Basel or Zurich?

Neither city has sand, but Zurich is the better place for a summer swim. Its clean lake has wooden bathing houses and lawned lidos at Utoquai, Mythenquai and Tiefenbrunnen. It also has the Letten river baths on the Limmat and historic baths right in the old town, so you can choose between calm water and a current.

In Basel, swimming means the Rhine. You walk upstream along the Kleinbasel bank and float back past the Münster with your clothes in a waterproof bag. It is a memorable thing to do, but the current is strong, so it is for confident swimmers rather than anyone who just wants a gentle dip.

The two cities eat about equally well, but the food is different in kind. Zurich has more of its own dishes: veal Geschnetzeltes with rösti, fondue in wood-panelled guild-house taverns and the Paradeplatz tea rooms famous for Luxemburgerli. The casual, international places are in Kreis 4 and 5.

Basel borrows from its neighbours, so expect tarte flambée from Alsace and wines from Baden. It does better on markets, with the Markthalle and the market on Marktplatz, which are just what Zurich lacks. For a cheaper meal you can also eat in the wine villages across the border.

Basel is the stronger choice for museums. The Kunstmuseum has Holbein and one of the world's oldest public collections, the Fondation Beyeler shows modern art in its Renzo Piano building, and the Tinguely and Vitra museums add design and kinetic sculpture. Buildings by Herzog & de Meuron sit among the guild houses of the Spalenberg, and the city is worth three or four days.

Zurich's highlights are fewer but still worth seeing: the Kunsthaus, the Swiss National Museum, the Museum Rietberg, the Chagall windows in the Fraumünster and the Grossmünster, where the Swiss Reformation began. Two or three days covers them.

Zurich is far the livelier city at night. Electronic music runs deep there, with clubs in Zurich West and Kreis 4 and 5 open until morning at weekends, and Langstrasse's late crowds and kebab counters. In August the Street Parade fills the lake shore.

Basel's nights are quieter: drinks on the riverside steps of the Kleinbasel bank, bars around the Kaserne and a few clubs in old harbour buildings. The one time Basel outdoes Zurich is Fasnacht, when the city stays up for three days of drums and lanterns.

Zurich has the more dramatic landscape. The Glarus Alps stand at the end of the lake, the Uetliberg is a short train ride from the centre, and Rigi, Pilatus and ski areas such as Flumserberg are close enough for a day out.

Basel's surroundings are gentler but varied: the wooded Jura to the south, the Black Forest summits above 1,400m and the Vosges hills of Alsace, with flat Rhine paths for cycling into two countries. The Alps are a couple of hours away, so Basel suits walkers and cyclists rather than people who want high mountains.

Both cities are excellent bases for day trips, and both reach Lucerne, Bern and the Rhine Falls easily. The difference is direction. From Basel you cross borders, to Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Strasbourg's cathedral and Freiburg's minster, with Roman Augusta Raurica a quarter of an hour away.

Zurich looks inward, into Switzerland and towards Lake Constance. Its options include St Gallen's abbey library, the painted houses of Stein am Rhein, Rapperswil by boat up the lake and the Baroque abbey of Einsiedeln.

Zurich offers children more. Its zoo has the Madagascar rainforest hall and the elephant park, the lake lidos have shallow areas and lawns for summer afternoons, and the Technorama science centre and Lucerne's Swiss Museum of Transport make easy outings by train.

Basel has the Zolli, one of Europe's best zoos, and the little Rhine ferries that small children love. Beyond those the list soon runs out, and the river is too strong for young swimmers. Its one advantage is Europa-Park, the big theme park about an hour's drive away in Germany, which Zurich has no match for.

Getting around is effortless in both, with walkable old towns, dense tram networks and no need for a car. Zurich's strength is how well everything fits together: one ticket covers trams, S-Bahn trains, funiculars, the Uetliberg railway and the lake boats, and the airport is a short train ride away.

Basel has its own advantages. Hotel guests get free local transport, some tram lines run into Germany and France, and the current-driven ferries are a pleasant way to cross the river. The airport, though, is reached by bus.

Zurich is the shopping city of the two. Bahnhofstrasse runs from the station to the lake past watchmakers, jewellers and long-established department stores, and the railway viaduct arches in Zurich West hold design shops and a covered food market.

Basel is tidier and smaller, with Freie Strasse and Gerbergasse for chains and watches and the Spalenberg lanes for craft and design. Its best moment is the Christmas market around the Münster, and many locals do their everyday shopping across the border in Germany.

Both are among the most expensive places in Europe to visit, and neither will stretch a budget. Basel is slightly easier on the wallet. Hotel guests travel free, and a short tram ride takes you to cheaper meals and shops in Germany and France, or to a cheaper bed across the border, though rooms become scarce and costly during big trade fairs.

In Zurich, saving means supermarket lunches, picnics by the lake, the free public lidos and a visitor card that bundles transport with museum entry.

Zurich has the deeper stage scene. The Opernhaus on the lake shore is one of Europe's leading opera houses, the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in a restored nineteenth-century hall, and the Rote Fabrik covers jazz, indie and electronic acts. Summer brings the Theater Spektakel and open-air film to the lake.

Basel is serious for its size, with Theater Basel's bold productions under one roof, the Sinfonieorchester at the Stadtcasino and a strong early-music tradition. Its season, however, goes quiet in July and August.

Zurich has a slight edge because you can bathe within the city. There are thermal pools in the stone vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery, and in winter the wooden lake houses become saunas with cold plunges. The Swiss spa town of Baden is about twenty minutes away.

Basel has nothing comparable in town. It makes up for that with a slower pace, the saline baths at Rheinfelden twenty minutes away and the German spa towns of southern Baden, such as Badenweiler and Bad Krozingen, just over the border.