Stuttgart or Turin?

Neither city has a beach, and in summer both send their swimmers somewhere else. Stuttgart's answer is its outdoor pools, some of them fed by the mineral springs, because Lake Constance is more than two hours south.

Turin is a little better placed for a swim. The lakes at Avigliana and Viverone are close, and the Ligurian Riviera is under two hours away, which makes a long day at the sea possible but not part of a normal city stay.

Stuttgart eats heartily and in its own way: Maultaschen, Käsespätzle and roast beef piled with onions in the wine taverns, plus the seasonal Besen, where growers pour their own Trollinger with onion tart. It also has more fine dining than its size would suggest.

Turin is in another league. Piedmontese cooking brings vitello tonnato, agnolotti del plin and autumn white truffles, the wine lists draw on Barolo and Barbaresco, and the aperitivo, gianduja and bicerin give every day a shape. Porta Palazzo is a far bigger market than Stuttgart's Markthalle. Neither city is strong on street food or international cooking.

Stuttgart's sights come mostly from engineering and modern design: the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums, the Staatsgalerie and the Weissenhof Estate's Le Corbusier houses. Wartime bombing left the older heritage in pockets around Schlossplatz, and two or three days covers it.

Turin has more depth and more history. The Museo Egizio alone justifies the trip, and around it stands a whole royal capital, with the Royal Palace, Palazzo Madama, the Shroud cathedral and the ring of UNESCO-listed Savoy residences. It even matches Stuttgart's motoring theme with the Museo dell'Automobile and the Lingotto rooftop track.

Nights out are easy-going and sociable in both cities, but Turin has the better evenings. In Stuttgart they centre on the bars of Theodor-Heuss-Strasse and a few basement clubs, and outside weekends and the Cannstatter Volksfest the city goes quiet early.

Turin's evening begins with the aperitivo and then spreads across three districts: the old lanes of the Quadrilatero, the pavement crowds of San Salvario and the more alternative Vanchiglia. In summer the riverside Murazzi add more. The bar streets are at their fullest in term time, when the students are in town.

Stuttgart's countryside starts at the edge of its basin. You can climb from the centre onto wooded hills and vineyard trails, and within an hour you reach the cliff paths of the Swabian Jura and the fir forests of the northern Black Forest. It is gentle walking and cycling country, without high peaks.

Turin itself sits on a flat plain, but it has proper mountains close by. Gran Paradiso's ibex and high trails, hut-to-hut hiking in the Susa valley and skiing around Sestriere are all about an hour or so away. Nearer in, there are the Superga hills, the walled Mandria forest and the Po's riverside paths.

Both cities are excellent bases for day trips, and the difference lies in what you go out to see. From Stuttgart the trips are mostly towns and castles reached easily by train: Ludwigsburg's palace, half-timbered Esslingen, Tübingen, Heidelberg, Hohenzollern and Maulbronn, with Strasbourg possible for a long day.

Turin's day trips lean towards wine and mountains. There are the Langhe villages, Alba and Bra, the Sacra di San Michele on its rock and Aosta's Roman remains, with Milan and Genoa easy by rail. The wine hills are much easier to explore with a car.

Stuttgart is the easier city with children. Wilhelma's zoo and gardens fill a day, Killesberg has a miniature railway and animals, Ludwigsburg has a fairy-tale garden, and outdoor pools and beer gardens are everywhere. The only real drawback is the hills when you are pushing a pushchair.

Turin is flat, and its arcades keep children out of the sun and the rain. The Mole's glass lift and the Egyptian mummies go down well with older children. But the city has no zoo or aquarium, the zoo park at Cumiana is best reached by car, and summers are hotter.

Stuttgart moves you by rail and Turin by foot. Stuttgart's flat core is small, and beyond it the Stadtbahn, S-Bahn, a rack railway and a funicular, all on one ticket, carry you up the steep sides of the basin. The public stairways called Stäffele make good shortcuts on foot.

Turin's centre is a level grid of arcades that you can walk from Porta Nuova to the Po without needing a ticket. Its single metro line and the slower trams matter less than Stuttgart's network does.

The two cities are equally good for shopping but suit different shoppers. Stuttgart is for brands: Königstrasse's long pedestrian high street, a historic department store for designer labels, and the Metzingen outlet village about half an hour away.

Turin is for browsers and food lovers. Chocolate makers, pastry shops and truffle delicatessens are the real finds, along with the antique dealers of Via Maria Vittoria and the Balon flea market. Via Roma has luxury names, but the choice of designer fashion is thinner.

Turin is the cheaper place to stay. Central hotels are fairly priced for most of the year, a generous aperitivo can stand in for dinner, and trattorie, bakeries and market food keep daily spending down.

Stuttgart is a prosperous business city, and hotel rooms reflect that, especially during trade fairs. Weekends and the quieter months bring rooms down, and tavern meals are reasonable for their size, but smart dining and central hotels push a budget further than in Turin.

Stuttgart has the stronger stage life. Its ballet, famous since the Cranko era, is among the most respected in Europe, the Staatsoper is known for bold productions, and the Liederhalle carries a serious Bach tradition. Big musicals at Möhringen add something lighter, and ballet tickets need booking early.

Turin has a solid year-round programme of its own: opera and ballet at the Teatro Regio, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra and festivals of jazz and electronic music. Its drama is almost all in Italian, though, and nothing in the city draws visitors from abroad the way Stuttgart's ballet does.

Stuttgart has a real bathing culture. Its springs at Bad Cannstatt and Berg are among the most productive in Europe and feed public baths where you can soak in naturally carbonated warm water indoors and out, with saunas at the larger ones.

Turin offers calm rather than spas: long café breaks, evening walks under the arcades and quiet hours in Valentino park. For thermal waters you have to travel close to two hours, to Acqui Terme or the Aosta valley.