different things. In Genoa, the good buys are edible or handmade: candied fruit, olive oil and pesto from long-established old-town shops, and silver filigree, coral and ceramics from small workshops, with Via XX Settembre's arcades for familiar Italian labels.

Lucerne's shopping is mostly Swiss watches. Large watch houses line Schwanenplatz, next to shops selling army knives, chocolate and cuckoo clocks, and there is little fashion or design beyond them.

The gap here is wide. Genoa is a mid-priced Italian city where a slab of focaccia or farinata makes a cheap meal, trattoria lunches are fair and the funiculars cost very little. The extra expenses are loungers at the bathing establishments and resort prices in Portofino and Santa Margherita.

Lucerne is very expensive. Central hotels, even simple meals and above all the mountain railways and cable cars cost a great deal. A Swiss travel pass and picnics from the supermarket soften the bill, but they cannot make it a cheap trip.

Lucerne is the stronger choice for classical music. The Lucerne Festival brings the world's leading orchestras to Jean Nouvel's lakefront hall, whose acoustics are famous, and the hall has its own programme for the rest of the year. Outside the festival weeks, though, there is little live music on an ordinary night.

Genoa offers opera and ballet at the Teatro Carlo Felice, concerts in honour of Paganini and small clubs that keep alive its singer-songwriter tradition. That fills an evening or two, but the city's drama is in Italian.

Lucerne is the more restful of the two. Its evenings are quiet, the lakeside promenades and long steamer rides invite you to slow down, and the Mario Botta mineral bath high on the Rigi lets you soak with an Alpine view.

Genoa is a working port and feels lively rather than calm. The quiet corners are Nervi's villa gardens and the long lunches in the Riviera villages, and the nearest thermal waters are at Acqui Terme, a little over an hour inland.