Innsbruck or Padua?

Neither city is built for a beach trip. Innsbruck's swimming is in lakes: the small plateau lakes such as the Lanser See warm up in July and August, and the Achensee is beautiful but cold, so it makes a pleasant summer afternoon at best.

Padua has the edge because it has real sea within reach. Sottomarina and the Lido of Venice are about an hour away, with warm, shallow, calm water that suits paddling children, even if the sand is flat and lined with umbrellas.

Innsbruck's cooking is hearty Tyrolean food: Gröstl, Kaspressknödel, Speck and Kaiserschmarrn. It tastes best in a mountain hut after a walk. In town the choice is narrow, and there is no market life to speak of.

Padua eats better and more variously. The morning markets in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta, bigoli with duck sauce and baccalà, and Euganean wines from just outside town give the day its shape. The standing spritz in the squares and Caffè Pedrocchi add a drinking culture Innsbruck cannot match, though fine dining is thin in both.

Innsbruck's sights come from its time as a Habsburg seat: the Golden Roof, the Hofburg and the Hofkirche, where Maximilian I's tomb is ringed by bronze giants. Out of town, Ambras Castle has its cabinet of curiosities. It is handsome and compact, and two or three days cover it.

Padua's sights carry more weight in the history of art and science. Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel changed European painting, its fourteenth-century fresco cycles are listed by UNESCO, and the Basilica of Saint Anthony holds Donatello's altar. The anatomical theatre at Palazzo Bo and the botanical garden of 1545 make the city's place in learning easy to see.

Both are student towns with modest evenings, but Padua's are the more sociable. Innsbruck's life gathers in the bars and small clubs under the railway viaduct, which run late at weekends, and in winter many visitors do their partying at après-ski up in the resorts.

In Padua, going out means the aperitivo. Crowds stand over spritz glasses in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori until late on warm nights. Clubs are few, and the city empties in high summer.

This is Innsbruck's great strength, and the gap is wide. The Nordkette ridge at about 2,300m is under half an hour from the old town, and the Karwendel nature park starts behind it. Add the Stubai Glacier, several linked ski areas, paragliding and rafting, and you have the Alps on the doorstep.

Padua's outdoors is gentler and further out. The volcanic Euganean Hills, about 15km away, have vineyard trails and good road cycling, and the Brenta towpaths make easy, level rides. Real mountain walking in the pre-Alps means about an hour and a half by car.

Innsbruck is a good base. Hall in Tirol and Rattenberg are close by, Munich and Salzburg are under two hours by train, and Bolzano and Merano lie over the Brenner Pass.

Padua is better still, because so much is so close. Venice is under half an hour by train, Vicenza's Palladian palaces a quarter of an hour, and Verona, Bologna and Ferrara about an hour. The Brenta villas, Arquà Petrarca and the walled towns of Este and Montagnana fill the gaps, so you could spend a week on day trips without repeating yourself.

Innsbruck gives children more to do. The funicular to the Alpenzoo, with its ibex, bears and wolves, is an outing in itself, and summer brings adventure trails, hut playgrounds and swims in the plateau lakes, with ski schools on gentle slopes in winter. Rainy days take some planning.

Padua is safe, flat and welcoming, and children are at home in any trattoria. Beyond running around Prato della Valle and the botanical garden's glasshouses, though, the city offers them little, so families tend to drive to Gardaland or the Adriatic.

Both have flat, compact centres that are easy on foot, and neither needs a car in town. The difference is direction. Innsbruck's transport goes up: a funicular from the old town links to the Nordkette cable cars, and ski buses run to the slopes. Padua's goes out: a tram, sheltering arcades and a station on main lines in every direction make train day trips effortless.

Neither city is worth a trip for shopping, but Padua has a little more range. Innsbruck has Maria-Theresien-Strasse's chain stores, loden jackets, dirndls and woodcarvings, and excellent outdoor and ski shops for anyone kitting up.

Padua's arcades add Italian fashion and shoe shops, independent boutiques and university bookshops. The market delicatessens are the place for cheese and Euganean wine to take home, and once a month a large antiques market fills Prato della Valle.

Padua is noticeably easier on the budget. Innsbruck adds an Alpine resort premium to Western European prices, rooms are dearest in ski season and at the Christmas markets, and cable car tickets add up fast, although the guest cards help.

Padua has ordinary northern Italian prices. Its fairly priced hotels are why many people sleep there while touring the region, and a standing spritz with market food costs little. Rooms rise mainly around trade fairs and graduation season.

Innsbruck has a little more to offer on its own stage. The Tiroler Landestheater stages opera, operetta and dance, the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra plays through the season, and the summer Festival of Early Music fills settings such as the Spanish Hall at Ambras Castle.

Padua's programme is smaller: theatre and some opera at the horseshoe-shaped Teatro Verdi, and chamber concerts in the Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica. Its real advantage is nearby, with the Fenice in Venice and the summer Arena in Verona both easy to reach.

Padua is the stronger choice for a restful trip, because Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme lie about 12km away. Together they form one of Europe's largest thermal districts, with hot mineral pools and mud treatments used since Roman times, and the spa hotels welcome day visitors. Back in town, long lunches and the botanical garden keep the pace slow.

Innsbruck has no springs of its own. Its rest is the Alpine kind: hotel saunas in Igls with mountain views, quiet walks, and the large spas of the Ötztal and Zillertal about an hour away.