Bern or Salzburg?

Neither city has a coast, but in Bern swimming is part of the city itself. In summer you walk upstream from the Marzili baths and let the fast, cold Aare carry you back past the Federal Palace, then dry off on the lido lawns. It is for strong swimmers, and Lake Thun is about twenty minutes away by train if you want calmer water.

The Salzach is not for swimming, so in Salzburg a swim means a trip of half an hour or more to Fuschlsee, Wolfgangsee or Mondsee. The lake water is clear and a little warmer, and you get in from jetties and lawns rather than sand. It is lovely, but it takes up an afternoon.

The two are much alike: hearty Alpine cooking, and nobody travels to either just to eat. Bern's dishes are the Berner Platte of smoked meats, fondue and rösti, eaten in vaulted cellars, together with Emmental cheese at the markets and very good chocolate.

Salzburg's best moments come in its coffee houses, over cake in the afternoon, and in the monastery beer garden in Mülln, where you bring your own food. Old-town menus aimed at tour groups are a weakness here, and the better cooking is found in the inns on the outskirts and on the hills around the city.

Salzburg has the richer set of sights. The cathedral, the Residenz and the arcaded squares form a complete Italian-style Baroque ensemble beneath Hohensalzburg, one of Europe's largest intact fortresses, and Mozart's birthplace, the catacombs of St Peter and the trick fountains of Hellbrunn fill out two or three full days.

Bern's World Heritage old town is sandstone and medieval rather than Baroque, with long arcades, painted fountains, the Zytglogge and the Minster tower. Its strength is its museums, especially the Zentrum Paul Klee and the Einstein Museum near the flat on Kramgasse where he worked out special relativity.

Neither is a party city, but Bern has a little more going on after dinner. The vaulted cellar bars under the arcades and along Aarbergergasse fill up at weekends, the Reitschule hosts rough-edged late parties, and in summer people meet at the riverside bars.

A Salzburg evening is more often a concert followed by a litre of beer at a long table in a beer hall, and the old town is quiet by midnight. Student pubs on Rudolfskai keep later hours during term, and for real clubbing locals take the train to Munich.

Both sit at the foot of the Alps, but the mountains are laid out differently. In Salzburg they start at the edge of town. Wooded ridges rise from the centre, a cable car climbs the Untersberg from the southern suburbs, the Königssee is half an hour away, and the Salzkammergut lakes are good for paddling and sailing.

From Bern you see the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau on the horizon, and the train gets you to high-mountain hiking around Interlaken in about an hour. Closer to the city, the Gurten, the Aare woods, the Emmental and the Jura offer gentler walking and cycling.

Bern is the better base for day trips, mainly because of the trains. Lucerne, Basel and Zurich are about an hour away, Fribourg is twenty minutes, Gruyères is close behind, and Murten, Thun, Solothurn and Neuchâtel are nearer still. You could see a different town every day without planning a single connection.

Salzburg's day trips are just as appealing: Hallstatt, the salt mines at Hallein and Berchtesgaden, the fortress at Werfen, and Munich by rail. Several of the lake villages are awkward by bus, however, so getting the most from them usually means hiring a car.

Families will find both small, safe and calm, so the choice comes down to the attractions. Bern has the bear park, the wooded Dählhölzli zoo along the river and the playground up on the Gurten. Its one hazard is the fast Aare, so young children should stay in the shallow pools at the Marzili.

Salzburg's draws are the soaking trick fountains at Hellbrunn, the hands-on Haus der Natur and the marionette theatre, and nearby salt mines have wooden slides and underground boat rides. Pushchairs struggle on the cobbles of Salzburg and on Bern's steep streets up from the river.

Bern is the easier city to get around. You can walk across the old town in twenty minutes, often under the arcades, while punctual trams, funiculars and a public lift link the upper town with the river quarter. The main station sits right at the top of the old town, which makes leaving on day trips simple.

Salzburg's centre is just as walkable and largely pedestrianised, and trolleybuses reach Hellbrunn and the Untersberg. There is no tram system, though, and the regional buses to the lakes are slow, which is where Bern's rail connections make the real difference.

Shopping is modest in both and similar in scale, but different in character. Bern's arcaded main streets offer watches, chocolate and Swiss chains, and its cellar shops, reached by steep steps from the pavement, hide antiques, design and books.

Salzburg's speciality is Tracht: dirndls, loden jackets and leather goods, often made to measure, sold along Getreidegasse under its wrought-iron signs. In Advent the Christmas market on Domplatz gives it a seasonal draw that Bern's onion market in November only partly matches.

Salzburg is clearly cheaper, though it is still not a budget destination. Hotels near the old town and anything during the festival or Advent cost a lot, but the beer halls, outer-district inns, a room across the river and the combined city card all bring costs down.

Bern is expensive across the board. Even simple guesthouses and a terrace beer cost more than most visitors expect, so the savings come from the free tram pass hotels usually give guests, lunches from supermarket counters and free pleasures such as the river paths and the bear park.

This is Salzburg's strongest advantage. The Salzburg Festival fills the Grosses Festspielhaus and the Felsenreitschule, a riding school cut into the cliff, with opera and leading orchestras, and Jedermann is performed outdoors before the cathedral. Mozart Week, the Easter Festival, the Mozarteum and nightly chamber concerts keep music going all year.

Bern offers a solid programme for a small capital: opera at the Stadttheater, the symphony orchestra in the Casino and contemporary dance at the Dampfzentrale. Its spring jazz festival and the Gurtenfestival's rock and pop cover ground that Salzburg largely leaves alone.

Salzburg is the better choice for a restful stay, mainly because of what lies just outside it. Bad Reichenhall's historic brine spa is about twenty minutes away and the Gastein valley's radon springs about an hour and a half, while the Paracelsus Bad in the city park and the quiet Mirabell gardens are in town.

Bern is just as unhurried, with long riverside lunches and very quiet Sundays. Its spa options are a modern thermal complex on the western edge, a hammam-style spa and hotel spas, but there is no bathing tradition, and serious spa stays mean heading up into the Bernese Oberland.