Basel or Monaco?

Basel has no sea at all. Its swimming is the summer ritual of floating down the Rhine past the old town, which is great fun but only for confident swimmers in a strong current, and only from June to early September.

Monaco has the Mediterranean, though not much sand. Larvotto is short and groomed, with calm, clear water, and there are beach clubs and rocky platforms besides. Cap d'Ail's coves and the long beaches at Menton and Nice are minutes away, so sea days are easy to arrange.

Monaco eats a little better, mainly at the top end. Its many starred and grand hotel dining rooms cook Riviera and Ligurian food, and barbagiuan and socca at the Condamine market give it a local flavour. Cheap, casual meals are hard to find.

Basel is careful rather than exciting. It has few specialities beyond Läckerli and Fasnacht's flour soup, borrows heavily from Alsace and Baden, and keeps a small, strong fine-dining tier. In both places, locals often cross a border to eat for less.

Basel has much more to see. The Kunstmuseum's Holbeins and Old Masters, the Fondation Beyeler in its Renzo Piano building, the Tinguely and the Vitra Design Museum make it a real art destination. The sandstone Münster and the guild lanes up the Spalenberg add a medieval old town, and you need three or four days for it all.

Monaco's sights are fewer and more theatrical. You get the palace guard ceremony, Grace Kelly's cathedral and the Belle Époque Oceanographic Museum on the Rock, then the Casino across the harbour. A day or two covers them, and the setting is the main attraction.

Monaco has the livelier evenings, but only of one kind. Hotel bars around the Casino square, glossy clubs on the Larvotto seafront and champagne by the yachts make for a dressed-up night, at its busiest in summer and on Grand Prix weekend.

Basel is more casual and more modest. People drink on the Kleinbasel steps at the riverside kiosks, find bars around the Kaserne and dance in a few clubs in old harbour buildings. Its great night out is Fasnacht, which beats anything on Monaco's calendar for sheer strangeness.

Monaco's surroundings are more dramatic. Limestone cliffs rise straight behind the town, with the view from Tête de Chien and the old mule path up to Èze. Clear water for snorkelling and diving, and the pine-shaded paths around Cap Martin, put the sea and the mountains side by side.

Basel's countryside is gentler but still varied. The Jura, the Black Forest and the Vosges are all close, with good marked trails, and the flat Rhine paths are ideal for cycling into Germany and France. It suits walkers and cyclists rather than people looking for scenery.

Both are outstanding bases, and the difference is in what lies around them. From Basel, fast trains reach three countries: Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Freiburg and the Black Forest, and Lucerne, Bern and Zurich, all about an hour away.

From Monaco, the coastal train and buses run along the Riviera to Villefranche, Nice and Menton. Èze and La Turbie are up the hill, and Antibes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Sanremo are further on. You choose between half-timbered towns and Swiss old towns on one side, and the sea and perched villages on the other.

The two are about equal for children: both are safe, clean and small, and both run short of ideas after a couple of days. Basel's big draw is the Zolli, along with the Rhine ferries, and Europa-Park is the big outing beyond the city. The river is too strong for small children to swim in.

Monaco's draw is the aquarium in the Oceanographic Museum, and Larvotto's calm water is gentle for young swimmers. Against that, it has steep streets and formal restaurants.

Basel is the simpler city to move around. Its centre on both sides of the Rhine is mostly level, with only short climbs up to the Münster and the Spalenberg. When your legs tire, a green tram is rarely far away, and some carry on over the border. Hotel guests ride free, so there are no tickets to sort out, and the small ferries pushed along by the current turn a river crossing into part of the day. Direct trains from the main station go to Swiss, German and French cities, so a car would only get in the way.

Monaco covers far less ground, but it is built on a slope. Going from the harbour up to the Rock or the Casino means climbing, and the trick is finding the free lifts and escalators tucked into the hillside, which can take a day to work out. Buses and the little solar ferry across the port fill the gaps, while driving is slow and parking is all underground. The station, reached through long tunnels in the cliff, is the real advantage: the coastal train makes Nice or Menton almost as easy to reach as the far side of town.

Monaco has the edge, but only for luxury. The Carré d'Or around the Casino gardens packs fashion houses, jewellers and watchmakers into a short walk, and window-shopping there is part of the evening. Beyond that there are hardly any chains, independent designers or markets for goods.

Basel is broader but plainer. Freie Strasse has watches, chocolate and the usual chains, and Spalenberg has small design shops. Its Christmas market around the Münster is a real seasonal reason to visit.

Neither is a place to save money, and both stretch the budget a long way. Basel softens it a little with free transport for hotel guests, cheaper meals a tram ride away in Germany or France, and the option of staying over the border, though Art Basel fills its rooms.

Monaco is steeper still, with hotels priced for the very wealthy and almost no cheap meals. Walking the Rock, the gardens and the harbour costs nothing, and many budget travellers stay in Nice, Menton or Beausoleil and come in for the day.

Both towns punch above their size on stage, with different strengths. Basel's Theater Basel is known for bold opera, ballet and drama under one roof. The Stadtcasino and the city's early-music tradition anchor concerts, and a jazz school feeds small clubs, though the season goes quiet in July and August.

Monaco has more glamour: opera in the gilded Salle Garnier, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo and the Philharmonic, mostly from winter to spring. Summer brings shows by the sea. There is little spoken theatre and almost no small live-music venues.

Neither is a spa town, and both leave you to arrange your own treatment day. Basel's calm comes from quiet Sundays and the riverside, and the real bathing is a short trip out, to the saline baths at Rheinfelden or the mineral pools of southern Baden.

Monaco keeps it in town. The seawater thalassotherapy centre by the Casino and the grand hotel spas offer polished treatments, and the Japanese Garden makes for a slow morning, except in Grand Prix week.