Interlaken or Padua?

Neither city is a place to plan a swimming trip around, but the water on offer is quite different. Interlaken has lake swimming on its doorstep in July and August, on grassy lidos along Lake Thun or in the colder turquoise water of Lake Brienz at Bönigen, all under snow peaks.

Padua has no water of its own, so a swim means an hour's trip to Sottomarina or the Lido of Venice. The Adriatic there is warmer, shallow and good for paddling children, but the shore is long flat rows of umbrellas rather than scenery.

Padua is where you will eat well. Its Venetian home cooking includes bigoli with duck sauce, baccalà and risotto with spring peas. Add the morning markets in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta, the standing spritz in the squares and Euganean wines from just outside town.

Interlaken feeds hikers rather than food lovers, with fondue, rösti and a run of Indian and Asian places in town. Its best meals are up in the mountains, on hut terraces above Grindelwald or with cheese from an Alpine dairy. Many visitors simply live on picnics.

Here the two barely compete. Padua has Giotto's frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel and a UNESCO-listed group of fourteenth-century fresco cycles. It also has the domed Basilica of Saint Anthony with Donatello's bronzes, and the world's oldest permanent anatomical theatre at the university. The centre is compact enough to see quickly, though the timed chapel visits are worth planning around.

Interlaken has the row of grand hotels on the Höheweg, the Kursaal and a few timber houses in Unterseen, and very little else. For museums and old architecture you take the train to Bern or Thun.

Padua has the livelier evenings, and they revolve around the aperitivo. Students and locals fill Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori with spritz in hand, then move on to wine bars in the old ghetto during term. There are few clubs, and the city goes quiet in summer and during university breaks.

In Interlaken nights end early because mornings start early. A few backpacker pubs and basement clubs near the hostels, plus the casino in the Kursaal, are about all there is.

Interlaken is one of the great mountain bases in Europe. Trains and cable cars reach the Jungfraujoch at 3,454m above the Aletsch glacier, the waterfalls of the Lauterbrunnen valley and the ridge walks on Schynige Platte. Paragliding, canyoning and rafting all start from town, and skiing takes over in winter.

Padua's outdoors is gentler and further out: trails and vineyards in the Euganean Hills, flat towpath rides along the Brenta and birdwatching on the lagoon. For real mountain walking you need a drive of about an hour and a half to the pre-Alps.

Both make good bases, but Padua's reach is exceptional. Venice is under half an hour away by train and Vicenza a quarter of an hour. Verona, Treviso, Bologna and Ferrara are all about an hour or less away, and the Brenta villas and walled towns such as Montagnana are closer still.

Interlaken has fewer trips, but they are rewarding. Arcaded Bern is under an hour away, and paddle steamers stop at the castles of Thun, Spiez and Oberhofen. There is also the open-air museum at Ballenberg, and Lucerne is reached on the line over the Brünig Pass.

Interlaken suits children better because getting up the mountains is half the fun. Rack railways, gondolas and steamers lead to playgrounds, cliff walks and summer toboggan runs at the summit stations, and the St Beatus caves are a reliable hit. The drawbacks are wet days and high altitudes, which can be hard on very young children.

Padua is safe and flat, and children are welcome at any trattoria, but its sights are frescoes and churches. Prato della Valle gives children room to run, and families tend to rely on Gardaland or the Adriatic for the bigger days out.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Interlaken's strength is its mountain network: narrow-gauge trains, cog railways, gondolas and lake steamers timed to connect, so the whole Jungfrau region is open to you. The busiest summer trains do get crowded.

Padua is a walking city, with arcaded streets, a largely car-free core, a tram from the station and bicycles everywhere. Its main-line station also puts the rest of the Veneto and beyond within quick reach.

Padua has the more varied shopping. There are Italian fashion and shoe shops along the arcades, university bookshops and the delicatessens beneath the Palazzo della Ragione, plus an antiques market on Prato della Valle one Sunday a month.

Interlaken's Höheweg sells watches, army knives, cuckoo clocks and chocolate to tour groups, along with outdoor gear. Woodcarving from Brienz is the one local craft worth buying.

The difference in cost is wide. Padua charges normal northern Italian prices, and its hotels make a sensible base for Venice, which is a large part of their appeal. Market food, a standing spritz and a centre you can walk keep daily spending modest.

Interlaken runs at full Swiss prices, and the mountain railways, which are the point of a stay, add a lot to the bill, the Jungfraujoch most of all. Passes, hostels and picnics help, but there is no cheap way to do it.

Neither is a city for live performance, but Padua has a modest year-round programme. Teatro Verdi stages theatre and some opera, and a chamber orchestra plays in the frescoed Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica. The Fenice in Venice and the Arena in Verona are close by for bigger nights.

Interlaken's offering is seasonal: the open-air amateur William Tell in the woods each summer, folklore evenings with alphorns and yodelling, and the odd concert at the Kursaal. For anything more you go to Bern.

Padua has a real advantage in Abano Terme and Montegrotto, about 12km away. There, hot mineral springs feed the pools of dozens of spa hotels that welcome day visitors, and mud treatments go back to Roman times. Long lunches and quiet hours in the botanical garden add to the slow pace in the city itself.

Interlaken has no springs of its own, so relaxing means a grand hotel spa or the town's public pool. Its calm lies away from the busy centre: early walks by the lake, steamer crossings, or a stay up in Wengen or Mürren.