Basel or Nice?

Nice wins this easily. The open Mediterranean starts right below the Promenade des Anglais. The shore is pebble rather than sand, so a lounger from a beach club and a pair of water shoes make it more comfortable. Sandier, calmer coves at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Juan-les-Pins are a short train ride away.

Basel's swimming is a summer river ritual. You walk up the Kleinbasel bank and float back past the old town on a strong current, which makes it fun for confident swimmers but no substitute for a beach vacation.

Basel feeds you well but borrows most of its cooking from its neighbours, with Alsatian tarte flambée, Baden wines and Swiss-German comfort food. Läckerli and Fasnacht flour soup are the few true local dishes. Everyday meals can feel dear for what they are.

Nice has a cuisine of its own. Socca from wood ovens, pissaladière, stuffed vegetables and the Cours Saleya market make it the more rewarding city to eat in, especially in the family places of Vieux Nice and around the port. Avoid the set-menu terraces on the promenade.

Basel has the stronger museums. The Kunstmuseum's Holbeins and Old Masters, the Fondation Beyeler in its Renzo Piano building and the Vitra campus over the German border add up to a collection of art and architecture well beyond what Nice can offer. The sandstone Münster and the guild lanes up the Spalenberg make a neat, compact old town.

Nice's appeal is more about atmosphere. The ochre lanes of Vieux Nice and the Belle Époque villas of Cimiez sit alongside the Matisse and Chagall museums and MAMAC. It is enough for two or three good days, but none of it has the reach of Basel's best.

Neither city is a big night out, but Nice has more going on. The lanes of Vieux Nice fill with wine bars and pubs, and in summer the beach clubs keep people out late, though anyone after glamour heads to Monaco or Cannes.

Basel's evenings are quieter and pricier. People drink at the riverside buvettes or around the Kaserne, and a few clubs play electronic music in old harbour buildings. The exception is Fasnacht, when the whole city stays up for three days of drums and lanterns.

Nice has the more dramatic setting, with the Alps meeting the sea. There are cliff paths around Cap Ferrat, corniche roads for cyclists and the red rocks of the Esterel. Inland lie the larch forests and ibex of the Mercantour, and skiing at Isola 2000 is close enough to fit in on the same day as the coast.

Basel's countryside is gentler. The Jura, the Black Forest and the Vosges are all close, and flat Rhine paths lead into Germany and France, so it suits walkers and cyclists rather than anyone looking for big mountain scenery.

Both are superb bases for day trips, but in different ways. From Basel the trains cross three countries, to the half-timbered wine villages around Colmar, to Freiburg and to Swiss cities such as Lucerne and Bern, so each day can feel like a change of country.

From Nice the trips run along a single coastline, with Monaco, Menton, Èze, Antibes and Cannes, plus Grasse and Saint-Paul-de-Vence inland. Most are under an hour away. The towns are closer together and you can often finish the day with a swim.

The two are about equally easy with children, but they offer different things. Basel has the Zolli, one of Europe's best zoos, plus the current-pulled Rhine ferries and Europa-Park an hour away. It is calm and safe, but the river is too strong for small swimmers.

Nice has the sea, the water jets and playgrounds of the Promenade du Paillon, and Parc Phoenix. The pebbles are hard on small feet, though, and July and August are hot and crowded.

Basel is the easier of the two. Its centre is walkable, the green trams reach every corner and even cross into France and Germany, hotel guests ride free, and trains from the main station reach three countries.

Nice is also easy without a car. The flat centre is walkable, a tram runs to the airport and buses climb to Cimiez. But summer trains along the coast get packed and Riviera roads are slow, and you will want a car for the mountains.

Basel's shopping is neat but narrow. Freie Strasse has watches, chocolate and the usual chains, and Spalenberg has a few design shops. It is at its most appealing in December, when the Christmas market sets up around the Münster.

Nice gives you more variety. Avenue Jean Médecin has the high-street stores, rue Paradis the fashion houses, and Vieux Nice olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics. The Monday flea market on the Cours Saleya is good for an hour or two of browsing.

Basel is one of the most expensive places you could choose. Rooms, meals, drinks and museum tickets all cost Swiss prices, and rooms become scarce during the big trade fairs. The free transport card and cheaper meals over the borders in France and Germany soften the bill a little.

Nice is costly too, especially near the sea in summer, but it is easier to keep a trip affordable there. Trams and coastal trains are cheap, many city museums charge little, and socca or a market picnic makes a cheap lunch.

Basel has the richer stage, especially for a city of its size. Theater Basel is known well beyond Switzerland for bold opera, ballet and drama, the Stadtcasino has excellent acoustics and the Sinfonieorchester Basel, and the early-music tradition adds historical concerts. Its season runs from autumn to early summer.

Nice offers a solid regional programme at its red-and-gold opera house. Its big moments come at set times of year: the Nice Jazz Festival in July, which falls just as Basel's halls go quiet, and the Carnival in February.

Basel makes the better base for a spa break, even though it has no spa culture of its own. The saline baths at Rheinfelden are twenty minutes away, the mineral pools and saunas of Badenweiler and Bad Krozingen are just over the border, and quiet Sundays set an easy pace.

Nice offers thalassotherapy along the coast and the gentle pleasure of an early swim and an evening walk on the promenade. It is most restful out of season, because the summer crowds and heat take much of the calm away.