Annecy or Lucerne?

Neither has a sea, but Lake Annecy is the better place to swim. It is a couple of degrees warmer in high summer and famously clear. Besides the Albigny and Marquisats lawns in town, there are village beaches at Sevrier, Talloires and Doussard, so you can plan whole days around the water.

In Lucerne a swim is more of a break between excursions, from the Lido, the old wooden lake baths or the lawn at Ufschötti. Both seasons last only through high summer, and neither shore has sand.

Both kitchens rely on melted cheese and lake fish, but Annecy gives you more reasons to plan your meals. Its arcaded market mornings, the Reblochon and Abondance from the surrounding valleys and the gastronomic tables around Talloires and Veyrier are worth the effort for anyone who travels to eat.

Lucerne serves solid Swiss comfort food, such as Chügelipastete, rösti and perch in wood-panelled guild houses, but it costs more and has less depth, and the tables around the Chapel Bridge cater to tour groups. For variety, try the Saturday riverside market and a few Neustadt bistros.

Lucerne has more to see. The Chapel Bridge and Water Tower, the climbable towers of the Musegg Wall, the Lion Monument and the Picasso and Klee works in the Rosengart Collection fill a day or two, and the Bourbaki Panorama and Wagner's villa at Tribschen add more.

Annecy's appeal is the old town as a whole: the canals, the Palais de l'Isle on its island and the château museum above. One unhurried day covers it.

Neither is a place for a big night out, and both go quiet by midnight for most of the year. Annecy's evenings come alive mainly in summer, on the canal-side terraces and along the lakefront, and anything more serious means going to Geneva or Lyon.

Lucerne has a few more cocktail bars and a small club scene around the Neustadt and the station. Once a year, Fasnacht fills the whole Old Town with costumed crowds until dawn.

Both sit on mountain lakes with superb outdoors, but you use them differently. In Annecy you get around under your own steam: trails climb from town to Mont Veyrier and the Semnoz, paragliders launch from the Col de la Forclaz, and the lake is for paddleboards, kayaks and sailing boats. A car helps for the higher passes.

In Lucerne the mountains come to you by rail and cable. Cogwheel railways and cable cars climb Pilatus, Rigi and the Stanserhorn, Titlis keeps glacier snow all year, and paddle steamers let you combine a boat ride, a train and a ridge walk in one day. Low cloud can hide the views for days.

Lucerne has the stronger list. Swiss trains put Zurich, Bern and Basel each under an hour away, and lake steamers run to the Rütli meadow and the William Tell country around Altdorf.

Annecy has good outings too: Geneva is under an hour by road, Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains are short train rides, and Chamonix sits beneath Mont Blanc. Several of these work best by car, though, and Lyon makes a long day.

Both are safe, compact towns with lakeside lawns for picnics and play, but Lucerne has the one big attraction built for children: the Swiss Museum of Transport, which easily fills a day. Its cogwheel trains and steamers are an outing in themselves, though they are costly and depend on the weather.

Family days in Annecy are simpler: lake beaches, pedal boats, the flat cycle path along the shore and summer toboggan runs. Outside summer it has less to fall back on.

Lucerne is far easier. The station, the boat piers and the Old Town sit together on the waterfront, and trains, steamers, cogwheel railways and cable cars all run on integrated tickets, so even the mountain days need no car.

Annecy is just as walkable in town, and the cycle path and summer lake boats help. Trailheads, mountain passes and Chamonix are much simpler with a hire car, though, and summer traffic around the lake can be heavy.

What you carry home is the real difference: from Annecy it is mostly food, from Lucerne a Swiss watch, and Lucerne has the more developed shopping of the two. On Annecy's market days the arcaded streets sell Savoyard cheese, sausages, génépi and local honey, and around Rue Sainte-Claire there are kitchenware and cutlery shops and outdoor gear among the souvenir stalls. For fashion or design, locals go to Geneva.

Lucerne's big watch and jewellery houses on Schwanenplatz and along the lakefront are a reason to shop in their own right, with army knives, chocolate and cuckoo clocks beside them. Beyond that trade the main streets are short and there are few fashion labels.

Annecy is expensive for a French town, but Lucerne costs a great deal more. In Annecy the beaches, parks, cycle path and mountain trails are free, and visiting in the shoulder seasons or renting a self-catering flat brings the cost down.

In Lucerne even a simple meal is expensive, and the railways and cable cars that make the stay worthwhile take a large share of the budget. A Swiss travel pass and picnics by the lake help, but there is no cheap way to do Lucerne.

For music, Lucerne is the clear choice. The Lucerne Festival brings the world's leading orchestras to the lakefront concert hall, which is famous for its acoustics, and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the opera at the city theatre run through the rest of the year.

Annecy has a respectable season of theatre, dance and circus at Bonlieu, a summer classical festival and the Fête du Lac fireworks in August. For opera or a major orchestra, though, you have to go to Geneva or Lyon.

From Annecy, the best soak means a short trip out, to the historic thermal baths at Aix-les-Bains to the south or to Saint-Gervais at the foot of Mont Blanc. In town you unwind with slow lunches in the lake villages and in hotel spas in quiet settings around Talloires and Veyrier, although the July and August crowds take some of the calm away.

In Lucerne the best soak is up a mountain: Mario Botta's mineral bath high on the Rigi, reached by boat and cogwheel train, comes with a mountain view. Lower down, restful hours are spent on a steamer watching the shore, on the lakeside promenades or in the old wooden lake baths. The one disturbance is the midday tour groups in the Old Town.