Banff or Innsbruck?

Neither city is a swimming destination, but Innsbruck gives you a little more. The Lanser See and Natterer See on the plateaus above town are shallow enough to be pleasant in July and August, and families make an afternoon of them.

In Banff most of the water is glacier-fed and stays cold even at midsummer. Johnson Lake is the one place where a swim is comfortable, and only on a hot day. Lake Minnewanka and the Vermilion Lakes are for canoeing and photographs.

Both towns serve hearty food for hungry walkers, and Innsbruck's has more regional character. Gröstl, Kaspressknödel, Speck and Kaiserschmarrn belong to a real Tyrolean tradition, and some of the best meals are eaten at mountain huts. In town there are old inns and Viennese-style coffee houses.

Banff runs mostly on Alberta beef, bison, elk, fondue and pub plates along Banff Avenue, with the grand hotels offering the more ambitious menus. Neither town has a market or street-food scene, so plan your meals around the mountains, not the other way round.

Here the two are far apart. Innsbruck was a Habsburg seat, and its arcaded old town holds the Golden Roof, the Hofburg and the Hofkirche, where 28 bronze figures stand around Emperor Maximilian's tomb. Ambras Castle on the edge of town adds a Renaissance cabinet of curiosities and an armour collection, enough for two or three full days.

Banff's sights tell the shorter story of a railway town and Canada's first national park: the Cave and Basin spring, the castle-like Banff Springs Hotel, the Whyte Museum and the Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum. They are interesting, but a single day covers them.

Innsbruck has the slightly fuller night out, thanks to its university. Bars and small clubs fill the brick arches under the railway viaduct and stay open late at weekends, and the old town adds wine bars.

Banff's evenings are run by seasonal workers and skiers: a handful of pubs and dance bars on Banff Avenue, après-ski at dusk and the same few places every night. It is lively in season and goes very quiet in spring and autumn.

Both are among the great mountain bases, and the difference is in kind. Banff feels like wilderness. Wildlife is part of daily life, the turquoise lakes at Lake Louise and Moraine Lake and the glaciers along the Icefields Parkway are as big as North American scenery gets, and the larches turn gold in autumn.

Innsbruck has the Alps on its doorstep. Cable cars lift you from the old town to a ridge at about 2,300m, the Karwendel park lies behind it, and hut-to-hut routes, via ferratas and paragliding fill the summer. The Stubai Glacier keeps skiing going for most of the year.

Innsbruck is a far better base for seeing other places. Medieval Hall in Tirol is ten minutes away, Rattenberg and Kitzbühel are within an hour, and the trains reach Munich and Salzburg in under two. Over the Brenner, Bolzano and Merano bring Italian arcades and Ötzi the Iceman.

From Banff, nearly every outing is into the mountains. For towns, the list stops at Canmore, Field and Golden, plus a long day in Calgary for its museums and Heritage Park.

With children, the difference is in how they meet the animals. In Banff the animals are wild: elk on the verges and bighorn sheep beside the road, with the Sulphur Mountain gondola and the catwalks of Johnston Canyon to fill the rest of the day. There is no zoo or science museum nearer than Calgary, and warm layers go in the bag in every season.

Innsbruck brings the animals closer in its Alpenzoo, where ibex, wolves and lynx live on the slope above town, reached by the funicular that carries on up the Nordkette. Summer adds adventure trails and playgrounds by the mountain huts, but the town's sights are aimed at adults, so a wet day with small children needs a plan.

Both centres are flat and small enough to walk, but Innsbruck is much easier beyond them. Trams and buses cover the city, regional trains run along the valley from a central station, and the funicular from the old town takes you straight to the high mountains.

Banff's Roam buses and summer park shuttles reach the gondola, Lake Minnewanka, Canmore and Lake Louise. There is no passenger railway, though, and the Icefields Parkway, Yoho and the quieter trailheads really need a car or a tour.

Innsbruck offers a little more to buy. Maria-Theresien-Strasse has the high-street shops, and the old-town arcades sell loden jackets, dirndls, woodcarvings and crystal. Its specialist ski and outdoor shops are excellent.

Banff Avenue has outfitters, fudge shops and maple souvenirs. Its galleries of Indigenous art and Rocky Mountain painting are the most rewarding stop. In neither town will shopping fill more than an afternoon.

Neither is cheap, but Banff is the harder one on the wallet. Building is restricted inside the national park, so rooms are scarce. Resort-priced meals, the park pass, the gondola and lift tickets all add up, and many budget travellers end up sleeping in Canmore or at campgrounds.

Innsbruck carries an Alpine premium too, especially in ski season. Its public transport is fairly priced, city cards bundle lifts and sights together, and student cafés and bakeries keep everyday costs down.

Innsbruck has the steadier programme. The Tiroler Landestheater stages opera, operetta and dance through the season, the symphony orchestra plays regularly, and the summer Festival of Early Music fills historic rooms such as the Spanish Hall at Ambras.

Banff's arts life rests on the Banff Centre on Tunnel Mountain, busiest in summer, and on the autumn Mountain Film and Book Festival, which draws adventurers from around the world. Outside those, live music mostly means bands in pubs.

Banff has the advantage here because it has real hot springs. The Upper Hot Springs bathhouse on Sulphur Mountain offers an open-air mineral pool above the valley, best of all after skiing with snow falling. The grand hotels have mineral-pool spas of their own.

Innsbruck has no thermal water. Relaxing there means hotel saunas up in Igls, quiet walks and slow evenings at mountain huts, with the big thermal complexes in the Ötztal and Zillertal an hour's drive away.