Avignon or Lucerne?

Neither city has a beach, but Lucerne at least lets you swim in town. The Lido, the old wooden lake baths and the lawns at Ufschötti put clean, calm water a short walk from the Old Town in July and August, with more bathing spots in the lakeside villages by boat.

In Avignon the Rhône is no good for swimming, so a dip means the clear pools of the Gardon below the Pont du Gard, about half an hour by car, or a longer drive to the Camargue sands at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. Most visitors end up using the hotel pool.

Avignon eats far better. Provençal cooking, from daube and tians to tapenade and the apricots and melons of the plain, is on every menu, Les Halles makes a fine morning stop, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape and the Côtes du Rhône are poured by the glass in ordinary bistros.

Lucerne offers dependable Swiss comfort food: Chügelipastete, fondue, rösti and lake perch in wood-panelled guild houses. It is well made but narrow and costly, and many tables near the Chapel Bridge cater to coach parties. For a trip where meals matter, Avignon is the obvious pick.

Avignon has the weightier heritage. The Palais des Papes is a monument of European rank, and with the cathedral, the broken Pont Saint-Bénezet and almost 4km of ramparts it forms a UNESCO ensemble. Museums such as the Petit Palais and the Collection Lambert, plus the charterhouse across the river at Villeneuve, give it depth.

Lucerne's sights are fewer but very well known: the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower, the climbable towers of the Musegg Wall and the Lion Monument. The Rosengart Collection's Picasso and Klee are the art highlight. It is a charming Old Town rather than a historic capital.

Both are early-to-bed towns for most of the year, and each wakes up for one big moment. In Avignon that is July, when the theatre festival keeps the squares full into the small hours. The rest of the time evenings are aperitifs on Place Pie and a few student bars, with almost no clubbing.

Lucerne has a little more structure, with cocktail bars and a small club scene in the Neustadt and around the station, but the lakefront empties by midnight. Its outburst is Fasnacht before Lent, when the town stays out in costume until dawn.

Lucerne's landscape is in another league. Alpine peaks stand right above the lake: Pilatus by the steepest cogwheel railway, Rigi with its ridge walks, and the year-round snow of Titlis within an hour. Steamers make it easy to combine a boat, a train and a hike in a single day, and winter adds skiing.

Avignon's country is fine in its own way, with the bare summit of Mont Ventoux, the Luberon's ochre trails, the Alpilles and the flamingo lagoons of the Camargue. But it is spread out, best in spring and autumn, and mostly needs a car.

Avignon is the stronger base for outings. Roman Provence lies within half an hour: the arenas of Nîmes and Arles, the theatre at Orange and the Pont du Gard. Beyond them are Les Baux, the wine villages of Gigondas and Châteauneuf, the antiques of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue and the Luberon hill villages, plus Marseille by fast train.

Lucerne's trips are more about Swiss towns: Bern's arcaded old town, Basel's museums and Zurich, all within an hour by rail, and the lake voyage to the Rütli meadow and the William Tell country around Altdorf. They are easier to reach without a car, but there is less variety.

Lucerne is the better bet with children. The Swiss Museum of Transport is a full day on its own, and paddle steamers, cogwheel trains and the summer toboggan on Pilatus turn the journeys into the treat. The flat, safe centre and the lakeside lawns make breaks easy, though rainy days can run short of ideas.

Avignon has a few good moments, such as the tablet tour of the Palais des Papes, dancing on the bridge from the song and the playground on the Rocher des Doms. The better family days, canoeing at the Pont du Gard or seeing the Camargue's horses, all mean driving, and cobbles and July crowds wear small legs out.

Lucerne is far easier to get around. Station, boat piers and Old Town sit together on the lakefront, and the same integrated Swiss tickets carry you onto steamers, mountain railways and cable cars, so a car is never needed.

Avignon is easy on foot inside the walls and well linked by train to Arles, Nîmes, Orange and Marseille. Once you head for the hill villages, the vineyards or Ventoux, though, buses are sparse and a hire car or a tour becomes the only realistic way.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Lucerne has a clearer speciality. Its watch and jewellery houses on Schwanenplatz are a serious draw, alongside army knives and chocolate, though fashion and design are thin.

Avignon's best buys are things to eat and drink: olive oil, tapenade, calissons and wine from Les Halles or the estates, plus Provençal cottons and lavender in the lanes off Rue Joseph Vernet. Antiques hunters go out to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

Avignon costs much less. It is a provincial French town with tourist prices in places, but bistro lunch menus are fair, the walled town is free to explore, and spring and autumn rooms are reasonable. July and a hire car are the main expenses.

Lucerne is among the most expensive places you can choose. Rooms, ordinary meals and especially the mountain railways add up fast, and a Swiss travel pass and lakeside picnics only soften the blow.

Both are small cities with world-class festivals, but for different art forms. Avignon belongs to theatre: in July the Festival d'Avignon fills the Cour d'honneur of the papal palace and the Off spreads well over a thousand shows a day through every cellar and courtyard. The opera house and small theatres keep going the rest of the year.

Lucerne is about classical music. The Lucerne Festival brings leading orchestras to Jean Nouvel's acoustically famous lakefront hall, mainly in late summer, and the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra plays there year round. Timing your visit matters in both.

Lucerne is the more restful of the two. Quiet evenings, lakeside promenades, a steamer afternoon with nothing to do but watch the shore, and the Botta-designed mineral bath high on the Rigi with its mountain view make for easy unwinding, if you avoid the Old Town at midday.

Avignon offers hotel spas and a slow rhythm of long lunches under plane trees. The best rest is outside the walls, in a farmhouse guesthouse with a pool among the vines. July in town is anything but calm, and days of mistral can grate.