Graz or Verona?

Neither city has a coast, but Verona has much better swimming. Lake Garda's southern shore is a short drive or train ride away, with clear, calm water, lidos with sunbeds and Sirmione's flat rock shelves, so a few lake days fit easily into a summer stay.

In Graz, swimming means the Schwarzlsee and similar former gravel pits on the plain south of town, pleasant for an afternoon on a grassy bank but nothing more. The large Carinthian lakes are too far for a casual outing.

Both cities eat regional food from their own farmland and vineyards, and Verona takes the lead. Its osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta serve Amarone risotto, bigoli with duck and bollito with pearà, and Valpolicella, Soave and Bardolino are poured with snacks at the counter every evening.

Graz is more of an acquired pleasure, built on pumpkin seed oil, cold fried chicken salad and the morning farmers' markets at Kaiser-Josef-Platz and Lendplatz, with crisp Styrian whites in rustic Buschenschank taverns. Neither city offers much beyond its own cuisine.

Verona has the deeper history. Two thousand years are layered inside the loop of the Adige: the Roman Arena and theatre, the Scaliger tombs, the Romanesque masterpiece of San Zeno and Castelvecchio's art collection. The whole centre carries UNESCO recognition.

Graz offers a beautifully kept old town of red roofs and arcaded Renaissance courtyards, with two real standouts in the Landeszeughaus armoury and Schloss Eggenberg. The Kunsthaus and Murinsel add a modern contrast that Verona lacks. Both reward two or three days, but Verona's sights carry more weight.

Neither is a party city, and the difference is one of style. Graz's large student population fills the bars of the Bermuda Triangle around Mehlplatz and the artier places in Lend, and a few clubs stay open late at weekends, though the city empties in the summer break.

Verona's evenings revolve around the aperitivo, spritz and Valpolicella at tables in Piazza delle Erbe, with younger wine bars in Veronetta. In summer, the Arena crowd brings the centre back to life near midnight.

Both sit where the Alps give way to lower ground, and Graz has the slightly wilder surroundings. It has its own mountain, the Schöckl, with a cable car and paragliding, the ladders of the Bärenschützklamm gorge, and the limestone walls of the Gesäuse and Hochschwab within reach for proper alpine hiking.

Verona's outdoors is gentler and more watery: walking among the vineyards and cypresses of Valpolicella, ridge walks on Monte Baldo above Garda, and wind for sailing and windsurfing at the lake's northern end.

Graz's outings are rural and take some planning. The South Styrian Wine Road starts about forty minutes south, Riegersburg castle stands on its volcanic crag an hour to the east, and the Lipizzaner stud at Piber and the relocated farmhouses of the Stübing open-air museum are both short drives. Further out are Admont's vast monastic library and the basilica at Mariazell, and Maribor is an hour away across the Slovenian border by train.

They make good days, but most are much easier with a car.\n\nVerona is a far stronger base. By train, Palladio's Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel in Padua and Gonzaga Mantua are all within an hour, Venice is only a little further, and Bologna or Milan fit into a longer day. Sirmione's castle and the Valpolicella and Soave cellars are closer still. You could fill a week with very different outings, and the rail line handles most of them.

Verona has the bigger outings for children. Gardaland, the water parks around the lake and the drive-through safari at Parco Natura Viva are all about half an hour away, though most need a car and summer afternoons are hot.

Graz is easier day to day in the city itself. Children can take the lift up the Schlossberg and the underground slide down, ride the fairytale Märchenbahn and visit the FRida & freD children's museum, but there is no theme park or zoo to round off a longer stay.

Graz is easier to get around. Its pedestrianised old town is backed by trams to the station, Eggenberg and the suburbs, plus a funicular up the Schlossberg and flat cycling along the Mur, all on one ticket.

Verona works almost entirely on foot within the river loop, but it has no tram or metro, and the station is a fair walk from Piazza Bra. Its strength lies further out, with fast trains to Venice, Milan and the lake. In both places, the countryside is far simpler with a car.

Graz's best shopping is in Kastner & Öhler, its grand nineteenth-century department store, where the rooftop terrace looks over the old town, and in the small design, vintage and studio shops of Lend across the river. The things to take home are pumpkin seed oil, Schilcher rosé, apple brandy and craft chocolate from the markets, or loden from a costume specialist.

Verona's shopping is a little smarter but just as provincial. Most of it lines the marble-paved Via Mazzini, with its Italian fashion labels, and the boutiques and jewellers of Corso Porta Borsari. Amarone and pandoro are the souvenirs, and anyone after serious fashion goes on to Milan.

The two cost about the same, but the expense falls in different places. In Graz, hotels are fair for Austria and student lunch menus keep daytime eating cheap, while dinner and wine cost what Austria usually charges.

In Verona, rooms are the main expense, especially inside the old centre on opera nights and during trade fairs, but wine counters and Veronetta's osterie keep meals reasonable.

Verona has the more memorable night out. Grand Verdi or Puccini in the Roman Arena on a summer evening is the reason many people come, and Shakespeare, dance and jazz in the Roman theatre add to the season. Outside summer, though, its programme thins to the Teatro Filarmonico.

Graz is steadier year-round, with the second-largest opera house in Austria, the Musikverein's concerts, a strong jazz scene from its music university, and the Styriarte and steirischer herbst festivals.

Both are calm cities whose real spas lie about an hour out, and only the setting differs. From Graz you go into the hills to the east, to the Styrian thermal villages, Hundertwasser's grass-roofed Bad Blumau, and the large pools at Loipersdorf.

From Verona the warm water is by the lake, with the sulphur springs of Sirmione facing Garda, the spring-fed lake in a villa garden near Lazise and the ancient springs at Caldiero.