Genoa or Padua?

Genoa gives you real swimming within the city. There is the pebble cove at Boccadasse, bathing platforms along Corso Italia, and rocks below the Nervi promenade, with Camogli and the bays of Sestri Levante a train ride further on. The shores are pebble or coarse sand, though, and crowded on summer weekends.

In Padua the sea is an outing rather than part of daily life. Sottomarina and the Lido of Venice are each about an hour away, and they are long, flat strips of umbrellas. The shallow, calm water is good for small children, but not much more than that.

Genoa has the more distinctive kitchen. Pesto started here, and you can eat focaccia dunked in cappuccino, trofie and pansoti, farinata and fried fish from the old friggitorie, and excellent seafood with a glass of Vermentino.

Padua's cooking is Venetian home food, such as bigoli with duck sauce, baccalà and boiled meats. It is solid but less of a reason to come. Its strength is the ritual around the food: the morning markets under the Palazzo della Ragione and the standing spritz in the squares at dusk.

Both cities have a strong historic centre, but of different kinds. Genoa's appeal is its size. You can spend days in the caruggi, the palaces of the Rolli on Via Garibaldi with their Van Dycks and painted halls, and the marble sculpture of Staglieno cemetery.

Padua is smaller but has one world-famous highlight, Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel, which needs a timed booking. The Basilica of Saint Anthony, the anatomical theatre at the Bo and the oldest botanical garden still on its original site complete a centre you can see in a day or two.

Evenings in both cities centre on the aperitivo in a medieval square, with few clubs, so neither suits a big night out. The difference is timing. Padua's university keeps the side streets busy on weeknights during term, but the city goes quiet in summer. Genoa is quiet on weeknights and comes alive in summer, when people move out to Corso Italia and the beach clubs.

Genoa has the steep green hills and the sea right at its edge. From Righi a trail runs past the old ridge forts above the port. The Portofino park paths and the Cinque Terre are a train ride away, and boats go out to watch whales in the Pelagos Sanctuary.

Padua sits on a flat plain, so getting outdoors takes more effort. The Euganean Hills, with vineyards, chestnut woods and quiet roads for cycling, are the nearest relief, and the Brenta towpaths are good for easy bike rides. For real mountain walking you need a car and about an hour and a half to reach the pre-Alps.

Both cities make good bases, but Padua is one of the best in Italy. Venice is under half an hour by train, so you can visit on several days. Vicenza is a quarter of an hour away and Verona, Bologna and Ferrara are about an hour, with Palladian villas along the Brenta and walled towns like Montagnana closer still.

Genoa's trips run mainly along a single coastline, but a very good one: Portofino, Camogli and the Cinque Terre to the east, and Finale Ligure Borgo and Noli to the west. Milan and Turin are about an hour and a half away, which makes them longer days out than Padua's.

Genoa has a proper family day at the Porto Antico. There is one of Europe's largest aquariums, a children's science centre, a biosphere and the Galata submarine, and the funiculars and public lifts are fun in themselves. The steep, dark lanes are hard work with a pushchair.

Padua is easy in practical terms, being flat, safe and largely car-free, and Prato della Valle gives children room to run. Once you have done that and the glasshouses, though, families usually head out of town to Gardaland or Lake Garda.

Padua is easier to get around. The centre is flat and arcaded, most of it is a short walk from end to end, and a tram and bicycles cover the rest. Its main-line station puts the whole Veneto within reach without a car.

Genoa is a vertical city. The funiculars, rack railway and public lifts are part of its charm, but the lanes are a maze, the buses crawl, and its one metro line only runs along the valley. The coastal railway is what makes it work.

Neither city is worth a dedicated shopping trip, and both are best for food to take home. In Genoa that means candied fruit, olive oil and pesto from old shops in the old town, plus silver filigree and coral made in small workshops. Padua has delicatessens under the Palazzo della Ragione, university bookshops and a large antiques market in Prato della Valle one Sunday a month.

Costs are much the same in both, moderate for northern Italy, but they rise at different times. In Genoa, cheap focaccia and farinata keep daily spending down, while beach loungers and the smart Riviera resorts add up in summer. Padua is a sensibly priced place to sleep while you spend your days in Venice, though rooms get dearer during the big trade fairs and graduation season.

Genoa has more on stage. The Teatro Carlo Felice on Piazza De Ferrari runs a full season of opera, ballet and symphony concerts, the city holds Paganini concerts, and small clubs keep the tradition of its singer-songwriters alive.

Padua's programme is smaller but has its own charm. There is prose theatre and some opera at the horseshoe-shaped Teatro Verdi, and chamber music beneath the frescoes of the Sala dei Giganti and in the Basilica of Saint Anthony. For major opera, people go on to Venice or Verona.

Padua has a real advantage here. The thermal district of Abano and Montegrotto lies at the foot of the Euganean Hills, where hot mineral water and mud have been used since Roman times, and it is easy to reach for an afternoon soak. The arcades and the botanical garden give the city an unhurried pace.

Genoa has no bathing tradition of its own, and Acqui Terme, its nearest spa, is over an hour inland. The garden villas at Nervi and long lunches in the Riviera villages are the quiet side of a city that is otherwise lively.