Canadian Rockies or Swiss Alps?

Neither region is a place for a beach trip, but the Swiss Alps give a swimmer more. Lakeside lidos have lawns and diving boards, Lake Thun and Lake Brienz warm to about 20°C in a good August, and Lake Lugano and Lake Maggiore in Ticino get warmer still.

In the Rockies the famous lakes, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, are fed by glaciers and far too cold to swim in. A summer swim means the shallow, sandy lakes near Jasper or Johnson Lake near Banff. For a proper warm beach day you have to drive down to Lake Windermere in the Columbia Valley.

The Swiss Alps eat better, mainly because the food belongs to the place: fondue and raclette on hut terraces at the top of the lifts, air-dried Graubünden beef, and Valais wines such as Petite Arvine that rarely leave the country. Zermatt, St Moritz and Gstaad add high-end cooking, and Ticino adds polenta and Merlot.

Rockies dining is resort fare built around Alberta beef, bison, elk and lake trout, served in steakhouses and lodge dining rooms. Canmore, with its bakeries and small breweries, is the more relaxed place to eat. Neither region has much street food.

The Swiss Alps have more history to see, spread across the valleys: sgraffito houses in Guarda and Zuoz, the twin castles of Sion, the three castles of Bellinzona, the Carolingian frescoes at Müstair and the World Heritage lines of the Rhaetian Railway. None of it adds up to a cultural trip on its own, but there is plenty for an afternoon.

In the Rockies the story is younger and narrower. It covers the birth of Canada's national parks at Cave and Basin, the climbers and painters in the Whyte Museum, the grand railway hotels and First Nations heritage at the Buffalo Nations Luxton Museum.

Banff is almost the whole of the Rockies' night scene. A young crowd of ski-hill and hotel workers keeps a few pubs and small clubs on Banff Avenue going late, which is fun for a night or two, while Canmore and Jasper offer little beyond a brewpub.

Winter is the season for going out in the Swiss Alps, and then there is more choice, spread over several resorts. Verbier has slope-side terraces and late clubs, Zermatt has bars at the foot of the pistes, and St Moritz has glossier hotel bars. Outside the ski season the villages go to bed early.

Both are world-class mountain landscapes, so the real difference is how they feel. The Rockies are wilderness on a continental scale: four national parks, the Columbia Icefield beside the road, grizzlies and elk, multi-day routes in the backcountry and dark-sky nights at Jasper. Bear awareness comes with every hike.

The Swiss Alps are mountains people have lived in for centuries. Cable cars lift you onto marked trails between huts below the Eiger and the Matterhorn, the Aletsch Glacier is in easy reach, and winter brings some of the finest ski areas anywhere. There is less wildness, but much less effort to reach high country.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. From the Bernese Oberland, trains reach Bern in under an hour, as well as Thun, Lucerne, Gruyères, the Lavaux vineyards and the Château de Chillon. Ticino adds Lugano and Locarno, so a different town each day is easy.

In the Rockies the outings are into the landscape rather than to other places. Canmore, Field and Golden make half-days, and Calgary, about an hour and a half from Banff, is the only real city nearby.

Both work well for children, in different ways. In the Rockies the highlights are wildlife seen from the car, gondola rides, canoeing calm lakes and summers at the campground. The drawbacks are long drives between sights and keeping small children close on bear-country trails.

The Swiss Alps offer more ready-made fun: big ski schools in Grindelwald or Saas-Fee, summer toboggan runs and adventure playgrounds at the top stations, and car-free Zermatt and Wengen, where children can wander safely. Neither region has a large theme park.

The Swiss Alps are far easier without a car. Trains, postbuses, lake steamers and cable cars run on connected timetables, and resorts such as Zermatt and Mürren ban private cars altogether. The catch is that crossing between big regions, say from Zermatt to the Engadine, takes a long day.

The Rockies are road-trip country. Hire a car, drive the Trans-Canada Highway and the Icefields Parkway, about four hours from Lake Louise to Jasper without stops, and use buses and park shuttles only around Banff, Canmore and the busiest lakes.

Banff Avenue is about the extent of shopping in the Rockies: outdoor clothing, Canadian souvenirs, landscape galleries and some Indigenous art. It is fine for a warm jacket or a gift.

For anything beyond that, the Swiss resorts are the better hunting ground, with luxury boutiques in St Moritz and Gstaad and watches and serious mountain gear in Zermatt and Interlaken. The best things to take home are edible, though: cheese from the dairy, Valais wine and Graubünden air-dried meat.

Neither is cheap, but the Canadian Rockies cost clearly less. Banff and Lake Louise charge resort rates in summer, yet Canmore and Golden are cheaper bases, the campgrounds are a genuine budget option, and a self-catering hiker spends little once there.

The Swiss Alps are among the most expensive places in the world for a vacation. The cable cars and mountain railways can cost more than the hotel. Travel passes, supermarket picnics and quieter valleys such as Goms or Ticino help, but only up to a point.

For music lovers the Swiss Alps have the stronger summer. The Verbier Festival brings top soloists for several weeks in July, the Menuhin Festival fills the Saanenland churches around Gstaad, and Davos, the Engadine and Zermatt hold smaller classical seasons.

The Rockies have one serious venue, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, with summer concerts and its autumn Mountain Film and Book Festival. For theatre or opera, both regions send you to a city.

The Rockies' hot springs are memorable mostly for their settings. Banff Upper sits high on Sulphur Mountain looking across the valley, Radium lies in a narrow canyon in Kootenay, and Miette near Jasper is the hottest in the range. A soak in falling snow after a day's skiing is the classic evening, and Kananaskis has a Nordic-style spa with outdoor pools.

In the Swiss Alps bathing is a whole culture rather than an evening out. Leukerbad is a village of thermal pools under sheer cliffs, Vals has its stone bath cut into the hillside, and Bad Ragaz and Scuol have drawn bathers for centuries. The grand hotels of St Moritz and Gstaad add full spas on top.