Stuttgart or Verona?

Neither city has a coast, but only Verona gives you real swimming. The southern shore of Lake Garda is about half an hour away, with lidos, lawns that run down to the water and Sirmione's flat limestone shelves, and it is warm enough from June to September. It is still an outing rather than a lake vacation, and the narrow beaches fill up on summer weekends.

Stuttgart has nothing comparable. The Neckar is a working river with barges, and Max-Eyth-See is for boating. In summer you swim in the outdoor pools, some of them fed by the mineral springs, and Lake Constance is more than two hours south.

Verona eats and drinks better, and its wine is the main reason. Valpolicella, Amarone, Soave and Bardolino are all made a short drive away, so an evening glass at a counter with small snacks is part of the day. In the osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and in Veronetta you will find Amarone risotto, bigoli with duck and bollito with peppery pearà. Avoid the tourist menus around the Arena.

Stuttgart's Swabian food is heavier and very much its own: Maultaschen, Käsespätzle and Zwiebelrostbraten, washed down with Trollinger from vineyards inside the city limits. Its seasonal Besen taverns in growers' homes are a real local treat, and the fine-dining tier is deeper than Verona's. Neither city is good for street food or international variety.

Verona's centre is the sight in itself. Roman, medieval and Renaissance layers fill one walkable river loop, from the Arena and the Roman theatre to the Scaliger tombs, San Zeno's bronze doors and Castelvecchio's museum in its Scarpa setting. Juliet's balcony is the least of it.

Stuttgart's strengths are twentieth-century and industrial: the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums, the Le Corbusier houses of the Weissenhof Estate and the Staatsgalerie's postmodern wing. Its older heritage survives in pockets around Schlossplatz and the Altes Schloss, because the wartime bombing left much less of the old city standing than in Verona.

Neither city is a destination for going out, but the evenings feel different. Stuttgart has more of a club night, with basement and former industrial venues, a small electronic scene and the Theodor-Heuss-Strasse bar strip at weekends. Its big nights are the beer tents of the Cannstatter Volksfest and the late-summer wine village.

Verona's evenings are built around the aperitivo, with spritz and Valpolicella at tables in Piazza delle Erbe, and younger, cheaper bars in student Veronetta. There is no dance scene in the centre, though the opera crowd leaving the Arena gives summer nights a late lift.

Both offer good walking country rather than high mountains, but of different kinds. Stuttgart is surrounded by forest: the Rotwildpark and Schönbuch on its edge, then the cliff trails and caves of the Swabian Jura and the fir-covered ridges of the northern Black Forest, all about an hour away.

Verona's surroundings have more water and more variety. Close by there are the cypress-dotted Valpolicella hills and the Lessinia's gorges and pastures. Further out, Monte Baldo rises over Lake Garda, with ridge walks, paragliding, and wind at the lake's northern end that sailors and windsurfers come for.

Both are excellent bases, but Verona's options are hard to beat. By train you can reach Venice, Palladio's Vicenza, Giotto's chapel in Padua and lake-ringed Mantua in an hour or so, and Sirmione, Malcesine and the Soave and Valpolicella wine villages are closer still.

Stuttgart's list is strong in a quieter way. It offers the baroque palace at Ludwigsburg, Tübingen's punts, Heidelberg's castle by fast train, Hohenzollern on its hilltop and the monastery at Maulbronn. Ulm, Baden-Baden and a long day in Strasbourg add variety, but none of them is in the same league as a day in Venice.

Stuttgart keeps its best treats for children inside the city, while Verona's lie outside it. Wilhelma's zoo and botanical garden among Moorish-style pavilions can fill a whole day, Killesberg has its narrow-gauge railway and lookout tower, and the rack railway is a ride in itself, all reachable by public transport. The hills are hard going with a pushchair, and a big theme park means travelling further afield.

In Verona the centre is the easy part: flat, mostly car-free and simple with a pushchair, with the Arena and the Roman theatre to catch a child's imagination. Gardaland, the water parks and the drive-through safari at Parco Natura Viva are about half an hour out, mostly by car, and hot summer afternoons need planning around.

Stuttgart runs on rails once you leave its flat centre, while Verona is a walking city that hardly needs transport. Königstrasse, Schlossplatz and the main museums are easy on foot. Where the basin climbs, the Stadtbahn, S-Bahn, buses, a rack railway and a funicular take over on one ticket, reaching Wilhelma, the car museums and the airport, and the public Stäffele stairways make steep shortcuts.

Verona has no metro or tram. The Arena, the piazzas, the churches and Castelvecchio are a short stroll apart inside the river loop, and buses mostly serve Porta Nuova station and the airport. Trains to Venice and the lake are excellent, but the Valpolicella villages and the Lessinia are far easier by car.

Stuttgart is a little better for shopping, mainly for brands. Königstrasse is a long pedestrian high street, Breuninger handles designer fashion, and the outlet village at Metzingen is half an hour away.

Verona's Via Mazzini has smart Italian labels and the side streets have jewellers and shoe shops, but the feel is provincial, and serious shoppers go to Milan. Where it wins is the bag you bring home: Amarone, Garda olive oil and a Christmas pandoro.

Neither city is cheap, but Verona is a little kinder to your budget. Its walkable centre means you spend almost nothing on transport, the student osterie in Veronetta and the wine counters keep meals reasonable, and local wine costs far less than abroad. Central rooms are the main expense, especially on opera nights.

Stuttgart's hotel prices follow business travel. They are steep during trade fairs and softer at weekends and in quieter months, and transport costs add up more than in Verona. The tavern portions are generous for what you pay.

Stuttgart offers the richer stage life over a whole year. The Stuttgart Ballet, one of Europe's most respected companies since Cranko's day, shares the state theatre with an opera house known for bold productions. The Liederhalle adds orchestras and a strong Bach tradition, and the Möhringen theatres run big musicals.

Verona has the single greater spectacle: grand Verdi and Puccini on the Arena's ancient tiers on summer nights, with candles lit at dusk. Outside that festival and the summer Shakespeare season at the Roman theatre, the Teatro Filarmonico keeps a modest programme going through the cooler months.

Stuttgart has the stronger bathing culture, with the springs right in town. Bad Cannstatt and Berg are among Europe's most productive mineral sources and feed public baths such as the Mineralbad Cannstatt and Leuze, with warm, naturally carbonated pools and saunas.

Verona's thermal waters are out of town, at Sirmione's lakeside spa, the spring-fed park near Lazise and the old springs at Caldiero. In the city, relaxing means slowing down: long lunches, the evening walk along the river and the terraces of the Giardino Giusti.