Lugano or Verona?

Neither city has a coast, and both offer lake swimming from about June to September. In Lugano the lake is right in town: you can swim at the city lido where the Cassarate meets the lake, or from the decks and ladders towards Castagnola and Paradiso, without any travel.

From Verona you go out to Lake Garda, about half an hour away. Its southern shore has lidos, lawns, small pebble beaches and Sirmione's flat limestone shelves. That makes a better day at the water, but it is still a day trip rather than something you do on a whim.

Verona eats noticeably better. Its osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta serve risotto made with Amarone, bigoli with duck, and boiled meats with peppery pearà sauce. Valpolicella and Soave are made a short drive away, and a glass at a counter with a snack is part of every evening.

Lugano's strength is the grotto: a rustic tavern built against cool rock cellars, serving polenta and braised meats at granite tables with Ticino Merlot. Beyond that the range is narrow and expensive, and many visitors cross into Italy for a proper meal.

Here the gap is wide. Verona's UNESCO-listed centre layers Roman, medieval and Renaissance buildings inside a loop of the Adige. The Arena dominates Piazza Bra, the Roman theatre climbs the far bank, and San Zeno and Castelvecchio would be worth a trip on their own.

Lugano has an attractive arcaded old town around Piazza della Riforma, Luini's Passion fresco in Santa Maria degli Angioli, and art at LAC and Palazzo Reali. It is pleasant, but a day covers it, whereas Verona needs two or three.

Both cities spend their evenings over an aperitivo and dinner, but Verona keeps going longer. Across the Ponte Pietra, Veronetta's student wine bars and pubs stay busy later, especially in term time, and in summer the crowd leaving the opera fills the centre again near midnight.

Lugano is quieter and more expensive. After a drink on the lakefront or under the arcades and a few lounge bars, most of the town is asleep before midnight, and young locals head to Milan.

Lugano is the stronger choice for the outdoors, because the mountains start at the edge of town. Funiculars run up Monte Brè and San Salvatore, a rack railway climbs Monte Generoso, and the lakeside path to Gandria takes only a morning. The Verzasca and Maggia valleys, with their green water, are about an hour away.

Verona's countryside is gentler. You can walk or cycle through the Valpolicella vineyards and follow the Adige cycle route north. Monte Baldo, the windsurfing waters of northern Garda and the Lessinia plateau are an hour or so away, so you have to travel for the bigger landscapes.

Both are excellent bases for day trips, but Verona has the deeper list. Venice is just over an hour by train, Vicenza under half an hour, and Padua and Mantua are closer still than Venice. The Garda towns and the Valpolicella and Soave wine country are on the doorstep.

From Lugano you can visit two countries. Milan is about an hour away, Como half an hour, and you can see the castles of Bellinzona or go on to Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands. The scenery is finer, but there are fewer great art cities within reach.

Verona has bigger attractions for children, though they are outside the city. Gardaland and the drive-through safari at Parco Natura Viva are each about half an hour away, and the flat, mostly traffic-free centre is easy with a pushchair. The catch is that most of these outings need a car.

Lugano is better for younger children and outdoor days. They can ride the boats, funiculars and the Generoso rack railway, swim at the lidos and play in Parco Ciani, and the park of Swiss landmarks in miniature at Melide is close by. The steep streets are hard work with a pushchair, though.

Lugano is the easier place to get around without a car. Boats, funiculars and rack railways reach the lake villages and the summits, a short funicular links the hilltop station to the old town, and hotel stays usually include free regional transport. The slopes are the only real effort.

Verona's centre is flat and compact, so you will mostly walk. But the station is twenty minutes' walk away, there is no tram or metro, and the Valpolicella villages and Lessinia have so few buses that a car helps.

Verona has a slight edge, mostly thanks to what you can take home. Via Mazzini has Italian fashion labels, but the best buys are Amarone, Garda olive oil and the star-shaped pandoro.

Lugano's Via Nassa is more exclusive, with Swiss watchmakers and jewellers under the porticoes, and there is a large designer outlet near Mendrisio. In both cities, serious shoppers end up in Milan.

Verona costs much less day to day, and the gap shows most in what you spend once you have arrived. In Lugano even a simple grotto meal is charged at Swiss rates, and the lake boats and mountain railways, the main reasons to go, cost extra every day. There is no cheaper part of town either, so your room is expensive wherever you sleep.

In Verona, meals and drinks cost what they do elsewhere in Italy, and you walk almost everywhere. The real expense is your room. It is dear for a city this size and costs even more on Arena opera nights and during the trade fairs, but moving out of the historic centre does bring it down, which Lugano doesn't let you do.

Opera in the Arena gives Verona the lead. From June to early September, grand productions of Verdi and Puccini play to thousands on the Roman stone tiers. The Roman theatre adds a summer festival of Shakespeare, dance and jazz, and the Teatro Filarmonico runs a season through the cooler months.

Lugano's cultural life is centred on LAC, where the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana plays in a hall with fine acoustics. Its summer highlight is Estival Jazz, a run of free open-air concerts in Piazza della Riforma.

Both cities are good places to slow down, but in different ways. Verona has thermal water within reach: the spa pools at Sirmione facing the lake, a spring-fed thermal lake near Lazise, and the old springs at Caldiero.

Lugano has no springs. Relaxation there means lazy hours at a lido, benches among the palms of Parco Ciani and long grotto lunches, with hotel spas and a pool complex near Rivera if you want more.