Annecy or Zermatt?

Annecy has a real summer of swimming. Lake Annecy is clean and green-blue, the Albigny and Marquisats lawns sit right in town, and villages like Talloires and Doussard have their own small beaches. It is lake bathing on grass and shingle in a short season, not sand and surf, but in July it is excellent.

Zermatt has nothing like it. The tarns above the village are glacial meltwater, there to reflect the Matterhorn rather than to swim in, so bathing means a hotel pool.

Both kitchens are built on Alpine cheese, Savoyard tartiflette and Reblochon in Annecy and Valais raclette and air-dried beef in Zermatt, but Annecy gives you more to explore. Its old-town market mornings are a highlight, the lake adds féra and char, and Talloires and Veyrier have acclaimed gastronomic tables.

Zermatt's best food moment is distinctive: a long lunch on a chalet terrace at Findeln or Zum See with the Matterhorn in view, reached on skis or on foot. Away from that the choice is narrow, cheap meals are hard to find and many kitchens close between seasons.

Neither place is a culture destination, but Annecy has more to see. The canal-lined old town is the sight in itself, and the Palais de l'Isle on its river island and the château museum above it fill an unhurried day.

Zermatt's heritage is all about mountaineering. The Matterhorn Museum tells the story of the 1865 first ascent, the climbers' cemetery and the old larch barns of the Hinterdorf complete the picture, and together they take a morning.

Both are quiet by big-city standards, and the difference lies in the season. Annecy's evenings are terraces by the canals, wine bars and a few student-friendly pubs, and its lakefront stays lively late into summer nights.

Zermatt comes alive in winter, with loud après-ski bars on the runs into the village and a few small clubs on the main street going past midnight. In summer its hikers are in bed early, which is the opposite of Annecy's pattern.

Both are superb, but in different ways. Annecy pairs a lake with mid-height mountains. You can hike the Semnoz and the Tournette, paraglide from the Col de la Forclaz, paddle and sail on the lake and cycle the shore path, with the Aravis ski resorts under an hour away.

Zermatt is the high Alps at full scale: four-thousand-metre peaks, the Gorner Glacier, lifts to over 3,800m, skiing across into Italy and glacier pistes open in summer. For mountaineering and serious high trails it goes further than Annecy can.

Annecy is far better placed for days out. Geneva is under an hour away, Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains are short train rides, Chamonix and Yvoire make full days, and Lyon is within reach for a long food-focused outing.

From Zermatt, every excursion starts with a long train ride down the valley. Sion and its castle hills are the best of them and Brig is pleasant, but most visitors sensibly spend their spare days on the mountain instead.

Annecy is the easier choice with children, at least in summer. Pedal boats, lake beaches, cruises, the flat shore cycle path and the lawns of Le Pâquier keep them busy, and toboggan runs and treetop courses are close by.

Zermatt's car-free streets are a real comfort for parents, and families who ski or hike get nursery slopes at Sunnegga, marmots and cog railways. But rainy days are hard to fill, and the thin air at the highest viewpoints can be too much for small children.

Zermatt is the simpler place to get around. With no ordinary cars, everything is reached on foot, electric taxis cover the outlying stations, and the cog railway, funicular and gondolas start within walking distance of the centre. Train links into the Swiss network are smooth, if slow out of the valley.

Annecy's old town, lakefront and station are equally walkable, and summer lake boats help. The trailheads, passes and Chamonix are far easier with a hire car, though, and summer traffic around the lake can be slow.

Annecy has slightly more to browse. Market days bring Savoyard cheeses, sausages, génépi and honey to take home, and Rue Sainte-Claire mixes independent boutiques and kitchenware shops with the souvenir stands.

Zermatt's single main street is mostly Swiss watches, jewellery for wealthy skiers and Matterhorn souvenirs, although its mountaineering outfitters are genuinely well stocked. Serious shoppers from either place end up in Geneva or the big Swiss cities.

Annecy is expensive for a town of its size, with Geneva-level money nearby and resort rates in summer. Still, much of what you come for is free, and the shoulder seasons and self-catering bring costs down.

Zermatt is in a different league. Plain hotel rooms, mountain-terrace meals and the lift passes everyone needs all cost well above Annecy. Staying down the valley in Täsch and picnicking from the supermarket helps, but it is never a budget destination.

Annecy has a real stage. Bonlieu runs a year-round programme of theatre, dance, circus and concerts by the lake, and a classical festival fills summer evenings. In August the Fête du Lac puts on fireworks over the water.

Zermatt has no theatre or concert hall at all. Its live music comes in two bursts, the acoustic Zermatt Unplugged in spring and a chamber music festival in late summer. Outside those weeks, evenings revolve around dinner.

The two are about level, but they offer a different kind of rest. In Annecy the calm comes from the pace of the place: slow lakeside mornings, long lunches in Talloires, a few hotel spas by the water and the thermal baths of Aix-les-Bains a short trip away.

Zermatt has a denser cluster of excellent hotel spas with mountain views, some open to non-guests, and car-free streets keep the air clear and quiet. Its mood is active rather than slow, so a spa visit there usually follows a day on the slopes rather than replacing it.