Aix-en-Provence or Lucerne?

Aix has the edge, mainly because it has real sea within reach. The coves of the Côte Bleue, Cassis and the calanques are about an hour away and warm enough for a proper swim through high summer, though they are pebbly, rocky and crowded in August, and without a car the trip is a chore.

In Lucerne the water is right in town: the Lido, the old wooden lake baths and the lawns at Ufschötti. The lake is clean and has mountains all around, but the season is short and the shore is grass and jetties. It is somewhere for a quick dip, not a beach day.

Eating is one of the reasons to go to Aix and an afterthought in Lucerne. Aix has produce markets every morning on Place Richelme, unhurried lunches of daube, tians and grilled fish with Coteaux d'Aix rosé, and calissons from old confectioners. The range is mostly French, but within it the cooking is good.

Lucerne offers hearty Swiss dishes such as Chügelipastete, rösti, fondue and lake perch, served in panelled guild-house taverns. Too many places near the Chapel Bridge cater to coach tours, and you pay a lot for a menu with little variety.

The two are about even, but the sightseeing is different in kind. In Aix the town itself is the attraction: the plane trees and mossy fountains of the Cours Mirabeau, the honey-coloured mansions of the Mazarin quarter, and Cézanne's world spread across his studio at Les Lauves, the Jas de Bouffan and the Bibemus quarries. At a gentle pace it fills two or three days.

Lucerne has fewer sights, but some of them are icons of Switzerland: the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower, the Lion Monument and the towers of the Musegg Wall, which you can climb. The Rosengart Collection's Picasso and Klee are a match for the Musée Granet, and a day or two covers it all.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Aix has more going on. A large student population fills the terraces around Place des Cardeurs on warm evenings, and there are a few wine bars and small clubs. Anyone after a real club night goes to Marseille.

Lucerne usually settles for a drink by the water and is quiet by midnight. The great exception is Fasnacht, when the whole Old Town is out in costume until dawn.

Lucerne's setting is the bigger draw. Mountains rise straight from the lake, and Pilatus, Rigi and the Stanserhorn are climbed by cogwheel railway or cable car, while Titlis keeps its snow all year. Boat, train and trail fit into a single day, with skiing in winter, though low cloud can hide everything.

Aix has fine landscapes of a drier kind: Sainte-Victoire on the edge of town, the white cliffs of the Calanques, the Verdon gorge and cycling routes through the Luberon. Most of it needs a car, and the midsummer heat and fire closures limit the best seasons to spring and autumn.

Aix is the richer base. Marseille is half an hour away, the TGV reaches Avignon in about twenty minutes, and Arles, Nîmes and the Pont du Gard follow, so the choice of Roman and papal heritage is remarkable. Add hill villages such as Gordes and Roussillon, Les Baux in the Alpilles and the vineyards of Bandol.

Lucerne's outings are more varied in setting and simpler to arrange. Bern, Basel and Zurich are each under an hour by train, and the lake steamer runs to the Rütli meadow and the William Tell country around Altdorf.

Lucerne gives children much more to do. The Swiss Museum of Transport is a full day on its own, the Glacier Garden has its mirror maze, and the steamers and mountain trains are an adventure in themselves. The catch is that they cost a lot and depend on the weather.

Aix is safe and pleasant for a stroll with ice cream among the fountains, but its sights are mansions and museums, and summer afternoons are very hot. Families usually rent a villa with a pool and drive to La Barben zoo or the coast.

In both, the centre is easy to walk around. The difference is what happens after that. Lucerne's station, boat piers and Old Town sit side by side on the lakefront, and trains, steamers and cable cars all run on one integrated ticket system, so you never need a car.

In Aix everything inside the old town is on foot, but the TGV station is a shuttle ride out on the plateau, and the Provençal villages are badly served by buses. Most visitors end up hiring a car and then struggling to park it.

Aix is the more enjoyable place to shop. French fashion and shoe boutiques line Rue d'Italie and Rue Fabrot, there are delicatessens, and the markets sell flowers, textiles and bric-a-brac. You can take home santons, olive-wood ware, Marseille soap and printed fabrics.

Lucerne's shopping revolves around watches. Big jewellery houses on Schwanenplatz sit beside shops selling army knives, chocolate and cuckoo clocks, but there is little fashion or design beyond them.

Neither is a bargain, but Aix is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotels are scarce and expensive, especially in July, yet the lunch menus in the back streets, market picnics and cheap regional buses all keep costs down.

Lucerne is expensive at every step. Even a simple meal costs a lot, and the mountain railways and cable cars that make the trip worthwhile take a large share of the budget. A Swiss travel pass and lakeside supermarket picnics help a little, but they don't make it a budget trip.

Both towns are known for a summer festival, and they are very different. The Festival d'Aix is opera, with productions staged in the courtyard of the Archbishop's Palace in July. Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir gives Aix contemporary dance all year.

Lucerne has the stronger programme overall. The Lucerne Festival brings the world's leading orchestras to Jean Nouvel's lakefront hall in late summer, and that hall, known for its acoustics, keeps a resident orchestra and a full season through the rest of the year.

Aix has the edge, because water is part of its history. The Romans founded it on warm springs, and some of its fountains still run warm. The Thermes Sextius spa stands on the site of the ancient baths. Outside July, long lunches and afternoons under the plane trees keep the pace slow.

Lucerne has no thermal springs and no bathhouse tradition, so a spa visit means a hotel spa or the Mario Botta mineral bath high on the Rigi, which looks out over the mountains. Instead, its calm comes from quiet evenings, the lakeside promenades and steamer rides with nothing to do but watch the shore, though the Old Town fills with tour groups in the middle of the day.