Bled or Interlaken?

Neither town is on the coast, but Bled has the better swimming. Its lake warms to around 24°C in high summer, and the lidos below the castle and the shallow western end near Velika Zaka make a lake afternoon a proper part of the stay. Some people even swim out to the island, and Bohinj is nearby if you want a wilder, colder alternative.

Interlaken has two lakes, but the water is cooler. The lidos at Neuhaus on Lake Thun are fine for a dip after a day in the hills, while turquoise Lake Brienz is bracing. A swim here is a nice extra, not a reason to come.

Neither is a place to travel for food, but the two disappoint in different ways. Bled sticks closer to its region: kremšnita cream slices on the lake terraces, trout, žlikrofi dumplings and buckwheat dishes. The best meals are in the farm inns of the surrounding valleys.

Interlaken offers more variety but less local character. Fondue, raclette and rösti sit beside the Indian, Asian and Middle Eastern places that feed its international crowd. Its best food moments are higher up, with cheese from mountain dairies, a meal on a hut terrace or a glass of Lake Thun white wine, and many visitors live on supermarket picnics.

Bled has the more memorable sights, though they fill only a day. There is the cliff-top castle with its museum and printing workshop, the pletna boat ride to the baroque island church with its wishing bell, and the old spa villas along the shore.

Interlaken has even less: the grand hotels and the Kursaal on the Höheweg, and a few old timber houses in Unterseen across the Aare. In both towns, museums and serious architecture mean a trip to Ljubljana or to Bern.

Both towns go quiet before midnight, but Interlaken has a little more to offer. Its backpacker pubs, sports bars and a couple of basement clubs near the hostels are livelier in summer and in the ski season, and the Kursaal has a casino. In Bled an evening out means a drink on a lakeside terrace and a walk along the lit shore. For anything more, you go to Ljubljana.

Both are first-class mountain bases, but Interlaken works on a bigger, higher scale. Within an hour by rail you can stand at 3,454m on the Jungfraujoch above the Aletsch glacier, walk the cliff-walled Lauterbrunnen valley past Trümmelbach's falls, or take lifts straight onto ridge trails. Paragliders land on the Höhematte in the middle of town. The one drawback is low cloud, which can hide the peaks for days.

Bled's version is gentler and closer to the ground. It has the level lake circuit, short steep climbs to Ojstrica and Osojnica, the walkways of the Vintgar Gorge and the Triglav park around Bohinj, with the Soča valley over the Vršič pass. You walk and drive to these places rather than ride lifts up to them.

Interlaken makes the easier base, because almost everything is on the rails or the lake steamers. Bern's arcaded old town is under an hour away. Thun, Spiez and Oberhofen each have a castle on the lakeshore, Ballenberg's open-air museum is near Brienz, and Lucerne is a scenic ride over the Brünig Pass.

From Bled the trips reach further afield and cross more borders. You can go to Ljubljana, medieval Radovljica, the Postojna cave and Predjama Castle, Venetian Piran on the coast, and over into Austria. Several of these work best with a car.

Interlaken does more for children, mainly because getting up the mountains is an adventure in itself. Rack railways, gondolas and steamers lead to summit playgrounds, cliff walks and toboggan runs, and the St Beatus caves and Ballenberg's farm animals are reliable favourites. The highest excursions can be hard on very young children, though.

Bled is smaller and simpler. Children can row out to the island to ring the bell, swim from the shallow lidos and ride the toboggan on Straža hill, and the flat lake path is ideal for pushchairs. Neither town has a zoo or a big indoor attraction for rainy days.

Interlaken is far easier to explore without a car. Mainline trains, the narrow-gauge Oberland railways, cog railways, gondolas and steamers all link up, so the whole Jungfrau region is within reach, and Wengen and Mürren are car-free anyway. The main hassle is crowding on the busiest summer trains.

Bled is easy on foot around the lake, and buses run to Ljubljana and Bohinj. But the trailheads, the Pokljuka plateau and the Vršič pass are poorly served by public transport, so most visitors hire a car and then struggle to park by the lake in summer.

Bled has no shopping street at all, while Interlaken's Höheweg gives you a whole row of shops to browse. In Bled there are just a few gift stalls by the lake selling honey, lace and painted beehive panels, plus a small supermarket. For anything more you go to Ljubljana.

Interlaken's shops are aimed at visitors passing through. There are big watch and jewellery stores for the tour groups, army knives, cuckoo clocks and chocolate, and outdoor gear shops if you arrived without boots. You won't find independent boutiques, but carved woodwork from Brienz is a local craft worth buying.

This is where the two differ most. Interlaken charges full Swiss prices for beds, meals and drinks, and the railways and cable cars that make up any stay, the Jungfraujoch especially, cost more than most visitors expect. Hostels and passes help only so much.

Bled is pricier than the rest of Slovenia and its lakefront charges for the view, but it is still far cheaper overall. Guesthouses in nearby villages, the lakeside campsite and stays in Radovljica or Bohinj lower the bill further, and the walking costs nothing.

Interlaken has the one real tradition between them: the open-air William Tell, performed by local amateurs in the woods each summer since the early twentieth century. Add the occasional Kursaal concert, yodelling and alphorn evenings, Thun's summer musical on its lake stage and Bern's theatre and orchestra nearby. Bled offers only occasional summer concerts in the castle or the churches, and anything more means a trip to Ljubljana.

Bled has the deeper tradition of rest. In the nineteenth century the Swiss naturopath Arnold Rikli turned the lakeside village into a health resort, bringing guests for air and sun cures. Mild springs at the eastern end of the lake still warm the pools of its big hotel spas. Outside high summer the whole place moves at a calm, unhurried pace.

Interlaken has good spas in its grand Höheweg hotels and a public wellness area, but the centre is geared to coach groups and adrenaline. Visitors who want real quiet tend to stay in the lakeside villages or up in Wengen and Mürren.