Turin or Verona?

Neither city has a coast, but Verona has a real summer swimming option and Turin does not. From Verona, the southern shore of Lake Garda at Peschiera, Lazise and Bardolino is about half an hour away, with lidos, grassy lawns, small pebble beaches and the flat limestone shelves at Sirmione. The water is calm and clear from June to September, though the beaches are narrow and crowded at summer weekends.

Turin's nearest warm sea is the Riviera around Savona and Varazze, close to two hours each way, and the small lakes locals use, such as Avigliana or Viverone, are for a cool-off rather than a lake vacation.

Turin is the stronger food city. Its Piedmontese repertoire, from agnolotti del plin and tajarin to bagna cauda and autumn white truffles from the Langhe, comes with a whole sweet culture of gianduiotti and bicerin under the arcades, and the vermouth and aperitivo tradition began here. Porta Palazzo adds one of Europe's biggest open-air markets.

Verona's cooking is plainer and more rustic, with Amarone risotto, bigoli with duck and bollito with pearà in wood-panelled osterie around Piazza delle Erbe and Veronetta, and its real pride is the wine made on its doorstep. It also suffers more from tired tourist menus near the Arena. Neither city does much street food or international cooking.

Both are rewarding, but in different ways. Turin is a city of great collections and palaces: the Museo Egizio, the Royal Palace and Palazzo Madama, the Shroud in the cathedral, the Savoy residences around the city, plus the cinema museum in the Mole, the car museum and serious contemporary art at Rivoli.

In Verona the townscape itself is the sight. Roman, medieval and Renaissance layers sit inside one loop of the Adige, from the Arena and the Roman theatre to the Scaliger tombs, San Zeno's bronze doors and Scarpa's Castelvecchio. It fits into two or three days, where Turin's museums fill a longer stay.

Turin has more to do after dinner. Its aperitivo leads on to several separate bar districts: wine bars in the Quadrilatero lanes, crowded pavements in San Salvario, an edgier feel in Vanchiglia and the Murazzi by the Po in summer, with clubs in old industrial buildings for those who want them.

Verona's evenings are mostly the spritz-and-Valpolicella hour on Piazza delle Erbe and the riverside, with Veronetta's student bars the only part that stays busy late. Most nights the centre is quiet well before the small hours, apart from the summer bustle when the Arena opera lets out.

Turin has the mountains. The Susa valley, Gran Paradiso with its ibex and chamois, and the Via Lattea ski area are around an hour or an hour and a half away, giving skiing in winter and hut-to-hut hiking and climbing in summer, while the hills up to Superga and the Mandria forest are closer at hand.

Verona's surroundings are softer and more varied in a smaller way: vineyard walks in Valpolicella, the Adige cycle route, beech woods on the Lessinia and Monte Baldo above Garda, with sailing and windsurfing at the lake's northern end. Proper high mountains are a longer trip from here.

Both are excellent bases, but Verona's position is hard to beat. Venice, Vicenza, Padua and Mantua are all within about an hour by rail, so a week can take in four art cities plus the Garda towns and the Valpolicella and Soave cellars without a car.

Turin's best outings are of a different sort: the Langhe wine hills with Alba, Barolo and Bra about an hour south, the Sacra di San Michele above the Susa valley, and Milan by fast train. Beyond that, Genoa and Aosta take around two hours, and the wine villages are easier with a car.

Verona is the better choice with children, mostly because of what lies around it. Gardaland, Parco Natura Viva with its drive-through safari and the water parks along southern Garda are all about half an hour away, while in town the Arena and the Roman theatre tend to catch children's interest.

Turin is good to walk with a pushchair, with flat arcaded streets, and older children enjoy the glass lift through the Mole, the cars and the Egyptian mummies. Its one big family day out, Zoom Torino, is a 45-minute drive, and there is no zoo or theme park in town.

Both are easy on foot, at different scales. Turin's grid of arcaded streets is bigger, running from Porta Nuova to the Mole and the Po, and it has a driverless metro line plus trams and buses that take some learning.

Verona's centre in the river loop is smaller and largely traffic-free, so everything is a short stroll, but there is no metro or tram and the station is a twenty-minute walk away. Both have good rail links, and both need a car for their wine hills.

Turin has a little more range. Via Roma's arcades carry the luxury labels, Via Garibaldi the high-street chains, and there are antique dealers on Via Maria Vittoria and the Balon flea market every Saturday, plus chocolate makers and delicatessens to fill a suitcase.

Verona's Via Mazzini and Corso Porta Borsari are smart but provincial, and its best buys are Amarone, Garda olive oil and pandoro. Serious fashion shoppers in either city end up going to Milan.

Turin is the cheaper stay. Central hotels are fairly priced most of the year, and a generous aperitivo or a trattoria lunch goes a long way, with fine dining and the truffle season being where the bill climbs.

Verona costs more for its size, mainly because rooms in the historic centre are dear and get scarce on opera nights and during trade fairs. Eating at wine counters and in Veronetta keeps it reasonable, and staying across the river or near the station brings the cost down.

The two are well matched but peak at different times of year. Verona is a summer city: opera in the Roman Arena, from June to early September, is grand open-air spectacle and a reason to travel in itself, with Shakespeare, dance and jazz in the Roman theatre alongside. In the cooler months only the Teatro Filarmonico keeps things going.

Turin is steadier through the year, with full opera and ballet seasons at the Teatro Regio, the RAI orchestra, concerts in Piano's Lingotto hall and jazz clubs, so a winter music lover does better there.

Verona is better for thermal waters. Sirmione's sulphur springs feed pools facing the lake, there is a warm spring-fed lake in a villa garden near Lazise, and the Caldiero springs east of the city have been used since Roman times.

Turin offers mainly hotel spas, with the nearest proper baths at Acqui Terme or in the Aosta valley, nearly two hours away. What it offers instead is a slow pace of long café stops, walks along the Po and afternoons in Valentino park.