Basel or Dijon?

Neither city has a coast, but Basel has a real summer swimming culture. People float down the Rhine past the old town in swim bags and sunbathe on the gravel banks. It is lively and memorable, though it only suits confident swimmers because the current is strong.

Dijon's swimming is quieter: the supervised lawn-and-sand area at Lac Kir, plus municipal pools. It works for a hot afternoon, but it is nothing like the daily summer ritual of the river in Basel.

Dijon is the place to travel for food. Burgundian classics such as boeuf bourguignon, jambon persillé and snails are cooked where they come from, Les Halles is full of Bresse poultry and Époisses, and the mustard, pain d'épices and cassis are local. Wine country begins at the edge of town.

Basel eats well but borrows a lot from its neighbours: tarte flambée from Alsace, wines from Baden, and Swiss-German comfort food. Apart from a small top tier, its restaurants can feel expensive for what you get. Its locals cross the border to eat, while Dijon's visitors come for the food itself.

Basel has the deeper collections. The Kunstmuseum, the Fondation Beyeler, the Museum Tinguely and the Vitra Design Museum add up to more art than you would expect from a city this size, and buildings by Herzog & de Meuron sit next to the red sandstone Münster and the painted Rathaus.

Dijon's appeal is more about its history as a ducal capital. The tombs of the Valois dukes are in the palace museum, Notre-Dame has its gargoyles and its lucky owl, and the Well of Moses is at Champmol. Allow two or three days for Dijon and three or four for Basel.

Neither is a party city, and Basel has a little more going on. On summer nights people drink on the Kleinbasel riverbank steps, the Kaserne area has most of the bars, and a few clubs in old harbour buildings play electronic music. Fasnacht turns the whole city into three days of drums and lanterns.

Dijon's evenings depend on its students: small bars along Rue Berbisey, wine and beer on the terraces, and a late dinner. Outside term time it is mostly quiet by midnight.

Basel has more variety close by. The Jura ridges begin just south of the city, the Black Forest summits above 1,400m are within an hour, and the Vosges lie to the west, so there is real hiking and even some light skiing.

Dijon's country is gentler. There are the limestone combes for walking and climbing, the flat towpath of the Burgundy Canal, and the cycle route through the vineyards towards Beaune. Its wildest landscape, the Morvan, is further away than anything wild near Basel.

Both are excellent bases, and Basel has more range. From one station you can reach Colmar and Strasbourg in France, Freiburg in Germany, and Lucerne, Bern and Zurich in Switzerland, mostly by fast train and without a car.

Dijon's day trips go deeper into one region. They follow the Grands Crus villages to Beaune, then north-west to Fontenay Abbey, Semur-en-Auxois and Alésia. The trips are excellent, but most of the wine villages are easier by car, bike or tour than by train.

Both cities are safe and calm, but Basel has much more for children. The Zolli is among Europe's best zoos, the Natural History Museum and the toy museum cover a rainy day, the river ferries are a treat for younger children, and Europa-Park is about an hour away.

In Dijon, the list ends after the planetarium at the Jardin de l'Arquebuse, the play areas in the Parc de la Colombière and paddling at Lac Kir. The tastings and fine-art museums that fill most visits will hold parents' interest more than children's.

Basel's green trams reach almost every corner of the city, and some lines carry on over the border into Germany and France. Hotel guests get a free transport card, so you rarely think about tickets. The four river ferries make crossing the Rhine a small pleasure, and a bus runs from the centre to the airport, which Basel shares with France.

Dijon is mostly a city for walking. Its pedestrian centre puts the station, Les Halles and the ducal palace a few minutes apart, and two tram lines plus buses cover the outskirts and Lac Kir. For a visitor that is enough, but the network is much smaller than Basel's.

Basel is the place for Swiss watches, jewellery and chocolate along Freie Strasse. The Spalenberg lanes have small design and craft shops, and in December there is a pretty Christmas market around the Münster.

Shopping in Dijon is for the kitchen and the cellar: mustard in dozens of flavours, cassis, pain d'épices, cheese from Les Halles and bottles from the wine merchants. Rue de la Liberté has a department store and French chains, but if you want fashion you will find little in either city.

This is where the two differ most. Basel is one of the most expensive cities you could choose, with Swiss prices for rooms, meals, drinks and museums, and rooms get scarce during the big trade fairs. Free hotel transport and cheaper meals over the border help a little.

Dijon is an ordinary French regional city in price. Hotels are moderate, set lunches are good value and wine is cheap by the glass. Only fine dining and serious bottles push the bill up.

Basel offers more for evenings out. Theater Basel is known well beyond Switzerland for bold opera, ballet and drama, the Sinfonieorchester plays at the acoustically fine Stadtcasino, and there are early-music concerts and a jazz school that keeps small clubs supplied with players.

Dijon has a respectable season at the Grand Théâtre and the Auditorium, as well as a national drama centre, but there is less of it. In both cities the season runs through the academic year and thins out in summer.

For a spa day, Basel is better placed. The saline baths at Rheinfelden are about twenty minutes away, the German spa towns of southern Baden are just over the border, and Baden-Baden is within reach. The quiet Sundays and the riverside help the city itself feel unhurried.

Dijon has no thermal tradition and only a few hotel spas, some offering grape-based treatments. It relaxes you in a different way, through long lunches, quiet squares and slow afternoons in the vineyards.