Basel or Chamonix?

Neither place has a beach, but Basel offers a far better swim. In summer the city floats down the Rhine past the old town on the current, then dries off on the gravel banks and the steps by the old bathing huts. It is a real local ritual, though only for confident swimmers.

In Chamonix, swimming is something you do on a free afternoon. You can drive down to the small Lac de Passy, with Mont Blanc straight ahead, or make a day of Lake Annecy, while in town there is only the municipal pool.

Basel eats a little better and with more variety. Its kitchens draw on Alsace and Baden as well as Switzerland, so you get tarte flambée, Baden wines and a small fine-dining tier, with the Markthalle and Marktplatz market for casual meals.

In Chamonix you eat Savoyard food: fondue, raclette and tartiflette on terraces facing the glaciers. It is satisfying after a day outside, but menus repeat from place to place and many kitchens close out of season. Its cheese shops and bakeries are best used for putting together a picnic to take into the hills.

This is where the two differ most. Basel has an art collection of world standing in the Kunstmuseum, the Fondation Beyeler's park-set galleries and the architecture of the Vitra campus, all set around an old town of red sandstone, painted façades and guild houses. Seeing it properly takes several days.

Chamonix's heritage is the story of mountaineering, told in the Musée Alpin, the guides' quarter and the climbers' cemetery. It is moving if alpinism interests you, but you will see it all in a morning.

Both are modest places to go out, but the crowds are quite different. Basel's nights are relaxed and grown-up: drinks on the Kleinbasel riverbank steps in summer, bars around the Kaserne, and electronic clubs in old harbour buildings. Once a year, Fasnacht turns the whole city into three days of drums and lantern processions.

Chamonix is louder and younger. Après-ski spills from the foot of the slopes into a lane of pubs full of guides, seasonal workers and English-speaking visitors, but summer evenings are calmer and out of season many places shut.

Chamonix is in a different league. Glaciers, granite needles and the summit of Mont Blanc rise almost 4km above the valley, and cable cars put you in high-mountain terrain within minutes. Skiing, mountaineering, via ferrata, paragliding and long-distance trails all start from town.

Basel's outdoors is gentler and more spread out. There are wooded ridges in the Jura, Black Forest summits above 1,400m and flat Rhine cycle paths into France and Germany, which suits walkers and cyclists who are happy to go out for the day and come back to the city.

Basel is one of the best bases in Europe for excursions. Colmar, Strasbourg, Freiburg, Bern, Lucerne and Zurich are all within about an hour or so by fast train, with Augusta Raurica and Rheinfelden closer still, so you could fill a week without a car.

Chamonix has good options too. Courmayeur and the Roman town of Aosta are through the tunnel in Italy, and Annecy and Geneva are each a little over an hour away. Beyond those, mountain roads stretch the journeys and most places within reach are other resorts.

Both work well for families, but in different ways. Basel is the gentler choice for young children. It is compact and safe, prams roll straight onto the trams, and the Zolli, one of Europe's finest zoos, is a short walk from the station. If the weather turns, natural history and toy collections give you somewhere to go indoors, and on fine days the river ferries, carried across by the current, and the free animal park in the Lange Erlen make cheap outings. The one big thrill is Europa-Park, about an hour away in Germany, and the Rhine is too strong for young children to swim in.

Chamonix suits families who want to be outdoors all day, and it gives the most to older children. In winter children learn to ski on gentle slopes or go sledging. In summer there is the luge, the treetop courses, ibex and marmots at the Merlet park and the little train up to the glacier. The highest cable cars and the glacier terrain are wrong for toddlers, a run of wet days leaves you short of things to do, and lift tickets and activities cost far more than a day at Basel's zoo.

Basel is easier. You can walk between the old town and both banks, the green trams cover everything else and even cross into France and Germany, and the main station runs direct trains in every direction. The free transport card for hotel guests makes all of it simple.

Chamonix's centre is small and walkable too, and a guest card gives free use of the valley buses and the Mont Blanc Express. In winter, though, the ski areas are spread out, which means crowded ski buses and thin evening services, and a car helps for trips over the border.

Basel has the broader shopping, with watches, jewellery and chocolatiers on Freie Strasse, small design shops around Spalenberg and a pretty Christmas market by the Münster. It is still not a reason to make the trip.

Chamonix is narrower but has real expertise in one thing. Its old outdoor and climbing shops are where serious skiers and alpinists buy their technical gear. Apart from that it sells cheese, génépi and souvenirs.

Both are expensive, and Basel is the harder of the two on a budget. Rooms, meals, drinks and museum tickets all cost Swiss prices, and during the big trade fairs rooms become scarce. Eating or staying across the border in Germany or France is the usual way to cut costs.

Chamonix is somewhat easier to manage. Self-catering apartments, supermarket picnics, free valley transport and trails you can walk without a lift keep everyday costs down, especially outside the peak weeks. Lift passes, guides and paragliding are where the money goes.

Basel has a real stage life and Chamonix does not. Theater Basel stages opera, ballet and drama with a reputation well beyond Switzerland, and the Stadtcasino is home to its symphony orchestra, with early-music concerts and small jazz clubs adding to the calendar from autumn to early summer.

In Chamonix, live performance mostly means the summer jazz festival, some of it played high in the mountains, plus occasional church concerts and mountain film evenings. For opera or an orchestra you would have to go to Geneva.

Basel is a calm city whose baths are out of town. Sundays are quiet and the riverside is made for doing nothing. For proper bathing you go to the saline pools at Rheinfelden, about twenty minutes away, or to the German spa towns of southern Baden.

Chamonix is a busy resort with its spa right in town. Its hot outdoor pools and saunas look up at the glaciers and are at their best on a winter evening after skiing, and the thermal springs of Saint-Gervais are down the valley. Here you relax after effort, in a town that starts its days early and fills up in high season.