Bern or Brussels?

Neither city has a sea, but Bern has a real summer swim. Locals walk up the Aare from the Marzili, jump in and float back down past the Federal Palace. There are also riverside lidos, and Lake Thun is twenty minutes away for calmer water. The river is cold and strong, so it suits confident swimmers.

Brussels has nothing like this in town, only indoor Art Deco pools and open-air basins in summer. The North Sea beaches at Ostend or Knokke are a little over an hour away. The sand is wide, but the water gets no warmer than about 18°C and the coast is often windy, so it makes a day out rather than a swim.

Bern eats well but within a narrow range. You get Berner Platte, rösti and fondue in old guildhall rooms and cellars under the arcades, Emmental cheese at the markets and excellent chocolate. The choice is limited and eating out is costly.

Brussels offers far more. Mussels, waterzooi and shrimp croquettes come with a beer culture built on lambics and Trappist ales. Matonge, Saint-Josse and Saint-Gilles add Congolese, Moroccan and Turkish cooking. Both cities take chocolate seriously, and in Brussels the makers cluster around the Sablon.

Bern's strength is that its old town survives whole. The entire UNESCO-listed centre on its loop of the Aare is intact and arcaded, with the Minster and the Zytglogge. Add the Zentrum Paul Klee and the Einstein Museum and you have two good days.

Brussels has more to see, though it is less tidy. The Grand-Place, the Bruegel and Magritte collections, Horta's Art Nouveau houses and the Cinquantenaire museums make a longer and richer itinerary. Office blocks do break up the historic streets between them.

Bern goes quiet early during the week. Evenings mean cellar bars under the arcades, Aarbergergasse at weekends, riverside terraces in summer and the Reitschule for late, rough-edged parties.

Brussels has far more going on, mostly in its bars. Saint-Géry and the Bourse fill up on warm nights, Flagey and Châtelain draw a local crowd, and century-old taverns pour strong ales. A respected techno club in the Marolles and the queer scene around Rue du Marché au Charbon give it a club side that Bern lacks.

Nature is Bern's clearest advantage. You can see the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau from the old town, and they are about an hour away for alpine hiking, cable cars and skiing. The Gurten funicular, the wooded Aare paths and the Emmental give easy outings without a train ride.

Brussels has the tall beeches of the Sonian Forest and good parks such as the Bois de la Cambre, but the land around it is flat. For hills and kayaking you have to go to the Ardennes valleys near Dinant, which makes a long day.

Both cities are excellent bases, and the difference lies in where the trains take you. From Bern you reach Swiss lake and mountain towns: Thun, Murten, Fribourg and Gruyères close by, and Lucerne and Zurich in about an hour. On these trips the scenery matters as much as the towns.

From Brussels the destinations are art cities: Ghent with its Van Eyck altarpiece, Bruges, Antwerp's Rubens house, Leuven and Mechelen, plus the battlefield at Waterloo. High-speed trains also bring Paris, Lille and Cologne within a day, which reaches further across borders than Bern can.

Bern is the easier city with children. It is calm, clean and compact, with the bear park, the wooded Dählhölzli zoo and a big playground on top of the Gurten. Just keep small children out of the fast Aare.

Brussels has the bigger attractions: the Iguanodon hall at the Natural Sciences museum, the Atomium, Mini-Europe and the Walibi amusement park. Heavy traffic, cobbles and frequent rain make the days harder work.

Bern is about as simple as a city gets. The old town takes about twenty minutes to walk end to end, the arcades keep you dry, and the main station is at its top. Trams and short funiculars cover the rest.

Brussels is manageable but harder going. The main sights are close together, but the climb to the upper town is steep, pavements are uneven and traffic is heavy. The metro and trams, where you can pay by tapping a bank card, take you out to Ixelles and Saint-Gilles.

In Bern, shopping is a pleasant walk under the arcades of Spitalgasse and Kramgasse, with watch and chocolate shops, then antiques and crafts in the cellar shops of Gerechtigkeitsgasse.

Brussels has more range and character. Belgian designers are on Rue Antoine Dansaert and luxury brands on Avenue Louise, the Sablon has chocolatiers and antiques, and the Marolles has a daily flea market on Place du Jeu de Balle.

Neither city is cheap, but Bern costs far more. Hotels, dinners and even a beer on a terrace cost more than most visitors expect. The transport pass from your hotel, the free Federal Palace tours and supermarket lunches only go so far.

Brussels has Northern European prices, but hotel rates fall at weekends when the business travellers leave. Frites, beer and the cooking in the immigrant neighbourhoods keep daily spending reasonable.

Bern covers the basics of a capital. There is German-language opera and drama at the Stadttheater, the symphony orchestra in the Casino, new dance at the Dampfzentrale, and the jazz festival and Gurtenfestival in their seasons.

Brussels gives you more reason to book ahead. La Monnaie stages adventurous opera, Bozar and Flagey host major orchestras, theatre and dance run in both French and Dutch, and big rock tours play here.

Bern is the easier place to slow down. Sundays are quiet and long lunches by the river are normal. There is a large thermal complex on the western edge of the city, and mountain spa hotels in the Bernese Oberland are within reach.

Brussels moves at the pace of a working capital, with heavy traffic, and offers only hammams, day spas and hotel spas. Its calmest moments are an afternoon on a café terrace in Ixelles or a walk in the Sonian Forest.