Monaco or Padua?

Monaco is a much better choice for swimming, even though it has little sand of its own. Larvotto is a short, groomed beach with calm, clear water inside its breakwaters, and the rocky platforms and beach clubs along the shore add more places to swim. The coves at Cap d'Ail and the long beaches of Menton and Nice are only minutes away by path or train.

Padua is inland, and the sea is an excursion of about an hour to Sottomarina or the Lido of Venice. The Adriatic there is shallow and gentle, which suits small children paddling, but the beaches are flat strips of umbrellas rather than a scenic coast.

Padua has the edge for everyday eating, and the two cities eat very differently. Monaco's strength is the formal dining room: starred hotel restaurants, Riviera and Ligurian cooking, and harbour terraces where you are partly paying for the view. Simple meals are hard to find, although the barbagiuan and socca at the Condamine market are worth seeking out.

Padua is about Venetian home cooking and markets: bigoli with duck sauce, baccalà, and the morning stalls in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta. The early-evening spritz, Euganean wines and Caffè Pedrocchi complete it. Fine dining is thin, so anyone who wants a grand gastronomic dinner is better served in Monaco.

Padua is in another league here. The Scrovegni Chapel holds Giotto's fresco cycle, one of the turning points of European painting, and a whole UNESCO-listed group of fourteenth-century frescoes surrounds it. Add the Basilica of Saint Anthony with Donatello's bronzes, the frescoed hall of the Palazzo della Ragione, the university's anatomical theatre and the oldest botanical garden still on its original site.

Monaco's sights are elegant but few: the Prince's Palace and its guard ceremony, the cathedral where Grace Kelly lies, the Oceanographic Museum and the Casino. You can see them comfortably in a day or two, and the setting impresses more than the collections do.

Neither city is made for a big night out, but they go out in opposite ways. Monaco dresses up for the Casino square, hotel bars and glossy seafront clubs, and it comes alive in summer and on Grand Prix weekend, when the harbour turns into one long party. Padua is at its liveliest in term time, when students and locals stand over spritz glasses in the squares around the Palazzo della Ragione and fill the wine bars of the old ghetto.

The seasons work against each other, too. In summer Monaco's nights are at their busiest while Padua goes quiet as the university empties. In Padua you get a cheap, sociable evening, in Monaco a costly, glamorous one.

Monaco wins on scenery right on the doorstep. Limestone mountains rise straight out of the sea behind it. The Tête de Chien cliff looks down over the whole principality, old mule paths climb to Èze, and the coastal paths round Cap d'Ail and Cap Martin pass pines and villas. The clear water is good for snorkelling, diving and paddleboarding.

Padua sits on a flat plain, so the outdoors begins a little way out. The volcanic Euganean Hills, about 15km away, have vineyards, chestnut woods and quiet roads for cycling, and the Brenta towpaths make easy level rides. Proper mountain walking in the pre-Alps needs a car.

Both are excellent bases, but Padua's list is longer and weightier. Venice is less than half an hour away by train, Vicenza's Palladian palaces are closer still, and Verona, Bologna and Ferrara are all within about an hour. Nearer to town are the Brenta villas, Petrarch's village of Arquà and the walled towns around the Euganean Hills.

From Monaco the trips run along the coast and up into the hills. Nice and Villefranche lie to the west and Menton to the east, Èze and La Turbie are just above, and across the border are Sanremo and Dolceacqua. These are mostly seaside towns and perched villages rather than great art cities.

Monaco is easier to fill with children. The aquarium in the Oceanographic Museum, with its sharks and turtles, is a proper outing, Larvotto's sheltered water suits young swimmers, and the palace guards and the yachts keep children watching. The public lifts take care of much of the climbing, although the formal restaurants are less relaxed.

Padua is welcoming in a practical way: the centre is flat and largely free of traffic, and children are made welcome in any trattoria. Beyond running around Prato della Valle and the glasshouses of the botanical garden, though, the main sights are frescoes and churches. Gardaland and the beaches are day trips of an hour or more.

Both cities are easy to cover on foot and neither needs a car, but in Monaco you climb and in Padua you walk on the level. Monaco is only about 3km end to end, but it rises steeply from the sea, and you learn to use its free lifts, escalators and the little harbour ferry to save your legs.

Padua's centre is flat, shaded by arcades and partly closed to traffic, with a tram from the station and bicycles everywhere. Both stations are an asset: Monaco's opens up the Riviera, and Padua's sits where main lines run in every direction.

Monaco comes out a little ahead, but only if you are after luxury. The Carré d'Or around the Casino gardens packs the big fashion houses, jewellers and watchmakers into a few streets, and window-shopping there is part of an evening in Monte-Carlo. Beyond that, there are souvenirs on the Rock and very little else.

Padua is ordinary but more varied. Its arcaded streets have Italian shoe and fashion shops, independent boutiques and university bookshops, and the markets and delicatessens under the Palazzo della Ragione are good for cheese and Euganean wine to take home. There is also a large antiques market in Prato della Valle one Sunday a month.

This is where the two differ most. Monaco is one of the most expensive places in the world to visit: hotels are priced for the very rich, and even a coffee costs a lot. The free lifts and walks round the Rock and harbour are about the only bargains, and many visitors sleep in Nice, Menton or Beausoleil instead.

Padua costs what a northern Italian city of its size normally does. Its hotels are a sensible base for the whole Veneto, including Venice. A standing spritz and market food cost little, and you can walk everywhere. Rooms cost more only around the big trade fairs and graduation season.

Monaco has the stronger stage by a distance. The Monte-Carlo Opera performs in the gilded Salle Garnier inside the Casino, where Puccini and Massenet had premières, and the Philharmonic and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo both have international reputations. The main season runs from winter into spring with the Printemps des Arts, and summer brings open-air shows by the sea.

Padua's programme is modest but runs all year. There is theatre and some opera at Teatro Verdi, and chamber concerts are held in the Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica of Saint Anthony. Students keep a few small live-music venues going. For major opera, visitors take the train to the Fenice in Venice or the Arena in Verona.

Padua is the better choice for a restful stay, thanks to Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme about 12km away. This is one of Europe's largest thermal districts, where hot mineral water rises from the ground and mud treatments go back to Roman times. Many spa hotels let day visitors use their pools, so you can sightsee in the morning and soak in the afternoon.

Monaco's version is seawater rather than hot springs: the large thalassotherapy centre beside the Casino and the spas of the grand hotels. A quiet morning in the Japanese Garden is genuinely restful, but it is a treatment day, not a bathing tradition.