Aix-en-Provence or Zurich?

Neither place has a beach of its own, and the swimming is quite different. From Aix it means a day out to the sea: pebbly coves on the Cote Bleue, or Cassis and the calanques, about an hour's drive away and crowded in August. Many visitors simply use their hotel pool.

Zurich keeps its water on the doorstep. Wooden bathing houses and lawned lidos line the clean lake, and on the Limmat swimmers drift downstream between the Letten river baths. You swim from grass and piers rather than sand, and the season ends in early September.

Aix eats better. The day follows the Provencal market, with stalls of goat's cheese, olives and herbs on Place Richelme. Lunch is the meal that matters: daube, tians and grilled fish with Coteaux d'Aix rosé, and calissons from the old confiseries to finish. Range beyond French and Mediterranean cooking is thin, though.

Zurich is reliable rather than memorable. Its highlights are veal Geschnetzeltes with rösti in a panelled guild house, winter fondue and very fine chocolate. Kreis 4 and 5 offer more international choice than anything in Aix. What Zurich lacks is the market life, and every meal out costs a lot.

Both are two or three days of sightseeing. In Aix the town itself is the sight: the plane trees and mossy fountains of the Cours Mirabeau, the 17th- and 18th-century mansions of the Mazarin quarter, and the places linked to Cezanne, from his studio at Les Lauves to the Bibemus quarries.

Zurich puts more weight on its museums. The Kunsthaus has Monet, Munch and Giacometti, the Swiss National Museum covers the country's history, and the Rietberg shows art from beyond Europe. In the old town are the Grossmünster, where the Swiss Reformation began, and Chagall's windows in the Fraumünster.

Zurich is far livelier after dark. Clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and Zurich West stay open until morning at weekends, Langstrasse stays busy late, and in August the Street Parade brings one of Europe's biggest techno gatherings to the lake. High drink prices are the only real limit.

Aix's student population fills the bars around Place des Cardeurs on warm nights, but it is a town for drinks on a terrace. The few small clubs close early, and the town goes quiet in term breaks. Anyone after a real night out goes to Marseille.

Provencal limestone and the Mediterranean coast set the scene around Aix, while Zurich looks out over a lake to the snow of the Alps. From Aix you can climb Cezanne's Sainte-Victoire to the Croix de Provence, walk the white cliffs and turquoise inlets of the Calanques, kayak the Gorges du Verdon or cycle the Luberon among vineyards and lavender. Spring and autumn are the seasons for it, and a car helps a great deal.

Zurich's outdoors starts in town, with promenades along both shores of the lake and the forest trails of the Uetliberg a short train ride away. The high mountains of Rigi, Pilatus and the Glarus valleys are about an hour off for summer hiking. In winter Flumserberg makes a day on the slopes possible, often in sunshine above the fog that sits on the lake.

Around Aix the best day trips call for a car, while from Zurich the train does everything. The towns are simple enough from Aix: Marseille's old port is about half an hour away, the TGV reaches the Palais des Papes in Avignon in about twenty minutes, and Arles, Nimes and the Pont du Gard make a run of Roman sites. The real prizes are the Luberon villages of Gordes and Roussillon, the abbey of Senanque and Les Baux in the Alpilles, and they are far easier with a car.

From Zurich, trains reach Lucerne's covered bridges in under an hour, and Bern's arcaded old town, Basel's museums on the Rhine and St Gallen's abbey library in about an hour each. The Rhine Falls pair well with the painted houses of Stein am Rhein, and a boat up the lake reaches Rapperswil. None of these needs a car.

Zurich is much the better city for children. The zoo's indoor rainforest and elephant park, lake lidos with shallow areas, boat trips and the Technorama in Winterthur fill several days, and the transport museum in Lucerne is an easy outing.

Aix is safe and mostly pedestrian, with fountains and ice cream to break up a walk. Its sights are mansions and museums, though, and summer afternoons are very hot. Families tend to stay somewhere with a pool and drive out to La Barben zoo or the coast.

Inside the town Aix is easy, since the old town and Mazarin quarter are small enough to walk. Beyond it, things get harder: the TGV station is out on the plateau, and the villages are poorly served by buses, so most visitors hire a car and then struggle to park.

Zurich is effortless. Trams, S-Bahn, funiculars and lake boats all run on one punctual, integrated ticket, the airport train is short, and the main station connects to the whole country. A car would only get in the way.

Zurich has the bigger offer, led by Bahnhofstrasse with its watchmakers, jewellers and old department stores. The viaduct arches of Zurich West add design shops, but almost everything sits at the top of the market.

Aix is better for browsing: French boutiques around Rue d'Italie, flower and textile markets, and souvenirs such as santons, olive wood, Marseille soap and Provencal fabrics. There is no luxury shopping and no major department store.

Neither is a bargain, but the gap is wide. Aix is expensive for Provence, with few hotels and high July rates. Back-street lunch menus, market picnics and cheap regional buses still keep a trip within reason.

Zurich costs far more in almost every way, from plain hotel rooms to a casual lunch and a single drink. The transport pass, free lidos and drinking fountains help a little, but they change little overall.

Through most of the year Zurich has the richer stage. The Opernhaus has a full season of opera and ballet, the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in its restored hall, and the Schauspielhaus stages German-language theatre. The Rote Fabrik and Kreis 4 venues bring jazz, indie and electronic acts.

Aix comes into its own every July, when its opera festival fills the Archbishop's Palace courtyard and books out early. The rest of the year rests on Ballet Preljocaj at the Pavillon Noir and touring work at the Grand Theatre de Provence.

The two are fairly close for relaxation, though Zurich offers a little more variety. It has the thermal pools and rooftop bath in the old Hürlimann brewery vaults, wooden lake saunas with cold dips in winter, and the hot springs of Baden a short train ride away.

Aix relaxes you through its pace: market mornings, long lunches and warm fountains under the plane trees. Its one real spa, the Thermes Sextius, stands where the Roman baths were.