Chamonix or Florence?

Neither place is a swimming destination, but the water you can reach is different. From Chamonix it is mountain lakes: the grassy shore of Lac de Passy with Mont Blanc ahead, or clear Lake Annecy a little over an hour away. Both are for July and August only.

From Florence it is the sea. The sandy, lounger-lined beaches of the Versilia take about an hour and a half by train, so the coast fills a whole day or works better as a few nights on the way somewhere else. In both cities an everyday dip means a pool.

Florence is the far better place to eat. Thick bistecca, ribollita, lampredotto from the street carts and the produce at Sant'Ambrogio and the Mercato Centrale give it real depth. The Chianti vineyards just south of the city supply the wine. The trick is to leave the tourist menus around the Duomo and eat in the trattorie of the Oltrarno.

Chamonix's strength is narrower: hearty Savoyard cheese dishes, ideally eaten on a refuge terrace facing the glaciers, plus good cheese shops and bakeries for a picnic. Away from that, menus tend to repeat each other, and many kitchens close between the seasons.

There is no contest here. Florence holds the Renaissance in one compact centre: Brunelleschi's dome, the Uffizi, Michelangelo's David, the Bargello's sculpture and the frescoes at San Marco and the Brancacci Chapel. That is enough for a week, though in summer you will need to book ahead and queue.

Chamonix's heritage is the story of alpinism, from the first ascent of Mont Blanc to the first Winter Olympics. The Musée Alpin and the climbers' cemetery tell it well, but half a day covers everything. The real sight is the massif outside the window.

Both towns go out on a modest scale, but the evenings feel quite different. Chamonix is après-ski: loud bars at the foot of the slopes, then a lane of pubs in the old town full of guides, seasonal workers and young English-speaking visitors, with a couple of small clubs open late on busy nights. It is a winter thing, quieter in summer and largely shut in between.

Florence is aperitivo followed by a wine bar. Drinkers spill across Piazza Santo Spirito on warm nights, and Sant'Ambrogio draws locals. Its liveliest season is summer, when bars open along the Arno.

Chamonix is in a different league. The Mont Blanc massif rises almost 4km above the valley, and lifts take you to the Aiguille du Midi and the Mer de Glace without a single step of climbing. Skiing, the Vallée Blanche, guided mountaineering, climbing and paragliding all start from town, though high-mountain weather can turn fast.

Florence offers gentle, cultivated countryside instead: olive terraces at Fiesole, cypress lanes in Chianti for cycling, and the Casentino forests further out. It is lovely in spring and autumn, but it is a walk in the hills, not a mountain trip.

Florence has one of the best sets of day trips anywhere. Siena, Pisa, Lucca, San Gimignano, Volterra and the Chianti villages are all close, and Bologna is a short high-speed train ride away. You could spend a week on day trips without repeating one.

Chamonix's trips come from its border position: Courmayeur and Roman Aosta through the tunnel, Annecy and Geneva by car, and Martigny by the Mont Blanc Express. After those, most places in reach are other ski resorts, and mountain roads make journeys slow.

Chamonix is better for families who like being active. Children can try nursery slopes and sledging in winter, and in summer there are easy lake walks, the luge, treetop courses, marmots at the Merlet park and the rack railway to the glacier. Watch out for cost, the altitude of the big cable cars and rainy days.

Florence's sights are mostly made for adults. Climbing the dome, the secret passages of Palazzo Vecchio and the Boboli Gardens help, as does a day at the Pinocchio park at Collodi. Even so, summer heat and crowds make it harder work with small children.

Florence is a little easier. The Duomo, Uffizi, Accademia and Pitti Palace are all a short walk apart, and Santa Maria Novella station sits in the centre for rail day trips. Trams run to the airport. Narrow pavements and hard stone paving are the price you pay.

Chamonix's own centre is just as walkable, and buses and the valley train are free with the guest card. The catch is the spread-out ski areas, which mean crowded ski buses in winter and few services in the evening.

Florence is a real shopping destination for craft. It has leather workshops, marbled paper, goldsmiths on the Ponte Vecchio, gilders and restorers in the Oltrarno, and the luxury houses of Via de' Tornabuoni. Be ready to tell good leather from mass-produced stock.

Chamonix has one speciality that Florence cannot touch: technical climbing and ski gear from long-established specialist shops. Beyond that it is cheese, génépi, crystals and souvenirs.

Both are expensive, but Chamonix costs more. Lift passes, the big cable cars, guides and paragliding add up on top of resort-priced rooms. Self-catering, picnics and trails that start from the valley floor are the main ways to save.

In Florence, centre hotels and museum tickets are the big costs. Street lampredotto, market lunches and cheap house wine keep daily spending down, and you walk almost everywhere. A room across the river or a winter visit saves the most.

Florence has a real classical life, fitting for the city where opera began. The Maggio Musicale theatre runs opera, concerts and ballet through the season, its spring festival is one of Europe's oldest, and the Pergola stages theatre in Italian.

Chamonix has no season to speak of. You get a summer jazz festival with some sets played high in the mountains, and mountain film nights. For anything more, Geneva is the nearest option.

Chamonix has the better spa offer. Its large day spa has hot outdoor pools facing the glaciers, ideal after a day's skiing, and the thermal springs of Saint-Gervais are about 25 minutes away. Still, the town itself is busy, and its days start early.

Florence has little within its walls beyond hotel spas, so calm comes from the Boboli and Bardini gardens. For real thermal bathing you need to go out to Montecatini Terme by train, or further to the sulphur pools of Bagno Vignoni and Saturnia.