Andorra la Vella or Lyon?

Neither city has a coast, as both sit about three hours from the Mediterranean, and in Andorra la Vella the mountain lakes are too cold to swim in, so warm water means a hotel pool or Caldea's lagoons. Lyon does a little better, with a supervised bathing lake at Miribel-Jonage on its edge and the clear water of Lake Annecy within a day out in high summer.

Andorra la Vella eats well after a day on the slopes: escudella, trinxat, grilled lamb and trout, best enjoyed in the bordas of the side valleys where meat is cooked over wood fires. In town, though, the avenues are lined with practical restaurants of uneven quality.

Lyon is in another league. Its bouchons, the legacy of the Mères lyonnaises, Les Halles Paul Bocuse and the Sunday markets by the Saône make eating a main reason to go, and Beaujolais and the northern Rhône supply the wine on the doorstep.

Andorra la Vella's heritage takes about a day. The stone lanes of the Barri Antic hold the fortified Casa de la Vall, seat of the Andorran parliament for centuries, and the church of Sant Esteve. The Romanesque churches out in the valleys, such as Santa Coloma with its round bell tower, are the real reward. Beyond that the town is mostly shops and apartment blocks, with only small museums.

Lyon needs several full days. Roman Lugdunum on Fourvière, Saint-Jean cathedral and the traboules of Vieux Lyon, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in its former abbey, the silk-weavers' hill of Croix-Rousse and the Institut Lumière, where cinema began, cover two thousand years. The city has no single famous landmark, but the depth is there.

Evenings in Andorra la Vella are quiet, with a few pubs and wine bars around the centre and Escaldes-Engordany, and the real après-ski happening up in the resort villages rather than in the capital.

Lyon's large student population keeps it going much later. Wine and cocktail bars crowd the Presqu'île, moored barges on the Rhône turn into bars and clubs, and a serious electronic scene runs from warehouse venues to the Nuits Sonores festival, though weeknights outside term can end early.

This is Andorra la Vella's strength. The capital sits at about 1,000m surrounded by peaks near 3,000m, with ski areas a short bus ride away and the UNESCO-listed Madriu-Perafita-Claror valley starting almost at the edge of town. From late spring the same slopes become hiking, mountain-biking and road-cycling country.

Lyon's outdoors is gentler and mostly urban: car-free quays along the Rhône, the lake in the Parc de la Tête d'Or, and walks in the Monts d'Or. Real mountains in the Chartreuse, Vercors or Alps are an hour or more away by car.

From Andorra la Vella the choices are few and all by road: the cathedral town of La Seu d'Urgell to the south, Puigcerdà and the enclave of Llívia on the Cerdanya plateau, and over the high pass to Ax-les-Thermes and the castle at Foix.

Lyon has towns and wine on every side, many of them reachable by train. Vienne's Roman temple is twenty minutes away, Pérouges and the Beaujolais villages under an hour, and Cluny, Beaune, Annecy and Aix-les-Bains make longer outings that rarely repeat themselves.

Lyon is the easier city with children. The Parc de la Tête d'Or has a free zoo, pony rides and pedalos, the Musée des Confluences shows dinosaur skeletons, and Guignol puppet shows and the Fourvière funiculars add to it, though the stepped hill lanes are hard with a pushchair.

Andorra la Vella works well only when the family is there for the mountains: ski schools and beginner slopes in winter, toboggan runs, rope courses and a wildlife park in summer, and Caldea's family pools when it rains. Without those, older children soon tire of the busy shopping street.

Lyon is far simpler to move around. The flat Presqu'île is pleasant on foot, and metro, trams, funiculars, bike-share and an airport tram link the rest, so a car is never needed.

Andorra la Vella's centre is small and walkable along the river into Escaldes-Engordany, and buses run up the valleys. But there is no train in the country, arrival means a long drive from airports in Spain or France, the main road clogs at busy times, and many trailheads are easier with a car.

Both are fine for shopping, in very different ways. Andorra la Vella is a long low-tax strip of perfume, electronics, spirits and above all ski and outdoor gear, which is useful for stocking up but has little character. Lyon offers chains and luxury labels on the Presqu'île, as well as silk scarves from its weaving past, designer workshops on Croix-Rousse, antique dealers and plenty of chocolate and charcuterie to take home.

Andorra la Vella tends to be the cheaper stay. Rooms are good value outside the peak ski weeks and low taxes make drinks and some shopping cheap, though ski passes, equipment hire and the spa cost what they would in any mountain resort.

Lyon is not a budget city, and hotels get scarce and expensive during trade fairs and the Fête des Lumières. Its set lunches in bouchons are where it saves money, and the zoo costs nothing.

Outside summer, Andorra la Vella has little on stage. The jazz festival in Escaldes-Engordany, classical concerts in Ordino and open-air shows bring the season to life, and the rest of the year has only the odd concert.

Lyon offers a full programme all year. The glass-vaulted Opéra has its own opera company and ballet, and the Orchestre National plays at the Auditorium. The Maison de la Danse and the Biennale make dance the city's speciality, and on summer nights the Nuits de Fourvière fill the Roman theatres.

Andorra la Vella has the stronger wellness offer thanks to one place: Caldea, fed by hot springs in Escaldes-Engordany, with lagoons, saunas and an adults-only section that suit the end of a day outdoors. For quiet, the stone villages of the side valleys do better than the busy town.

Lyon has no thermal water of its own, only hammams, day spas and the open-air pool on the Rhône quays. Its calm comes from long lunches and Sunday mornings by the Saône, and proper spa bathing means a trip to Aix-les-Bains.