Bern or Monaco?

Neither is a classic beach destination, but Monaco has the sea and Bern does not. In Bern, swimming means the Aare: a cold, fast float downstream from the Marzili past the Federal Palace, for confident swimmers in high summer only. Lake Thun's calmer shores are twenty minutes away.

Monaco has warm, clear Mediterranean water at Larvotto's enclosed beach, along with private clubs and rocky platforms, and its season lasts into early October. The beach is short, but there is longer sand at Menton and Nice, a few stops along the coast.

Bern eats heartily rather than inventively. The Berner Platte of smoked meats, rösti and fondue fill the guildhall dining rooms and arcade cellars, the markets sell Emmental cheese, and the chocolate is excellent. Beyond that the range is what you would expect of a small city, and a meal out is a real expense.

Monaco cooks lighter and aims higher, with an unusual number of starred and grand hotel dining rooms built on Riviera and Ligurian produce. For the local kitchen, look for barbagiuan and socca at the Condamine market below the Rock. Casual eating is hard to find there and dinner is a dressed-up affair, but Monaco gives the more memorable meals.

Bern has more to see. Its entire old town on the loop of the Aare is a UNESCO site, with arcades, painted fountains, the Zytglogge and the Minster. The museums go deeper than you might expect: the Zentrum Paul Klee, Switzerland's oldest art museum and Einstein's flat on Kramgasse.

Monaco's sights are fewer, and more about the setting. There is the Prince's Palace with its guard ceremony, the cathedral with Grace Kelly's grave, the Oceanographic Museum on the cliff and the Casino. Each city takes a day or two to see, but Bern rewards the time more.

Monaco's evenings are glossier and livelier. Hotel bars on the Casino square and seafront clubs set the tone with champagne and yachts, and things peak in summer and on Grand Prix weekend. Bern goes out in vaulted cellar bars and around Aarbergergasse, with the Reitschule for rougher late parties and riverside terraces in summer.

Neither suits clubbers outside those peaks, and both go quiet early during the week. The real difference is the mood: casual cellars in Bern, dressing up in Monaco.

Bern has the Alps on its doorstep. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are visible from the old town and about an hour away by train for high-mountain walking and skiing. Lake Thun, the Gurten and the wooded paths along the Aare are closer still.

Monaco itself is built up, but limestone mountains rise straight from the sea behind it. The mule path up to Èze, the Tête de Chien viewpoint and the paths around Cap d'Ail and Cap Martin make good walks. The clear water also allows diving and paddleboarding, which Bern cannot offer.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference lies in what surrounds them. From Bern, trains run to Swiss cities and small historic towns: Lucerne, Basel and Zurich in about an hour, with Fribourg, Gruyères, Murten and Thun closer still.

From Monaco, the coastal train and buses link up Riviera towns and villages: Nice, Villefranche and Menton, perched Èze, Antibes and Grasse, and Sanremo and Dolceacqua across the Italian border. It is a choice between Swiss lakes and castles and Mediterranean harbours and hill villages.

Both are safe and clean, and Bern is slightly the easier of the two with children. The bear park, the Dählhölzli zoo, the animal dioramas at the Natural History Museum and the playground on the Gurten fill several days, although the Aare itself is too fast for young swimmers.

Monaco's highlight is the aquarium in the Oceanographic Museum, and Larvotto's calm water suits small children far better than a river. Beyond that, formal restaurants and an adult tone mean families usually spread their time along the coast.

Bern is the simpler place to get around. You can walk the old town end to end in about twenty minutes under the arcades, punctual trams and buses cover the rest of the city, and the main station sits at the top of the old town.

Monaco is even smaller, but it is vertical. Distances are short and the climbs are steep, eased by free public lifts and escalators once you learn where they are, along with buses and the little harbour ferry. You need a car in neither.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each falls short in a different way. Bern has a long arcaded line of chains, watch shops and chocolate shops, then antiques, books and crafts in the cellar shops of Gerechtigkeitsgasse, but almost no luxury.

Monaco is almost all luxury, with fashion houses and jewellers clustered in the Carré d'Or by the Casino and few ordinary chains or independent shops. Browse crafts in Bern, and window-shop couture in Monte-Carlo.

Both are among the most expensive places in Europe to visit, and Bern is only slightly easier on the wallet. Hotels, dinners and drinks there are costly, but hotel guests usually get a local transport pass, and lunch from supermarket counters and market stalls keeps costs down.

Monaco's hotel rooms are priced for the very wealthy and cheap meals barely exist, so many visitors on a budget sleep in Nice, Menton or Beausoleil and come in for the day. In both places the best free pleasures are walks: the arcades and the river in Bern, the Rock and the harbour in Monaco.

For its size, Monaco has the stronger stage. The Monte-Carlo Opera in the gilded Salle Garnier, the Philharmonic and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo all have international reputations, with a season mostly from winter to spring and concerts by the sea in summer.

Bern offers what you would expect of a small capital: opera, ballet and German-language drama at the Stadttheater, the symphony orchestra in the Casino concert hall, contemporary dance at the Dampfzentrale and a spring jazz festival. Bern is better for alternative gigs, and Monaco for nights worth planning a trip around.

Monaco is the better choice for a proper treatment day. Its large thalassotherapy centre beside the Casino continues a long sea-bathing tradition with heated seawater pools, the grand hotels add sizeable spas, and the Japanese Garden makes for a quiet morning.

Bern's appeal is its pace rather than pampering: quiet Sundays, long riverside lunches and a thermal complex on the western edge of the city. Visitors who want serious spa time usually head up to mountain hotels in the Bernese Oberland.