Lucca or Lugano?

Neither city is on a beach, but Lucca has better swimming within reach. The Versilia coast begins at Viareggio, under half an hour away by train. Wide, gently shelving sand runs north to Forte dei Marmi, mostly lined with rows of beach-club umbrellas, and there are wilder dunes backed by pine woods at the Lecciona.

Lugano swims in its lake instead. You bathe from lidos with lawns, wooden decks and ladders, at the mouth of the Cassarate and along the shore, and there is no sand at all. A quick dip is easier from Lugano because the lake is right there, but for a proper beach day Lucca wins.

Both cities cook rustic food from their own hills, but Lucca gives you more to eat, at fairer prices. Its trattorias and osterie inside the walls serve spelt soup, tordelli in ragù, chestnut dishes and slices of cecina, with local olive oil and Montecarlo wines. The menus do start to repeat after a few days.

Lugano's best meals are in its grotti, stone taverns under chestnut trees that serve polenta, braised meats and Ticino Merlot. They are a real pleasure on a warm evening. Beyond them the choice is thin and expensive, and many visitors cross into Italy to eat.

Lucca is clearly the richer city for sightseeing, because the old centre itself is the attraction. Its tree-lined Renaissance walls survive complete around a medieval grid of towers and churches. Inside them are the tiers of carved arcades on San Michele in Foro, San Frediano's golden mosaic and Jacopo della Quercia's tomb of Ilaria del Carretto in the cathedral, and the oval Piazza dell'Anfiteatro still follows the outline of a Roman amphitheatre.

Lugano is pleasant rather than remarkable. It has arcaded Lombard streets around Piazza della Riforma, a lake view from San Lorenzo and one outstanding work, Luini's Passion fresco in Santa Maria degli Angioli. Its art collection is split between LAC and Palazzo Reali, and the Hermann Hesse museum in Montagnola makes a short trip into the hills.

Neither city is for late nights, and in both the evening means an aperitivo, a long dinner and a stroll. Lucca's version is cheaper and more casual, with wine bars, student pubs and a walk on the walls, and in summer people who want to dance head to the Versilia beach clubs. Lugano is dressier and more expensive, with cocktail and lounge bars by the lake and one or two clubs, and its young crowd goes to Milan.

In Lugano the landscape starts at the edge of town. The lake winds between steep wooded mountains, and funiculars take you up Monte Brè and San Salvatore. The lakeside path to Gandria is an easy short walk, and the green rivers of the Verzasca and Maggia valleys are about an hour away.

Lucca's own outdoors is gentler: the 4km ring of the walls, cycle paths along the Serchio and hills of olive groves. Its dramatic scenery, the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps and the woods of the Garfagnana, lies about an hour to the north and is much easier with a car.

Both are excellent bases, but Lucca offers a little more, and it is easier to reach. Pisa is half an hour away by train and Florence just over an hour. Pistoia, the villas and gardens of the Lucca countryside, Collodi and Pietrasanta are all close, and with an early start you can reach the Cinque Terre or San Gimignano.

Lugano's trips have the novelty of two countries. Milan and The Last Supper are just over an hour away and Como about half an hour, while Bellinzona's castles and Lake Maggiore are easy by Swiss rail. The choice is between Tuscan art towns and Italian and Swiss lakes.

Families will find the two about equally easy, and in both the setting does more than any attraction. Lucca is flat and mostly free of traffic, so riding the walls on a family quadricycle is the classic outing, and Pinocchio Park at Collodi and sandy beaches are close by.

Lugano keeps children busy with water and heights: boat rides, lido slides, funiculars, the rack railway up Monte Generoso and the miniature Switzerland at Melide. Its steep streets are hard work with a pushchair. Lucca's autumn Comics & Games festival gives teenagers something Lugano has no match for.

Both centres are small and best seen on foot, but the ground is different. Lucca is flat and mostly closed to traffic, so bikes do the work. Buses to the villas and the Garfagnana are sparse, though, so a car helps on country days.

Lugano climbs steeply from the shore, and a funicular links the station with the old town. In return, its boats, buses, mountain railways and the Swiss rail network reach almost everything without a car.

Via Fillungo and Via Nassa sum up the difference, though the two towns are about level overall. Lucca's main street winds past fashion and jewellery shops, some still behind old Liberty-style shopfronts, and the side lanes sell olive oil, farro and buccellato. Once a month the antiques market around the cathedral, one of the oldest in Italy, is a good reason to time a visit.

Lugano's arcaded Via Nassa is more polished, with Swiss watchmakers, jewellers and Italian fashion houses serving wealthy buyers, and there is a large designer outlet towards Mendrisio. Neither goes very deep, and serious shoppers in Lugano make the trip to Milan.

For the cost of a trip, the two are far apart, and Lucca is much the cheaper. Its trattorias are fairly priced and many sights are free. Staying just outside the walls makes the money go further, but rooms fill up in summer and during the big festivals.

Lugano has Swiss prices on everything from lakeside hotels to boat trips and mountain railways. Grotti, set lunches and the regional transport that comes with most hotel stays help a little, but there is no cheap way to stay.

Lucca has the stronger musical identity, and it rests on Puccini. Recitals of his arias are held in a central church for most of the year, the Teatro del Giglio stages opera, and in July big-name concerts fill Piazza Napoleone. In summer the open-air Puccini Festival plays beside the lake at Torre del Lago.

Lugano's offer centres on LAC, whose concert hall is home to the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana, with drama and dance mostly in Italian. The free Estival Jazz concerts in Piazza della Riforma are the summer highlight, but opera lovers go to La Scala.

Lucca is the better base for a spa day out. Montecatini's grand belle époque spa buildings are half an hour away by train, and the warm cave pools at Monsummano and the natural steam grottoes of Bagni di Lucca are also close. In town, relaxing means quiet lanes with no traffic and an evening walk on the shaded walls.

Lugano has no bathing tradition to draw on, so it relies on hotel spas and a large indoor complex of pools and saunas near Rivera. Its calm comes from the lake instead: an afternoon on a lido, a bench in Parco Ciani, or a grotto lunch that runs on into the evening.