Andorra la Vella or Luxembourg?

Neither city has a beach, but Luxembourg at least offers a summer swim. Its options are wooded bathing spots on the Upper Sûre reservoir and the flooded gravel pits at Remerschen in the Moselle valley.

In Andorra la Vella the mountain lakes are too cold for swimming, and the sea is a three-hour drive away. Warm water means a hotel pool or the lagoons at Caldea.

Andorra la Vella's best meals are found outside the town, in the bordas of the side valleys, where lamb and sausages are cooked over wood fires. Look for escudella and trinxat, which suit cold weather. The restaurants along the main avenues are mostly practical and uneven.

Luxembourg has more range. French cooking leads at the top end, Portuguese and Italian places serve the neighbourhoods, and Moselle Riesling and crémant are poured everywhere. Its weak spot is cheap casual eating, so lunch is the meal to plan around.

This is one of the biggest gaps between the two. Luxembourg's old town sits on a plateau ringed by fortress remains. You can walk through the Bock casemates and look down from the Chemin de la Corniche onto the Grund, and the national museum and MUDAM easily fill a second day.

Andorra la Vella has a small Barri Antic built around the Casa de la Vall, the old parliament house. The rest of its heritage is in Romanesque churches such as Santa Coloma out in the valleys, and a day is enough for all of it.

Both are early-night places. Luxembourg has more going on: bars and a couple of clubs packed into the old brewery at Rives de Clausen, stone pubs in the Grund and later venues in Hollerich, with Thursday and Friday the busy nights.

Evenings in Andorra la Vella are a few pubs and wine bars shared with Escaldes-Engordany. The real après-ski happens up in the resort villages, not in the capital.

Andorra la Vella is surrounded by peaks close to 3,000m. The big ski areas are a short ride away, and the UNESCO-listed Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley begins almost at the edge of town. In summer the same slopes are used for hiking, mountain biking and long road climbs.

Luxembourg's outdoors is greener and gentler. It has wooded gorges right through the city, the mossy sandstone passages of the Müllerthal and the hills of the Ardennes, with cycle paths along the Moselle vineyards. There are no mountains, and autumn is its best season.

Luxembourg's position between three countries gives it far more choice. Trier's Roman sites and Metz's Gothic cathedral are each under an hour by train. At home there are Vianden's hilltop castle, Echternach and the Moselle wine villages.

From Andorra la Vella the best outing is La Seu d'Urgell and its Romanesque cathedral, half an hour south. Puigcerdà and Llívia, or Foix over the French pass, make longer drives, and after that the list runs out.

These two are fairly level for families, but they suit different trips. Andorra la Vella works for active families, with large ski schools and beginner slopes in winter and toboggan runs, rope courses and an animal park in summer. The downside is the busy, traffic-heavy main street in town.

Luxembourg suits a calm two- or three-day stay with younger children. They can explore the casemate tunnels and the natural history museum, and the Parc Merveilleux at Bettembourg is the one attraction built for families. Lifts make the city easy with a buggy.

Luxembourg makes this almost effortless. Trams, buses and trains are free everywhere, public lifts and a funicular link the city's levels, and trains reach Vianden, Clervaux and the Moselle without a car.

Andorra la Vella's centre is easy to walk, and buses run up the valleys. But there is no train, the airports are a long drive away in Spain or France, the valley road jams in ski season, and many trailheads are much easier with a car.

For bargains Andorra la Vella comes out ahead. Low taxes have made its main avenues a continuous strip of perfume, electronics, spirits and especially ski and outdoor gear. It has little character, though, and few local crafts.

Luxembourg's Grand-Rue sells luxury and premium fashion to a wealthy local crowd, which is no help to bargain hunters. The more distinctive things to take home are Villeroy & Boch porcelain from its outlet, Moselle crémant and produce from the market on Place Guillaume II.

Andorra la Vella is far easier on the wallet. Rooms are fair value outside the peak ski weeks, set lunches are reasonable, and spirits and tobacco are cheaper than across the borders. Ski passes, equipment hire and Caldea are the costs that add up.

Luxembourg is expensive to sleep and eat in, because its hotels are aimed at business travellers and the EU institutions. Free transport, free museums and lunch menus soften the bill, and some visitors stay in Trier or Metz and come in by train.

Luxembourg has a real programme all year. The Philharmonie hosts the resident orchestra and touring soloists, the Grand Théâtre stages visiting opera and dance, and Neimënster in the Grund holds open-air concerts in summer.

Andorra la Vella mostly comes alive for music in summer, with the jazz festival in Escaldes-Engordany and the classical festival in Ordino. The rest of the year there is usually little on.

The two are close, but the spa sits in a different place in each. In Andorra la Vella, Caldea's lagoons, saunas and adults-only area are right next door in Escaldes-Engordany, ideal after a day on the slopes. The town around it, though, is full of traffic and shoppers.

Luxembourg's thermal baths at Mondorf-les-Bains, set in a landscaped park, are half an hour away and make a day out. The city itself is the more restful place to stay, with quiet evenings and river walks through the Grund and the Pétrusse valley.