Annecy or Munich?

Neither city has a sea, but Annecy has its lake right on the doorstep. The Albigny and Marquisats lawns are a short walk from the old town, the water is among the cleanest in Europe and a little warmer in midsummer, and you can build a summer stay around swimming.

In Munich the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher are for sunbathing and barbecues. A real swim means riding the S-Bahn out to the Starnberger See or the Ammersee. That makes a pleasant afternoon, but it is an extra on a city break and not why you would go.

Both kitchens serve hearty regional cooking with little range beyond it, but they rest on different things. Annecy runs on melted cheese, with Reblochon in tartiflette, fondue and raclette, plus féra and char from the lake. Its best meals come from the old-town market mornings and the gastronomic tables at Talloires and Veyrier, not from the canal terraces.

Munich has more around the table: beer halls and chestnut-shaded beer gardens, roast pork and white sausage, the Viktualienmarkt, a serious coffee-and-cake habit and good Italian, Turkish and Balkan cooking. Its food also suits a summer visit better than Annecy's cheese.

In Annecy the town itself is the main sight: canals, arcades, the island prison of the Palais de l'Isle and the château museum above it. You can see it all comfortably in a day.

Munich is in another league for anyone who plans their days around museums. The Alte Pinakothek's old masters, the Blue Rider painters at the Lenbachhaus, the Residenz state rooms, Nymphenburg and the huge Deutsches Museum could fill a week. The Dachau memorial adds a sobering visit of real weight.

Evenings in Annecy mean a drink on a canal terrace or by the lake and a few wine and cocktail bars, and outside summer little goes on after midnight. Munich gives far more choice: beer halls, the cocktail and gay bars of the Glockenbachviertel and Gärtnerplatz, student pubs in Schwabing, techno clubs that run until morning at weekends, and the Oktoberfest from late September. Neither city is wild, but only Munich offers a real night out without a train ride to somewhere bigger.

In Annecy the mountains start at the edge of town. Trails to Mont Veyrier and Mont Baron begin there, the Semnoz and the Tournette make full hiking days, the Col de la Forclaz is a famous paragliding launch, and the lake is there for paddleboarding, rowing and sailing.

From Munich you can reach equally fine scenery at the Zugspitze, Garmisch and Tegernsee, but only after an hour or more on the train. Inside the city it has the English Garden, surfers on the Eisbach wave and long cycle routes along the Isar.

Munich has the longer and more varied list, and all of it works by train: Augsburg, Nuremberg and Regensburg for old towns, Salzburg and Innsbruck across the border, and Neuschwanstein or Herrenchiemsee for the classic castle day.

Annecy's outings are good but fewer, and some are easier by car: Geneva in under an hour, Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains to the south, Chamonix beneath Mont Blanc, Yvoire on Lake Geneva, and Lyon as a long day for food lovers.

Both cities are safe and easy with a pushchair, but Munich gives children much more to do. The Hellabrunn zoo, the hands-on Deutsches Museum, the Sea Life aquarium and beer gardens with playgrounds fill days in any season, and Legoland is within reach.

In summer Annecy is a lovely playground of pedal boats, lake beaches, toboggan runs and treetop courses. But it has no zoo or aquarium, and once the lake cools there is far less to keep young children busy.

Annecy's old town, lakefront and station are a short stroll apart, and local buses fill the gaps. The cycle path along the western shore and the summer lake boats bring the villages within easy reach. Trailheads, mountain passes and Chamonix are far simpler with a hire car, though, and summer traffic around the lake can be slow.

Munich is the easier city to get around overall. Its pedestrianised centre is just as walkable, and one integrated network of U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses runs to Nymphenburg, the Olympic Park, the airport and out to the lakes. Regional trains handle most day trips, so a car is more burden than help. Delays on the central S-Bahn line are the usual annoyance.

Munich is the place to shop. It has luxury houses on Maximilianstrasse, department stores on the pedestrian axis and independent boutiques in Glockenbach and Schwabing. Specialist tailors sell Tracht if you want a dirndl or lederhosen, and the old Dallmayr delicatessen and the December Christmas markets add more.

Annecy is mainly for food to take home from its markets, such as Savoyard cheese, sausages, génépi and honey. Beyond that there are some boutiques, kitchenware shops and outdoor gear shops around Rue Sainte-Claire.

Annecy is priced like a resort. Lakeside hotels and old-town rooms charge high rates in summer, and wealthy Geneva next door keeps the town dear for the rest of the year too. Shoulder seasons and self-catering apartments ease the strain, and the lake beaches, mountain trails and shore cycle path cost nothing.

Munich comes out at much the same level, with most of the cost in hotels, which are dear all year and very dear during the Oktoberfest and the trade fairs. Day to day there are ways to save: beer-hall meals, a picnic carried into a beer garden, token Sunday entry at several museums and fair transport fares.

Here Munich pulls far ahead. It has the Bavarian State Opera at the National Theatre, three orchestras of real standing, chamber opera in the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre, operetta at the Gärtnerplatztheater, a respected jazz scene and big concerts at the Olympic Park.

Annecy has Bonlieu by the lake for theatre, dance and circus, a summer classical festival and the August fireworks of the Fête du Lac. For opera or a major orchestra you have to go to Geneva or Lyon.

Munich has a real bathing culture of its own. There is the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad, there are textile-free public saunas with infusion rituals, and the huge thermal complex at Erding is about forty minutes away. Long beer-garden afternoons and quiet Sundays also make the city easy to slow down in.

Annecy relaxes you through its pace and setting, with lakeside hotel spas at Talloires and Veyrier and slow lunches by the water. For thermal baths you have to go to Aix-les-Bains or Saint-Gervais, and the crowds of July and August take away much of the calm.