Banff or Interlaken?

Neither is a beach destination, but Interlaken at least gives you a proper summer swim. Lake Thun warms enough in July and August for the grassy lidos at Neuhaus and along the shore towards Spiez, and Bönigen on the colder Lake Brienz has its own bathing area.

Banff's glacier-fed lakes are for paddling on and admiring, and only shallow Johnson Lake is comfortable on a hot August afternoon. Here the warm water is in the hot springs instead.

Banff eats a little better. Alberta beef, bison and elk, a few ambitious hotel and independent dining rooms using mountain and prairie produce, and decent craft beer and coffee give it more character than Interlaken's run of fondue, raclette and international places for the backpacker crowd.

Interlaken's best meals happen outside town: Alpine cheese from mountain dairies, lunch on a hut terrace above Grindelwald or Mürren, a glass of Lake Thun white. In both places food is fuel for the day outdoors rather than a reason to book.

Banff has more to see in town, and its sights tell a coherent story: the Cave and Basin where Canada's national parks began, the castle-like Banff Springs Hotel, the Whyte Museum's mountain art and the Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum on the peoples of the plains. Together they make a satisfying rainy day.

Interlaken itself offers a stroll past the grand hotels and the Kursaal on the Höheweg and the old timber houses of Unterseen, and little more. Its history and architecture lie in Bern and Thun, which belong to a day out rather than to the town.

Banff goes out harder. Seasonal workers and the ski crowd keep a few pubs and dance bars around Banff Avenue loud late into the night, with après-ski from early evening and hotel lounges for a quieter drink.

Interlaken's visitors go to bed early for trains, hikes and paragliding. Beyond a few backpacker pubs, basement clubs near the hostels and the casino in the Kursaal, the streets are quiet well before midnight.

Both are among the world's great mountain bases, and the difference is in kind. Banff is wilderness: a town inside a national park, with bears, elk and mountain goats along the roads, the turquoise water of Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, and the Icefields Parkway running past glaciers, best explored on foot, by canoe and by car.

Interlaken's Alps are opened up by engineering, with railways and cable cars lifting you to the Jungfraujoch, Lauterbrunnen's waterfalls and Grindelwald First without effort, and paragliding, canyoning and rafting run straight from town. Come to Banff for wildlife and wide open country, to Interlaken for easy high-altitude access and organised thrills, keeping in mind that low cloud can hide its peaks for days.

Interlaken is by far the better base for seeing towns. Bern's arcaded medieval centre is under an hour by train, Thun and the lakeside castles of Spiez and Oberhofen are a steamer ride away, Brienz and Ballenberg show off woodcarving and rural building, and Lucerne is a scenic run over the Brünig Pass.

From Banff nearly every outing is into the mountains. Canmore down the valley, a big-city day in Calgary and small stops at Field and Golden are about the extent of it.

Both are safe, easy towns where the landscape keeps children busy, and neither has a zoo, aquarium or science museum to hand. In Banff the day's sights lie far apart, so wildlife spotting, Johnston Canyon and the lakes mean long stretches in the car, and children need warm layers in every season. Anything built for children means the drive to Calgary, an hour and a half away.

Interlaken comes out ahead because a family day there is a string of short hops by train and boat rather than a long drive, though it has its own catches. Pushchairs cope best on the valley floor and the gentler panoramic paths, the altitude of the highest excursions can trouble very young children, and a run of wet days is hard to fill.

Both centres are flat and take about twenty minutes to cross on foot, so the difference lies beyond them. Interlaken plugs into the Swiss rail network, with mainline trains, narrow-gauge lines, cog railways, gondolas and lake steamers timed to connect, so the whole Jungfrau region works without a car.

Banff has Roam buses to the gondola, Lake Minnewanka, Canmore and Lake Louise, plus summer shuttles to the busiest lakes, but no passenger railway. The Icefields Parkway, Yoho and the quieter trailheads really call for a car or a tour.

Neither suits a shopping trip, though Banff has slightly more worth browsing. Alongside the outfitters, fudge shops and moose-and-maple souvenirs, its galleries of Indigenous art and Rocky Mountain landscape painting offer something genuinely local to take home.

Interlaken's Höheweg is given over to watch and jewellery stores for tour groups, army knives, cuckoo clocks and chocolate, with Brienz woodcarving the one craft worth seeking out.

Both are expensive, but Interlaken is the harder on the wallet. Full Swiss rates for rooms, meals and drinks come with mountain railway and cable car fares, the Jungfraujoch above all, that surprise almost everyone, and there is no cheap way to see the region properly.

Banff's resort prices, gondola, tours and lift passes add up too, yet its trails, lakes and viewpoints cost nothing beyond the park pass. Staying in Canmore or camping, and coming in spring or late autumn, cuts the bill further.

Banff has the stronger stage, thanks to the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity on Tunnel Mountain, whose theatres host concerts and dance with the fullest programme in summer. Each autumn its Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival draws adventurers and filmmakers from around the world.

Interlaken offers the open-air William Tell, staged by local amateurs in the woods each summer, occasional Kursaal concerts and folklore evenings of yodelling and alphorns. For an orchestra or proper theatre you head to Bern.

Banff has the edge because bathing is part of its history. The Upper Hot Springs on Sulphur Mountain, an open-air mineral pool looking across the valley, is a fine end to a ski day, and the grand mountain hotels have big spas with mineral pools, even if the public pool gets crowded.

Interlaken has no thermal water, so it relies on hotel spas along the Höheweg and the town's public wellness area. Its calm comes from steamer crossings and the lakeside or mountain villages, since the centre itself is busy with coach groups and backpackers.