Basel or Zermatt?

Neither city has a beach, but Basel at least has proper summer swimming. Locals float down the Rhine past the old town in waterproof bags, the water often tops 20°C in August, and the gravel banks fill with sunbathers.

Zermatt has nothing like it. Its mountain tarns are icy meltwater, good for photographing the Matterhorn but not for swimming, so in Zermatt swimming means a hotel pool.

Basel eats a little better and with more range, because it borrows from both its neighbours. Alsatian tarte flambée, Baden wines and Swiss-German dishes share the menus, and the Markthalle and the Marktplatz market are good for casual meals. Cheaper dinners are a short hop away in the wine villages across the border.

In Zermatt, the best meals are on the mountain. Lunch on a chalet terrace at Findeln or Zum See, with raclette, air-dried beef and a glass of Petite Arvine, is the high point. In the village the choice is narrower, and many places close between seasons.

This is where the two differ most after the mountains. Basel has world-class museums, from the Old Masters at the Kunstmuseum to the Fondation Beyeler in its Renzo Piano building. It also has a well-kept old town that climbs from the red sandstone Münster up the Spalenberg to the Spalentor, and buildings by Herzog & de Meuron.

Zermatt's heritage is about climbing. The Matterhorn Museum tells the story of the 1865 first ascent, the mountaineers' cemetery holds climbers who died on the surrounding peaks, and the old larch barns of the Hinterdorf stand on their stone slabs. It is moving, but you can see it all in a morning.

Basel has more going on, and it goes on all year. Summer evenings are spent at the riverside buvettes on the Kleinbasel bank, there are bars around the Kaserne, and a few clubs play electronic music at weekends. Fasnacht, when the city drums and parades from four in the morning, is a spectacle Zermatt cannot match.

Zermatt's nightlife is almost all winter après-ski: ski boots, loud music and a few late bars on the main street. In summer, hikers with early starts are in bed soon after dinner.

Zermatt is one of the great mountain bases of Europe. The Matterhorn rises above the village, dozens of four-thousand-metre peaks surround it, and cog railways and cable cars reach the Gornergrat and the Glacier Paradise. In summer there are walks like the Five Lakes trail and the Europaweg suspension bridge, with marmots and ibex in the larch woods.

Basel's countryside is gentler. The Jura, the Black Forest and the Vosges are all within an hour, with good walking and easy cycling along the Rhine, but there are no high peaks or glaciers.

Basel sits where Switzerland, France and Germany meet, which makes it one of the best bases in Europe for day trips. Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Freiburg, Strasbourg, Lucerne and Bern are all an easy train ride away, and Roman Augusta Raurica is just outside the city.

Zermatt is at the end of a long valley, so every outing starts with an hour or more on the train down. Sion's castle hills and Brig's Stockalper Palace make a pleasant day, but most visitors would rather spend a spare day back up in the mountains.

Basel has more for children to do. The Zolli is one of Europe's best zoos, the Natural History Museum and the toy museum cover a wet morning, the little current-driven ferries are a treat, and Europa-Park is a day out across the German border.

Zermatt's car-free streets make it relaxed and safe, with children's ski schools and nursery slopes at Sunnegga, and marmots to spot in summer. It works well for families who ski or hike together, but rainy days are hard to fill, and the highest viewpoints can be too cold and thin-aired for small children.

Both are easy without a car, but Basel is easier. You can walk the old town and both river banks, trams reach everywhere else and even cross into France and Germany, and hotel guests travel free on local transport. Direct trains from the main station make every day trip simple.

Zermatt is a single walkable strip, with electric taxis and the lifts all close to the centre. Getting there is the effort: a change at Täsch, sometimes a steep walk with luggage, and more than an hour by train whenever you leave the valley.

For an afternoon of browsing, Basel is the better of the two. Watchmakers and chocolatiers line Freie Strasse and Gerbergasse, and the Spalenberg lanes have small design and craft shops. In December the Christmas market around the Münster is one of the prettiest in Switzerland.

Zermatt's single main street runs from the station towards the church. It sells luxury watches, cowbell souvenirs and first-rate ski and mountaineering gear. It is a good place to buy equipment before going up the mountain, but there is no market and there are few independent shops, so there is little else to linger over.

Both are among the most expensive places you could choose, and neither will suit a tight budget. In Basel the bill is easier to soften: hotel guests ride local transport free, and cheaper meals, shopping and even beds are a tram ride away in Germany and France.

In Zermatt the extra costs come on top of the room, because lift and cog-railway tickets are part of almost every day. Self-catering, supermarket picnics and staying down the valley in Täsch are the main ways to save.

Basel has a proper season. Theater Basel stages bold opera, ballet and drama, the Stadtcasino is home to the Sinfonieorchester Basel, and there are early-music concerts and jazz from the city's music school. It runs from autumn to early summer.

Zermatt has no theatre or concert hall. Live music comes mainly from two festivals: Zermatt Unplugged with its acoustic sets in spring, and chamber music in the village church in late summer. Outside those weeks there is only the après-ski band.

The two are about level here, but they offer different kinds of rest. Basel's own pace is calm, with quiet Sundays and a riverside made for idling. For real bathing, the saline thermal pools at Rheinfelden are twenty minutes away, and the German spa towns of southern Baden are close too.

Zermatt has no springs, but it has many polished hotel spas, often looking out on the peaks, and the village is quiet and car-free with clear air. In peak weeks the mood is more active than restful.