Bern or Stuttgart?

Neither city has a coast, but Bern has a real summer swimming culture. From June to early September, locals walk upstream from the Marzili baths and drift back down the Aare past the Federal Palace. For calmer bathing under the Alps, Lake Thun is a short train ride away. The current is cold and strong, so the river is for confident swimmers.

In Stuttgart the Neckar is a working river of barges and locks, so a swim there means one of the city's outdoor pools, some of them fed by mineral springs. Lake Constance is more than two hours south.

Both cities cook hearty regional food, but Stuttgart's has more range and more local character. Maultaschen, Käsespätzle and wine from vineyards inside the city limits are served in traditional taverns and in seasonal Besen in growers' own homes. There is also a deep fine-dining tier for a city of its size.

Bern does Berner Platte, rösti and fondue well in guildhall dining rooms and arcade cellars, and its chocolate is excellent. Still, the choice is that of a small city and every meal is expensive. The best of eating there is in the markets and the November Zibelemärit.

The two are close in depth but very different in kind. Bern's main sight is the old town itself, a UNESCO-listed loop of sandstone arcades, painted fountains, the Zytglogge and the Minster. Behind it come the Zentrum Paul Klee and the Einstein flat on Kramgasse.

Stuttgart lost most of its historic core to bombing, so its sights come from industry and modern design: the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums, the Staatsgalerie's postmodern wing and the Le Corbusier houses of the Weissenhof Estate. Choose Bern for streets to wander and Stuttgart for collections and architecture.

Stuttgart has the wider range of evenings, with real clubs alongside its bars, while a night out in Bern is mostly about drinking in cellars. In Bern that means the vaulted bars under the arcades and around Aarbergergasse, terraces along the Aare in summer, and the Reitschule for late, rough-edged parties. During the week the old town goes quiet early.

Stuttgart adds clubs in basements and old industrial spaces, where electronic music has a small but loyal crowd. There is also a weekend bar strip on Theodor-Heuss-Strasse and wine bars in the Bohnenviertel. Its busiest nights come with the seasons: the wine village in late summer and the beer tents of the Cannstatter Volksfest in autumn.

Bern has high mountains within easy reach. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau line the view from the old town and are about an hour away by train, with cable cars, alpine hiking and winter skiing. Lake Thun and the Gurten are closer still.

Stuttgart's countryside is gentler. Vineyard trails, the deer forests of the Rotwildpark, the cliff edges of the Swabian Jura and the northern Black Forest give walkers and cyclists plenty to do, but nothing there reaches alpine scale.

Both cities make excellent bases, and Bern is slightly ahead. It sits at the centre of the Swiss rail network, so Lucerne, Basel and Zurich are each about an hour away. Fribourg is twenty minutes off, and Murten, Thun, Solothurn and Neuchâtel are all close. From Fribourg it is a short trip on to the castle and cheese dairies of Gruyères, and you can see a different town each day without planning around connections.

Stuttgart's day trips lean towards palaces and old towns: baroque Ludwigsburg, Tübingen and Heidelberg's castle, about forty minutes away by fast train. Further out are the abbey at Maulbronn and Hohenzollern Castle, and Strasbourg is possible on a long day.

Both cities are safe, orderly and easy with children, so the difference lies in the outings. Bern has the bear park, the Dählhölzli zoo and a meadow playground at the top of the Gurten funicular, though the fast Aare means keeping small children away from the river. Stuttgart has Wilhelma, a zoo and botanical garden that fills a whole day, car museums for older children and the fairy-tale garden at Ludwigsburg.

Bern is the easier city to get around. The centre is a twenty-minute walk from the station to the bear park, under arcades that keep off the rain. Because the station sits at the top of the old town, day trips begin right on the edge of the sights.

Stuttgart's flat core around Königstrasse and Schlossplatz is just as walkable, but the city climbs steeply up the sides of its basin. To reach Wilhelma, the car museums and the hills you will rely more on the Stadtbahn and S-Bahn, or climb the Stäffele stairways.

Stuttgart is better for a shopping trip. Königstrasse is a long pedestrian high street, Breuninger covers luxury and designer fashion, and the Metzingen outlet town is about half an hour away. Bern suits browsing more than serious buying. It has watches and chocolate under the arcades, and antiques, books and crafts in the cellar shops of Gerechtigkeitsgasse, but little fashion range.

Stuttgart is the cheaper city, and by a clear margin. Bern charges full Swiss prices, so the bill climbs at every step, from the room for the night to a beer on a riverside terrace. What softens it is how much of Bern costs nothing at all: wandering the old town, watching the bears, following the Aare on foot and swimming in it in summer. Most hotels also include the local trams and buses with the stay.

Stuttgart is a prosperous German city rather than a Swiss one, and that alone makes an ordinary day noticeably lighter on the wallet. A beer garden evening or a simple meal stays within normal bounds, and the vineyard trails and parks are free. Most of the money goes on smart restaurants and central hotels.

For an evening at the theatre, Stuttgart is the clear choice. The Stuttgart Ballet, famous since John Cranko's era, shares the state theatre by the palace gardens with an opera company known for bold productions. The Liederhalle carries a strong Bach tradition, and Möhringen runs long seasons of musicals.

Bern has the institutions of a small capital: German-language opera and drama at the Stadttheater, the symphony orchestra at the Casino and new dance at the Dampfzentrale. Add the spring jazz festival and the Gurtenfestival in July, but it is something to fit into a trip rather than travel for.

For actual soaking, Stuttgart has the real bathing tradition. The mineral springs of Bad Cannstatt and Berg feed public baths such as the Mineralbad Leuze, with naturally carbonated warm water indoors and out. Bern has no bathing history to match, just a large thermal complex on the western edge and some hotel spas. Its quiet Sundays and long riverside lunches still make it a restful place to slow down.