Andorra la Vella or Chamonix?

You won't find much swimming in either place, but Chamonix has a little more. Lac de Passy, down the Arve valley, gets warm enough to swim in July and August, and its short sandy strip faces Mont Blanc. Lake Annecy, a little over an hour away, makes a good summer day out.

From Andorra la Vella the sea is about three hours by road, and the high lakes are too cold for a proper swim. Warm water there means a hotel pool or the lagoons at Caldea.

Both serve hearty mountain food, and both are pleasant places to eat rather than a reason to travel. The difference is the cuisine. In Andorra la Vella it is Catalan: escudella, trinxat, trout and lamb grilled over wood fires in the old stone bordas of the side valleys.

In Chamonix it is Savoyard and built around cheese, with fondue, raclette and tartiflette eaten on terraces facing the glaciers. The town's cheese shops and bakeries are good for putting together a picnic. Chamonix has the edge for a few ambitious kitchens, while Andorra's drinks are cheaper.

Andorra la Vella has a bit more to see. The stone lanes of the Barri Antic lead to the Casa de la Vall, the fortified house where the Andorran parliament sat for centuries. Romanesque churches such as Santa Coloma, with its round bell tower, are dotted through the nearby valleys and fill a full day.

Chamonix's heritage is almost entirely the story of mountaineering. The Musée Alpin, the statues of the 1786 Mont Blanc pioneers and the climbers' cemetery are worth a look, but half a day covers them.

Chamonix is the livelier of the two. Après-ski starts in the late afternoon at the foot of the slopes, then moves on to a narrow lane of bars in the old town, where guides, seasonal workers and visitors mix until late. A couple of small clubs stay open into the early hours.

Andorra la Vella's evenings are quiet: pubs and wine bars in the centre and in Escaldes-Engordany, with most people in bed early. The real après-ski scene there is up in the resort villages, not in the capital.

Both are true mountain bases, but Chamonix is one of the great mountain destinations of the world. The Mont Blanc massif rises almost 4km above the town, and the Aiguille du Midi cable car lifts you into glacier terrain within minutes. The valley also offers mountaineering, the Vallée Blanche and paragliding, none of which the Pyrenees can quite match.

Andorra's landscape is gentler, with peaks near 3,000m, though it has its own strengths. The UNESCO-listed Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley starts on the edge of town, there are lift-linked ski areas a bus ride away, and road cyclists come for the long climbs.

Chamonix's position near three borders gives it a far better choice of outings. Through the Mont Blanc Tunnel, Courmayeur and Roman Aosta are close by, Annecy and Geneva are a little over an hour away, and the Mont Blanc Express runs over into Switzerland to Martigny.

From Andorra la Vella the best trips are the cathedral town of La Seu d'Urgell, the Cerdanya plateau with Puigcerdà and Llívia, and Foix's castle across the French border. It's a pleasant list, but once you have done those few, the rest is far away.

Andorra la Vella's great asset for children is Caldea, whose family pools give a rainy day somewhere to go. Add the big ski schools, the toboggan runs and an animal park of Pyrenean wildlife. The weak point is the centre itself, a long shopping road with heavy traffic that wears thin quickly with small children.

Chamonix's centre is small, safe and easy to walk, and children of every age enjoy the little red train to the Mer de Glace and the ibex and marmots at the Merlet park in Les Houches. The highest cable cars are too high for toddlers, though, and when it rains there is less to fall back on.

Chamonix is noticeably easier. The flat centre has the Aiguille du Midi and Montenvers stations in town, and buses and the Mont Blanc Express along the valley are free with the guest card. Most visitors arrive by shuttle from Geneva airport, though the ski buses are packed in winter.

Andorra la Vella's centre is walkable, though the old-quarter lanes are steep. There is no train, it is a long drive from the airports in Spain or France, and the main valley road often clogs up at weekends. A car helps for reaching trailheads.

Andorra la Vella is the place to shop. Low taxes have turned its main avenues into a continuous strip of department stores, perfume and electronics shops and outdoor outfitters, which suits anyone stocking up on bargains, even if it has little charm.

Chamonix's shopping is narrower but more specialised. Long-established climbing and ski shops carry technical equipment and expert advice, and climbers often save their big purchases for a visit. Beyond those, the town offers Savoyard cheeses, crystals and souvenirs.

Andorra la Vella is much the cheaper stay. Rooms are good value outside the peak ski weeks, set lunches are reasonable, and spirits and some shopping cost less than over the border. Ski passes and the spa are still priced like any mountain resort.

Chamonix is expensive across the board, from rooms in school vacations to lift passes, guides and paragliding. The free valley transport, self-catering apartments and trails that start without a lift help soften the bill.

Neither is a town for an evening of music. Andorra la Vella offers a little more, with a small national classical orchestra, a summer jazz festival in Escaldes-Engordany, a classical festival in Ordino, and occasional concerts in its congress and cultural halls.

Chamonix's highlight is its summer jazz festival, with some sets played high in the mountains. The rest of the year brings little beyond mountain film evenings and church concerts, and for opera you would go to Geneva.

Both offer a good soak after a day outdoors, though neither town is especially calm. In Andorra la Vella everything centres on Caldea in Escaldes-Engordany, with spring-fed lagoons under its glass spire and a quieter adults-only area.

Chamonix's day spa, built on the Italian thermal model, has hot outdoor pools that look straight up at the glaciers. Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, about 25 minutes down the valley, adds a much older spa tradition, with warm springs in a wooded gorge.