Bern or Chamonix?

Neither place has a beach, but Bern has a real summer swimming culture. Locals drift down the cold, fast Aare past the Federal Palace and climb out at the Marzili lido. Lake Thun is twenty minutes away by train for calmer water.

In Chamonix swimming is an afterthought. It means the municipal pool, the small Lac de Passy down the valley, or a day out to Lake Annecy, more than an hour away.

Both serve hearty Alpine cheese cooking, and neither is a destination for adventurous eating. Bern's table is Swiss and urban: the Berner Platte, rösti and veal in cellar and guildhall dining rooms, Emmental cheese at the weekly markets, and very good chocolate.

Chamonix cooks in the Savoyard style, with tartiflette, raclette and Reblochon. Its best meals are often eaten on a mountain restaurant terrace facing the glaciers, or as a picnic bought from the town's cheese shops. Expect resort menus that look alike and places that close in the off-season.

Here Bern is far ahead. The whole old town is a World Heritage site, with arcades, painted fountains, the Zytglogge and the Minster tower, and the museums are better than a city of its size would suggest. The Zentrum Paul Klee, the Kunstmuseum and the Einstein Museum alone fill a day.

Chamonix's story is mountaineering: the first ascent of Mont Blanc, the 1924 Winter Olympics, the Musée Alpin and the climbers' cemetery. It is worth a few hours, but the mountains are the real sight.

Both are quiet places to go out, but in different ways. Bern's evenings happen in vaulted cellar bars under the arcades and on Aarbergergasse, and on summer evenings at terraces by the Aare. The Reitschule hosts late, alternative parties. On weeknights the city winds down early.

Chamonix is louder in winter. Après-ski starts at the foot of the slopes, then moves to a short lane of pubs and two or three small clubs, with a young, English-speaking crowd. Outside the ski season it goes much quieter.

Bern has fine scenery close by: the Gurten funicular, wooded Aare paths, the Emmental and the Jura. The Jungfrau region is about an hour away by train for high hiking and skiing.

Chamonix sits right under the highest peaks in Western Europe. The Aiguille du Midi takes you to 3,842m, the Mer de Glace is a rack railway ride away, and the town is the starting point for the Tour du Mont Blanc and for serious skiing, climbing and paragliding. For anyone who travels for mountains, nowhere nearby comes close.

Bern sits at the centre of the Swiss rail network. Zurich, Basel and Lucerne are each about an hour away, Fribourg, Murten and Thun are closer still, and you can take a different trip every day without planning around connections.

Chamonix's options are fewer but more international. Courmayeur and the Roman town of Aosta are through the tunnel in Italy, Annecy and Geneva are over an hour by road, and the Mont Blanc Express runs to Martigny. After those, most places in reach are other resorts.

Bern is slightly easier with children of any age. It is calm and safe, and the bear park, the Dählhölzli zoo, the Natural History Museum dioramas and the Gurten playground are all close together, with indoor options for wet days. Keep children out of the river itself.

Chamonix suits active families, and older ones in particular. It has nursery slopes and sledging, the summer luge, treetop courses, Merlet's ibex and marmots, and the little red train. The high cable cars are not suitable for toddlers, though, and rainy days are hard to fill.

Bern is about as simple as cities get. You can cross the centre on foot under cover, punctual trams and funiculars cover the rest, and the main station sits at the top of the old town.

Chamonix's centre is small and flat, and the valley buses and train are free with the guest card. The ski areas are spread along the valley, though, so winter means crowded ski buses and thin evening services, and trips over the border are easier with a car.

Bern offers the broader, gentler shopping trip. Swiss watches, chocolate and chains line the arcades of Spitalgasse and Kramgasse, and cellar shops on Gerechtigkeitsgasse sell antiques, books and design.

Chamonix is narrower but has one real strength. Its climbing, ski and outdoor shops, some of them run by the same families for generations, are worth saving a big gear purchase for. Beyond that it sells cheese, génépi and souvenirs, and for fashion you go to Geneva.

Neither is cheap, but Bern is the harder on a budget. Hotels, meals and even a terrace beer cost a lot, and the main savings are supermarket lunches, the free tram pass and free sights such as the bear park and the arcades.

Chamonix is expensive in peak weeks, and lift passes and guides add up. Still, apartments make self-catering easy, many trails start from the valley floor without a lift, and late spring and autumn are noticeably cheaper.

Bern has a proper cultural calendar for its size. There is opera, ballet and drama at the Stadttheater, the symphony orchestra at the Casino, contemporary dance at the Dampfzentrale, a spring jazz festival and the Gurtenfestival in July.

Chamonix has no theatre or concert season. Its summer jazz festival, with some sets played up in the mountains, is lovely, but otherwise there are occasional church concerts and mountain film nights.

The two are broadly level, but they relax in opposite ways. Bern is restful in itself: no one hurries under the arcades, Sundays are quiet and long lunches by the river are normal, and a thermal complex on the city edge and a hammam add spa time.

Chamonix's relaxation comes after effort. Its large day spa has hot outdoor pools facing the glaciers, and Saint-Gervais has a long thermal tradition down the valley. The town itself is busy and starts early, so book the shoulder seasons for real calm.