Basel or Innsbruck?

Neither city has a beach, but Basel's summer swimming is the better part of daily life. Floating down the Rhine past the old town with a swim bag, then sunbathing on the gravel banks, is a ritual the whole city shares, though the current asks for confident swimmers.

Innsbruck's swimming means driving or taking a bus up to small plateau lakes such as the Lanser See, which warm up nicely in high summer, or the lovely but chilly Achensee. It is a pleasant afternoon out rather than part of the city's rhythm.

Basel eats a little better, mainly because of where it sits. Alsatian tarte flambée, Baden wines and Swiss-German cooking share the menus, the Markthalle and Marktplatz market give it a casual side, and a fine-dining tier sits above that.

Innsbruck's cooking is narrower and heartier: Gröstl, Kaspressknödel and Kaiserschmarrn, at their best in a mountain hut after a walk. In town there are coffee houses with strudel but no market culture, and the inns around the Golden Roof lean towards tour groups.

Basel has the deeper cultural offer, built on world-class collections. The Kunstmuseum, the Beyeler in its Renzo Piano building and the Vitra Design Museum across the border give it a range of art Innsbruck cannot match, and the old town adds the red sandstone Münster, the painted Rathaus and modern Herzog & de Meuron buildings.

Innsbruck's strength is Habsburg history rather than art. The Golden Roof, the Hofburg and above all the Hofkirche with Maximilian's bronze figures are memorable, and Ambras Castle's cabinet of curiosities is a fine outing. It all fits into two or three days, a little less than Basel needs.

Both are quiet after dark, but in different ways. Basel's best evenings are outdoors in summer, drinking on the Kleinbasel steps by the river, plus a few clubs in harbour buildings, and in late winter Fasnacht takes over the streets for three days and nights from four in the morning.

Innsbruck's scene is student-driven, with bars and small clubs packed into the brick arches under the railway viaduct. In winter many visitors skip town altogether for après-ski in the surrounding resorts.

This is Innsbruck's great advantage. High mountains rise straight from the city, with the Nordkette reached in under half an hour by funicular and cable car, the Karwendel nature park behind it and the Stubai Glacier holding snow for most of the year. Skiing, paragliding, mountain biking and hut-to-hut hiking all start within easy reach.

Basel's countryside is gentler. The Jura, the Black Forest and the Vosges offer good marked walks and some light skiing, and the flat Rhine paths are lovely for cycling into France and Germany, but it suits walkers rather than anyone after real Alpine terrain.

Basel is the better base for days out, chiefly because its trips are short. Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Freiburg, Lucerne, Bern and Zurich are each roughly an hour by train, and Augusta Raurica is a quarter of an hour away.

Innsbruck reaches three countries too, but the big names lie further off. Hall in Tirol and Rattenberg are close, while Munich, Salzburg and Bolzano take nearer two hours, and Neuschwanstein is easiest by car.

Both are safe, clean and easy with children, and both hinge on a zoo. Basel's Zolli is one of Europe's best and a short walk from the station, the river ferries delight small children, and Europa-Park makes a big day out across the border.

Innsbruck's Alpenzoo shows only mountain animals and is reached by funicular, which is half the fun. Its real draw for families is the outdoors: hut playgrounds, plateau lakes for swimming and gentle ski slopes in winter, with rainy days harder to fill.

Basel is simply the easier city to move around. Hotel guests ride the tram network free, some lines run into France and Germany, and the main station's direct trains mean day trips never need a car.

Innsbruck's flat centre is just as walkable, and the funicular to the Nordkette makes the mountains unusually accessible. For the remoter valleys and lakes, though, a car still helps.

Basel has a little more to browse. Freie Strasse and Gerbergasse carry Swiss watches and chocolatiers, Spalenberg has small design and craft shops, and the Christmas market around the Münster is one of Switzerland's prettiest.

Innsbruck's shopping is about Tyrolean goods: loden jackets, dirndls, woodcarvings, Speck and schnapps in the old town arcades. Its outdoor and ski shops are the best reason to spend money here.

Innsbruck is clearly the cheaper of the two, though it still carries Alpine resort prices, especially in ski season. Spring and autumn bring hotel rates down, and city cards that bundle transport, lifts and sights keep an active trip under control.

Basel costs full Swiss prices for everything, and rooms become scarce during trade fairs such as Art Basel. Free tram travel helps, and many visitors eat or even stay across the border in Germany or France to soften the bill.

Basel has the more serious stage scene. Theater Basel is known well beyond Switzerland for bold opera, ballet and drama, and the Stadtcasino's fine acoustics serve two resident orchestras, though July and August are quiet.

Innsbruck's programme is solid but provincial, with the Tiroler Landestheater and the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra. Its standout is the summer Festival of Early Music in settings like the Spanish Hall at Ambras Castle, so early-music lovers will find something in both cities.

Basel offers slightly better spa options, thanks to its borders. The saline thermal baths at Rheinfelden are about twenty minutes away, the German spa towns of southern Baden are close, and Sundays by the river are calm.

Innsbruck has no thermal springs of its own. Its wellness is the Alpine kind, with hotel saunas in Igls looking out on the peaks, and the large thermal complexes in the Ötztal and Zillertal lie about an hour away.