Avignon or Zurich?

Neither city has a coast, but Zurich does far more with its water. Its lake is clean and clear, with wooden bathing houses and lawned lidos along both shores, and in the Letten river baths you can drift down the Limmat. You swim from grass and piers rather than sand, from June to early September, and you can do it straight after a morning's sightseeing.

In Avignon the Rhône is too fast for swimming. A summer dip means driving out to the green pools of the Gardon below the Pont du Gard, or the Camargue sands about an hour and a quarter away. Otherwise most people rely on the hotel pool.

The two are close on food, but they suit different appetites. Avignon is about the produce of the south: daube, tians, tapenade, goat's cheese and apricots from the stalls of Les Halles, with Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône poured by the glass.

Zurich's cooking is richer and more northern, with veal in cream sauce and rösti, fondue in the old guild houses and some of Europe's best chocolate. Its casual and international places in Kreis 4 and 5 give it more range than Avignon, but you pay heavily for it, and it has none of Avignon's market life.

Avignon has the bigger monument. The Palais des Papes, the largest Gothic palace in Europe, forms a UNESCO ensemble with the cathedral, the Rocher des Doms and the broken bridge, and almost 4km of ramparts still wrap around cardinals' mansions and museums such as the Petit Palais.

Zurich's appeal lies in its collections more than in grand buildings. The Kunsthaus, the National Museum and the Rietberg are excellent, and the Grossmünster and the Chagall windows of the Fraumünster are worth seeking out, but no single sight here matches the papal palace.

Zurich goes out properly. Electronic music is its strength, with clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and in former industrial buildings in Zurich West running until dawn at weekends, and the Street Parade every August. Langstrasse keeps going late, and in summer people drink in the lake bathing houses. Weeknights are calmer, and the cost of a round keeps nights shorter.

Avignon is a place for an aperitif on Place Pie and bed by midnight, with almost no clubs. July is the exception, when the festival keeps the squares full until the small hours.

Both are good bases for the outdoors, but Zurich has the edge because of the mountains. The Uetliberg is a short train ride away, there are paths along both lake shores, and Rigi, Pilatus and the Glarus valleys are about an hour off for hiking in summer and skiing in winter.

Avignon's landscapes are drier and warmer: the bare summit of Mont Ventoux for cyclists, the ochre trails of the Luberon, the Alpilles crags and the flamingo lagoons of the Camargue. Go in spring or autumn, since summer heat and the mistral make it hard work.

Avignon has slightly the richer list of day trips. The arenas of Nîmes and Arles, the theatre at Orange and the Pont du Gard are all within about half an hour, followed by Les Baux, the Luberon villages and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The drawback is that the villages are only really practical by car.

Zurich's trips cover a whole country by rail: Lucerne's wooden bridges, the arcades of Bern, Basel's museums, the abbey library of St Gallen and the Rhine Falls. All of them are easy by train, with no driving at all.

Zurich is much easier with children. The zoo with its Madagascar hall and elephant park, the shallow lidos, the boat trips and the Technorama in nearby Winterthur fill several days, all on buggy-friendly transport.

Avignon has a few good moments for children: the augmented-reality tablets in the Palais, dancing on the bridge from the song and the playground on the Rocher des Doms. Beyond those, the cobbled lanes are tiring with a pushchair, and the canoeing and Camargue outings need a car.

Inside its walls Avignon is easy to walk, and regional trains run to Arles, Nîmes and Orange. But for the vineyards, the Luberon or Ventoux, buses are sparse, and a hire car becomes almost essential.

Zurich hardly needs thinking about. Trams, S-Bahn trains, funiculars and even the lake boats share one ticket, the airport is a short train ride away, and the Alps and other Swiss cities are reachable without a car.

Zurich is the stronger shopping city, at least at the top end. Bahnhofstrasse is lined with watchmakers, jewellers and department stores, and the viaduct arches in Zurich West hold design shops, though everything is expensive and the range is narrow.

Avignon's shopping is small and Provençal: printed cottons, lavender and olive wood in the lanes off Rue des Marchands. The best things to take home are tapenade, olive oil and wine. Serious antiques hunters go out to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue.

This is where the two differ most. Avignon is not a bargain, but its bistro set lunches are fair, the old town is free to wander, and local wine is good value for its quality. Rooms are the thing to watch, especially in festival July.

Zurich is among the most expensive cities in the world: hotels, lunches, drinks and museums all cost far more than almost anywhere else in Europe. Supermarket picnics by the lake, the free lidos and a visitor card help a little, but nothing makes it cheap.

The two are level on stage, but they work on different calendars. Avignon puts almost everything into July. The Festival d'Avignon fills the Cour d'honneur of the Palais des Papes, and the Off adds well over a thousand fringe shows a day. For the rest of the year there is the Opéra Grand Avignon, a few small theatres and a jazz club.

Zurich keeps a steady programme all year: a highly respected opera house with ballet, the Tonhalle Orchestra and the Schauspielhaus, where most plays are in German. The Rote Fabrik covers jazz, indie and electronic acts.

Zurich has more to offer for unwinding. Its bath in the vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery has a rooftop pool, the wooden lake bathing houses turn into saunas in winter with cold dips between sessions, and the hot springs of Baden are twenty minutes away by train.

Avignon has no bathing tradition. Its version of rest is a long lunch under the plane trees, or a farmhouse guesthouse among the vines with a pool. It is anything but restful in July.