Basel or Lucerne?

Neither city has a beach, and both rely on a short summer of freshwater swimming. The difference is in the water. In Basel you float down the Rhine past the old town on a strong current, which is exhilarating but only sensible for confident swimmers.

In Lucerne you swim in a calm, clean lake from the Lido, the old wooden lake baths or the lawns at Ufschötti, with mountains behind you. That makes it the gentler choice for mixed groups.

Basel eats better, largely thanks to its neighbours. Alsatian tarte flambée and Baden wines share the menus with Swiss-German cooking, there is a small, high-quality fine-dining tier, and the Markthalle is a good casual stop. The wine villages across the border are close enough for lunch.

Lucerne serves solid Swiss comfort food: Chügelipastete, fondue, rösti and lake perch in wood-panelled taverns. The range is narrow, though, and many places near the Chapel Bridge cater to tour coaches.

Basel is the stronger city for culture, with far more depth. The Kunstmuseum's Old Masters, the Fondation Beyeler, the Tinguely and the Vitra campus just over the border make it a genuine art destination. Add the red sandstone Münster and the Spalenberg lanes, and three or four days pass easily.

Lucerne has the more famous postcard images, such as the Chapel Bridge, the Water Tower and the Lion Monument, along with the Musegg towers and a fine Picasso and Klee collection. Still, a day or two covers it.

Neither city is built for a big night out, but Basel offers more to do. In summer the riverside kiosks on the Kleinbasel bank stay busy late, the Kaserne area and the streets off the Rheingasse have bars all year, and a few clubs in old harbour and industrial buildings play electronic music at weekends.

Lucerne's evenings mostly mean a drink by the water after dinner, and the lakefront empties by midnight. Both towns break out at Fasnacht, though Basel's version famously begins with lanterns and drums at four in the morning.

Here Lucerne pulls well ahead. The mountains rise straight from the lake: you can ride a cogwheel railway up Pilatus, walk the ridges of Rigi or reach the snow on Titlis in about an hour. Steamers link it all, and winter brings skiing and sledging, although low cloud can hide the views.

Basel's countryside is gentler but close. The Jura, the Black Forest and the Vosges are all within an hour for hiking, and the flat Rhine paths make easy cycling into Germany and France. It suits walkers and cyclists rather than anyone after Alpine drama.

Basel has the wider reach because it sits on two borders. Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Strasbourg, Freiburg and the Black Forest are all easy by train, along with Bern, Zurich, Lucerne itself and the Roman ruins at Augusta Raurica.

Lucerne's trips stay inside Switzerland, but they are good ones. The lake boats run to the Rütli meadow and Altdorf, the trains reach Zug, Einsiedeln and Bern, and a scenic line crosses the Brünig Pass to Interlaken. The two cities are about an hour apart, so each makes an easy outing from the other.

Both are small, safe and easy with children, and neither has a long list of attractions made for them. In Basel the main draw is the Zolli, one of Europe's best zoos. The natural history and toy museums cover wet mornings, the current-pulled ferries delight small children, and Europa-Park is about an hour away by car.

Lucerne's big day out is the Swiss Museum of Transport, and the rest is the journeys themselves: steamers, cogwheel trains and the summer toboggan run on Pilatus. These depend on the weather, and with no zoo, rainy days run short sooner than in Basel.

Getting around is effortless in both cities, and you will not need a car in either. Basel runs on a dense network of green trams, some of which cross into Germany and France, and hotel guests travel free on local transport.

Lucerne is small enough to do mostly on foot, with the station, the boat piers and the Old Town side by side. Its real strength is that the same integrated tickets carry you on up the lake and into the mountains.

Shopping is limited in both, and the offer differs mainly in kind. Basel has the broader spread, with Freie Strasse for watches and chains, small design shops on Spalenberg and a pretty Christmas market around the Münster.

Lucerne is dominated by the large watch houses on Schwanenplatz and souvenir shops selling army knives and cuckoo clocks, with little fashion. In both cities the obvious things to take home are chocolate and, in Basel, Läckerli biscuits.

Both are very expensive Swiss cities, and neither can be done cheaply. Basel has more ways to soften the bill: free local transport for hotel guests, cheaper meals and shops a tram ride away in Germany and France, and the option of staying across the border. Rooms become scarce during big trade fairs.

In Lucerne, the mountain railways and cable cars that make the trip worthwhile take a large share of the budget. Swiss travel passes and lakeside picnics help a little.

The two are broadly level, but their calendars differ. Basel offers a steady season from autumn to early summer, with Theater Basel's bold opera and ballet, the Sinfonieorchester at the Stadtcasino and a strong early-music tradition. It goes quiet in July and August.

Lucerne peaks just when Basel pauses. The Lucerne Festival brings the world's leading orchestras to Jean Nouvel's lakefront hall in late summer. Outside those weeks its programme is pleasant but thinner.

Basel has a slight edge for proper bathing. The saline thermal baths at Rheinfelden are about twenty minutes away, and the German spa towns of southern Baden, such as Bad Krozingen and Badenweiler, are an easy add-on, with Baden-Baden within reach for a longer day.

Lucerne's best soak is Mario Botta's mineral bath high on the Rigi, about an hour away by boat and train. Otherwise its calm comes from steamer rides and lakeside strolls, although the Old Town is crowded around midday.