Bavaria or French Alps?

Neither region has a coast, and both swim in lakes from roughly June to early September. The French Alps have the better lake. Annecy's clear water and its grassy beaches at Sévrier, Talloires and Menthon make an attractive summer setting, and the lidos at Évian look across Lake Geneva.

Bavaria's swimming is more scattered: jetties and meadows on the Starnberger See, Chiemsee and Tegernsee, shallow lakes such as the Staffelsee for warmer water, and the gravel banks of the Isar in Munich. It is a pleasant extra, though not quite as good as a few days on Annecy's shore.

The two are evenly matched, but they eat and drink very differently. Bavaria is built around beer: beer gardens under chestnut trees, Franconian village breweries, Bamberg's smoked beer and Silvaner from Würzburg, with roast pork, sausages and pretzels on the plate.

The French Alps are about cheese and wine: fondue, raclette and tartiflette, Beaufort and Reblochon from the farm, Savoie whites and Chartreuse. Both have serious fine dining, Munich in the city and the French Alps around Annecy and the top resorts, and both menus get repetitive after a week.

Bavaria is far richer here. Munich alone has the Alte Pinakothek, the Residenz and the Deutsches Museum. Beyond it are Nuremberg's castle, the UNESCO old towns of Bamberg and Regensburg, Tiepolo's fresco at Würzburg and the castles of Ludwig II, enough for a whole trip.

The French Alps offer shorter visits: Annecy's canals and the Palais de l'Isle, the dukes' château at Chambéry, Grenoble's fine-arts museum and Briançon's Vauban walls. They fill a rainy half day well, but they are rarely the reason to choose the region.

There is little to choose between them overall, but the timing differs. Bavaria's nights are year-round and city-based, with cocktail bars in Munich's Glockenbachviertel, student pubs in Bamberg and Regensburg, loud beer halls, and Oktoberfest as the one great excess.

The French Alps go out hardest in winter, with table-dancing après-ski and late clubs in Val Thorens, Val d'Isère and Méribel. Out of season they quieten down to Annecy's terraces and Grenoble's student bars.

Both are fine mountain country, but the French Alps are on another scale. Mont Blanc, the glaciers seen from the Aiguille du Midi, the Tour du Mont Blanc and the wild Vanoise and Écrins parks are of world rank, and the Tarentaise's linked ski areas are some of the largest anywhere.

Bavaria's Alps are lower and gentler, with the Zugspitze, the Königssee in Berchtesgaden and hut-to-hut walking in the Allgäu. Its strength lies in variety: the wild Bavarian Forest, the climbing crags of Franconian Switzerland and long river cycle paths.

Bavaria is easier for outings. Trains from Munich reach Augsburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg and Salzburg, and Franconia serves as a second hub for Bamberg, the Main wine villages and the Romantic Road towns.

The French Alps do well from Annecy or Lake Geneva, with Geneva, the ferry to Lausanne and Lavaux, and Yvoire all close by. From Chamonix, Italy is a short hop through the tunnel. In the deep Tarentaise valleys, though, most of a day trip goes on the road.

Bavaria is the less tiring of the two with children. There are playgrounds in the beer gardens, the hands-on section of the Deutsches Museum, zoos in Munich and Nuremberg, Legoland at Günzburg and toboggan runs in summer, all within manageable distances.

The French Alps are excellent for teaching children to ski, with good ski schools and car-free resorts such as Avoriaz and Flaine. In summer there is the Mer de Glace railway and marmot spotting. The catch is the cold mornings, the altitude and the long transfer days, and there is little purely for entertainment.

Bavaria is much easier without a car. Munich's U-Bahn and S-Bahn, regional trains to Garmisch, Füssen and Berchtesgaden and a day ticket covering much of the state reach most of the main sights. Only remote lake shores and villages need a car.

In the French Alps, getting around is simple once you are in a resort, because the lifts link whole valleys. Getting there is harder: a transfer from Geneva or Lyon, Saturday queues up the Tarentaise and snow chains in winter. In summer, a car is close to essential for reaching lakes, passes and trailheads.

Bavaria has more range, with luxury houses on Munich's Maximilianstrasse, department stores around Marienplatz, and crafts such as Oberammergau woodcarving, Bavarian Forest glass and Nuremberg gingerbread. Its Christmas markets are a shopping trip in themselves.

The French Alps are specialist. Chamonix is among the best places in Europe to buy climbing and ski gear, and Courchevel and Megève serve the very rich. The best things to take home are cheeses, Génépi and Opinel knives.

Neither is cheap, but Bavaria is gentler on the budget. Outside expensive Munich, Franconian towns, the Bavarian Forest and family guesthouses in Alpine villages are moderately priced, and inn meals and regional rail tickets keep daily costs down.

In the French Alps, winter is the costly season. Lift passes, ski hire and school-vacation chalets add up fast, and Courchevel and Val d'Isère are some of Europe's most expensive places to stay. Summer stays, low-season weeks and towns such as Grenoble or Chambéry bring costs down to ordinary French levels.

The gap here is wide. Munich has the Bavarian State Opera, two orchestras of international rank and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre, and Bayreuth's Wagner festival and Würzburg's Mozart festival draw music lovers from far away.

The French Alps have Grenoble's arts centre and chamber orchestra, chamber music at Évian, and summer concerts in mountain churches. In winter, evening entertainment means bands in après-ski bars, and for opera you would travel to Lyon or Geneva.

Both regions have long spa traditions, but Bavaria's goes deeper and covers more ground. There are the grand colonnades of Bad Kissingen, the brine cures of Bad Reichenhall, the Kneipp water cure from Bad Wörishofen, the huge thermal complex at Erding and the Müller'sches Volksbad in Munich.

The French Alps answer with Belle Époque Aix-les-Bains, Évian's lakeside promenades and the thermal baths at Saint-Gervais in a gorge below Mont Blanc. Hotel spas with hot tubs looking out over the snow are also part of the appeal, though a busy ski resort is rarely restful.