Annecy or Luxembourg?

Neither town is on the sea, but only Annecy has swimming that can carry a summer trip. Its lake is among the cleanest in Europe and warms to bathing temperature by July. You can swim straight from the Albigny and Marquisats lawns in town or from small beaches at Talloires and Sevrier.

Luxembourg's swimming means driving about an hour to the Upper Sûre reservoir or heading to the gravel lakes at Remerschen. That makes a pleasant hot-day outing rather than a reason to go, and in town the indoor pools are the realistic option.

The two are level here but cook in very different ways. Annecy is Savoyard to the core: fondue, tartiflette and lake fish, mountain cheeses at the old-town market, and the best tables out in the lakeside villages. The range beyond regional food is narrow, and melted cheese can feel heavy in July.

Luxembourg mixes French refinement with German and Belgian brasseries and long-established Portuguese and Italian cooking. It has an unusually strong tier of fine dining for its size, and Moselle Riesling and crémant are poured by the glass everywhere. It is the better choice for variety, while Annecy's market mornings give it a stronger sense of place.

Luxembourg has the deeper set of sights. The UNESCO-listed fortress wraps around a sandstone plateau, with the Bock casemates to walk through and the Grund far below. Add the Grand Ducal Palace, the national museum and MUDAM on Kirchberg, and two full days are well spent.

Annecy's heritage is lovelier than it is substantial. The canal-side old town, the island Palais de l'Isle and the château museum make a very good day, but after that the town's appeal shifts to the lake and the mountains.

Luxembourg has more going on after dark, though neither is a party town. The Rives de Clausen packs bars and a couple of clubs into an old brewery site, and the Grund pubs and Hollerich's later venues give some choice, mainly on Thursday and Friday nights.

Annecy's evenings are a terrace drink by the canals or the lake. The town is lively in summer but quiet by midnight for most of the year, and locals go to Geneva or Lyon for serious nights out.

Annecy is one of the great outdoor bases in the Alps, and Luxembourg can't match it. Hiking starts at the edge of town on Mont Veyrier, and the lake is busy with paddleboards and sailing boats. The sky over Talloires fills with paragliders, and the Aravis ski slopes and the Mont Blanc massif are both within reach.

Luxembourg's countryside is green and gentle, with no mountains. The wooded gorges run right through the city, and the mossy sandstone passages of the Müllerthal make the best walking. The Ardennes hills and the Moselle cycle paths are lovely in autumn.

Annecy has good outings in several directions. Geneva is under an hour by road, Chambéry and the spa town of Aix-les-Bains are a short train ride south, and Chamonix makes a full mountain day under Mont Blanc. Medieval Yvoire and Évian on Lake Geneva and the long run to Lyon add more, though the mountain trips are far easier with a hire car.

Luxembourg has the wider choice, because it sits where three countries meet. Roman Trier and Gothic Metz are each under an hour by train, but the free fares stop at the border, so those journeys need a ticket. Within the country the trains cost nothing, and the castle at Vianden, the abbey town of Echternach, Clervaux and the Moselle wine villages all make easy outings without a car.

Annecy keeps children busier, mostly thanks to the outdoors. There are pedal boats, lake beaches, the flat shore cycle path, summer toboggan runs and treetop courses, all a short ride from the lakefront parks. The catch is that most of this needs summer, and the beaches get crowded then.

Luxembourg is calm and easy with a buggy, thanks to its lifts and funicular. Its fortress tunnels feel like an adventure to children, but beyond those and the small park at Bettembourg there is little made for them. It suits two or three days rather than a full week.

Luxembourg is much easier to get around, because trams, buses and second-class trains are free across the whole country. The tram runs out to Kirchberg, public lifts drop you into the Grund, and trains reach the castles and the Moselle, so you don't need a car at all.

Annecy's centre is small and easy on foot or by bike, and summer boats link the lake villages. Once you head for trailheads, mountain passes or Chamonix, though, a hire car becomes close to necessary, and lake traffic is heavy in high summer.

Luxembourg is the stronger of the two for shopping, mainly because of the luxury and premium fashion along the Grand-Rue. The Villeroy & Boch outlet and bottles of crémant make it worth bringing a spare bag.

Annecy's shopping is smaller and centred on food. Reblochon, sausages, génépi and honey from the market, plus cutlery shops and outdoor gear around Rue Sainte-Claire, are the best of it. For anything grander, people go to Geneva.

Both are expensive, but Annecy is noticeably easier on the wallet. Rooms reach resort rates in summer, yet the lake beaches, trails and cycle path cost nothing. Coming outside July and August or renting an apartment helps a good deal.

Luxembourg is among the costliest places to stay in Western Europe. Its hotels and restaurants are priced for business travellers and EU staff. Free transport, free museums and good-value lunch menus help, and some visitors sleep in Trier or Metz and come in by train for the day.

Luxembourg has the more serious programme. Its Philharmonie hosts a resident orchestra and touring soloists in a hall with excellent acoustics, and the Grand Théâtre brings in opera and dance. Summer concerts in the old abbey at Neimënster are an extra pleasure.

Annecy's arts life centres on Bonlieu by the lake, with contemporary theatre, dance and circus, plus summer classical concerts and the big August fireworks of the Fête du Lac. For opera or a major orchestra, you have to go to Geneva or Lyon.

The two are about equal for slowing down, but in different ways. Annecy's calm comes from the lake: slow lunches in the villages and hotel spas looking over the water at Talloires. For thermal bathing you go to Aix-les-Bains or Saint-Gervais, and in July and August the crowds take away some of the calm.

Luxembourg has its own spa town at Mondorf-les-Bains, about half an hour away, with a mineral spring and pools set in parkland. The city's quiet weekends and river walks through the Pétrusse valley make it restful all year.