Bamberg or Zurich?

Neither city has a sea, but Zurich treats its lake like a coastline in summer. There are wooden bathing houses and lawned lidos along the shore, the clear lake warms up enough for a proper swim, and at the Letten river baths people float downstream on the Limmat's current.

Bamberg has less to offer: the long-standing river bathing spot in the Hain park, gravel-pit lakes on the edge of town and public pools. That is enough to cool off on a hot afternoon. In both cities you swim from grass or decks, not sand.

Bamberg is the stronger place to eat and drink, and the reason is beer. The town is packed with small breweries serving smoky Rauchbier from wooden barrels, and in summer people move up to the Bierkeller beer gardens under the chestnut trees. Meals are hearty, cheap Franconian dishes such as Schäufele and dumplings.

Zurich's food is more polished and has a wider range. There is veal with rösti and fondue in the old guild houses, international and fine dining around Kreis 4 and 5, and excellent chocolate, including the Luxemburgerli from the old tea rooms on Paradeplatz. It lacks Bamberg's strong local character, though, and costs much more at every level.

Bamberg has the more remarkable townscape. Its whole old town is UNESCO-listed and came through the war almost undamaged, so a walk takes in the four-towered cathedral, the frescoed Old Town Hall on its island in the Regnitz, the Little Venice waterfront and Michaelsberg Abbey above. Its museums are small, though.

Zurich works the other way round. Its Altstadt is pleasant and compact, with the Grossmünster and the Chagall windows of the Fraumünster, but its strength is indoors. The Kunsthaus, the Swiss National Museum and the Museum Rietberg give it collections that Bamberg cannot match.

Zurich is the place for a real night out. Electronic music runs deep here, clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and Zurich West stay open until morning at weekends, and Langstrasse stays busy late. Each August the Street Parade brings a huge techno crowd to the lake shore. The only brake is the price of a round.

In Bamberg, evenings mean a beer rather than dancing. People fill the brewery taverns and summer beer cellars, and the student bars in the Sand quarter stay lively during term. Most of the town is asleep well before the small hours, and anyone wanting clubs takes the train to Nuremberg.

Zurich has the more dramatic scenery. On clear days the Glarus Alps rise beyond the far end of the lake, and the Uetliberg ridge is a short train ride from the centre. Rigi, Pilatus and real alpine hiking are about an hour away, with day skiing at Flumserberg in winter.

Bamberg's countryside is gentle rather than grand. Franconian Switzerland, with its limestone valleys, caves and rock towers, starts less than an hour east, and there are beech forests in the Steigerwald and cycle paths along the Main and Regnitz. Hiking routes link one village brewery to the next, but there are no big mountain views.

Both cities sit on good rail lines, so day trips without a car are easy from either. Zurich's range is wider. Lucerne is under an hour away and Bern and Basel about an hour, and you can also reach the Rhine Falls, Stein am Rhein's painted houses and the abbey library at St Gallen, so lakes and waterfalls go alongside the cities.

From Bamberg, the trips stay within Franconia. Nuremberg's castle, Würzburg's Residence, and Bayreuth's opera houses and Coburg's fortress are all about an hour or less away. The baroque basilica of Vierzehnheiligen is nearer still, and Rothenburg makes a long but worthwhile day.

Zurich is much better set up for children. The zoo, with its indoor Madagascar rainforest hall and elephant park, is a full day out on its own. In summer the lake lidos and boat trips fill the afternoons, and the Technorama science centre and Lucerne's Transport Museum are easy to reach by train.

Bamberg is safe and relaxed, with playgrounds and boat hire in the Hain park, a leisure pool with slides, and beer gardens where children play between the tables. Beyond that, the sights are mostly churches, and the cobbled climb to the cathedral is hard going with a pushchair.

In both cities you can manage without a car. Bamberg's centre is small enough to walk: the island town, the cathedral hill and Little Venice are minutes apart, though the climbs over uneven cobbles are steep and the station is a fair walk from the old town.

Zurich is easier still. Trams reach every district, and buses, S-Bahn trains, funiculars and even the lake boats all use one ticket. The airport is a short train ride from the main station.

Zurich is the shopping city. Bahnhofstrasse runs from the station to the lake past watchmakers, jewellers and long-established department stores, and the old railway viaduct arches in Zurich West hold design shops, so luxury and watches are what it does best.

In Bamberg, shopping fills an hour between sights. The best things to bring home are local: vegetables from the market gardens, bottled Rauchbier from the brewery shops and finds from the antique dealers near the cathedral.

Here Bamberg wins by a long way. It has ordinary Western European prices, cheap local beer and filling tavern meals, and you will spend almost nothing on transport. Rooms only get scarcer and dearer at weekends and in Christmas market season.

Zurich is among the most expensive cities in the world to visit. Simple hotel rooms, casual lunches and a round of drinks all cost far more than in most European capitals. Supermarket picnics, free lidos and the visitor card help, but only a little.

Zurich has the bigger stage. The Opernhaus on the lake runs a full season of opera and ballet, the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in a restored nineteenth-century hall, and the Schauspielhaus is a leading German-language theatre. For something less formal, the Rote Fabrik and the clubs of Kreis 4 and 5 host jazz, indie and touring bands.

Bamberg's strength is classical music. The Bamberg Symphony has a real international reputation, and the cathedral holds organ and choral concerts. There is no opera company in town, but the Bayreuth Festival is an hour away.

Zurich has more proper bathing in the city itself. Thermal pools fill the stone vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery, with a rooftop pool above, and in the colder months the wooden lake houses become saunas with cold dips between sessions. Baden's hot springs are about twenty minutes away by train.

Bamberg relaxes you mainly through its pace: mornings by the river and long afternoons in the beer gardens. For thermal water you take the train to Bad Staffelstein's brine pools, about half an hour away.