Bariloche or Interlaken?

Neither town is a beach destination, and both offer lake shores below snowy peaks rather than sand and surf. The difference is the water. Bariloche's glacial lakes rarely get much above 15°C even in January, so Playa Bonita or the shore of Lago Gutiérrez is for sunbathing, a picnic and a quick, bracing plunge.

Interlaken's Lake Thun reaches about 21°C in a good July or August, and the grassy lidos at Neuhaus and towards Spiez make a proper swim after a hike realistic, though only for a few summer weeks.

Bariloche eats better and more distinctively. Its Patagonian cooking has real local character, with lamb roasted on an iron cross, lake trout, venison and smoked cheeses. The chocolatiers of Calle Mitre are worth a visit in their own right, and the small breweries on the road to Cerro Catedral make for easy afternoons.

Interlaken's restaurants are reliable but generic, with fondue and rösti alongside Indian and Asian kitchens. Its best food is up the mountain: cheese from an Alpine dairy, or lunch on a hut terrace above Mürren.

Neither town is a destination for its sights, but Bariloche at least has a townscape with its own character. The stone and timber civic square from the 1930s set the alpine look the town is known for, and the regional museum on it is a good introduction to the Mapuche and the settlers before you head into the park. One of the square's architects, Alejandro Bustillo, also designed the Llao Llao hotel and its small wooden chapel, which make a worthwhile stop on the Circuito Chico.

Interlaken has even less to show. Its sights fit into a single walk: the row of grand nineteenth-century hotels and the Kursaal facing the Höhematte meadow, then across the Aare to the few old timber houses of Unterseen. Bariloche fills a morning, but in Interlaken you need a train to reach any real museum or historic quarter.

Bariloche keeps Argentine hours, so evenings run later. Its big dance clubs belong to the school-leavers' trips, though, and most adults will prefer the brewpubs, the bars around Calle Mitre and a long dinner by the fire. Interlaken winds down early because everyone has a dawn train or paraglide to catch. Beyond a few backpacker pubs, basement clubs and the Kursaal casino, the town is quiet well before midnight.

Both are among the world's great mountain bases, and the difference is in kind. Bariloche offers wilder, emptier country: a vast glacial lake inside Nahuel Huapi National Park, forests of coihue and lenga, hut-to-hut trekking from Cerro Catedral to the Frey and Jakob refuges, fly fishing, and the hanging glaciers of Tronador.

Interlaken's Alps are sheerer and far more developed. Trains and cable cars take you beneath the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, into the Lauterbrunnen valley or up to the Jungfraujoch at 3,454m, and the town is a hub for paragliding, canyoning and rafting. Expect more people on the trails, and cloud that can hide the peaks for days.

Interlaken is the clear winner here. Bern's arcaded medieval centre is under an hour away by train and Thun's castle half an hour. Lake steamers to Spiez and Oberhofen, the open-air museum at Ballenberg and Lucerne by way of the Brünig line can fill several more days.

From Bariloche, outings are mostly into scenery. Villa La Angostura and the craft market at El Bolsón reward the drive, but there are no heritage towns or wine regions within reach.

Interlaken is the smoother family base. Besides the mountain lifts, there are the St Beatus caves above Lake Thun and the farm animals and craft demonstrations at Ballenberg, though the highest summits can be hard on very young children.

Bariloche suits active families, with ski schools at Cerro Catedral, sledging on Cerro Otto, boat trips to Isla Victoria and chocolate workshops on Calle Mitre. Because it is so spread out, those outings involve more travel. Neither town has a zoo or aquarium to fall back on when it rains.

This is where the two differ most once you are there. Interlaken is flat and compact, and its mainline trains, narrow-gauge mountain railways, gondolas and steamers connect so neatly that you can explore the whole Jungfrau region without a car.

Bariloche stretches for about 25km along Avenida Bustillo. Buses reach Llao Llao and Cerro Catedral, but for Circuito Chico, Villa La Angostura or Tronador most visitors hire a car or book tours, and winter ice makes the roads harder going.

Bariloche has the edge, mainly because much of what it sells is made locally: chocolate on Calle Mitre, Patagonian wool knitwear, smoked trout, and the woodwork and Mapuche-style textiles at the craft fairs. Interlaken's Höheweg is given over to watch and jewellery stores, army knives and cuckoo clocks for tour groups, and Brienz woodcarving is the one local craft worth seeking out. Neither has fashion or design boutiques.

Bariloche is expensive by Argentine standards, but Interlaken is expensive by almost anyone's. Bariloche's hotels, cabins and restaurants charge resort prices, steepest in January and during the July school break, and ski passes and organised excursions add to the bill. Spring and autumn, away from those peak weeks, are noticeably cheaper.

In Interlaken the mountain railways and the trip to the Jungfraujoch are the whole point of going, and they cost far more than most visitors expect, on top of full Swiss prices for beds and meals. Regional passes and picnics soften the bill without making it cheap.

Bariloche has the stronger musical tradition. The Camerata Bariloche chamber orchestra carries the town's name, and the Semana Musical Llao Llao brings a yearly week of concerts above the lake, though on most nights there is little beyond folk music in a bar. Interlaken's highlight is the summer open-air William Tell, played by local amateurs in the woods, along with folklore evenings of yodelling and alphorns. For an orchestra, you go to Bern.

Neither town has thermal springs, and in both a spa day means a grand hotel, either the Llao Llao above Nahuel Huapi or the old hotels along the Höheweg. The difference is where you find quiet. In Bariloche it means staying out along the lake towards Llao Llao or Colonia Suiza, while in Interlaken it means lakeside villages, slow steamer crossings, or car-free Wengen and Mürren above the valley.