Chamonix or Heidelberg?

Neither town is a place for a swimming vacation, but Chamonix gives you slightly better water. Lac de Passy, lower down the Arve valley, has a grassy shore and a short sandy strip facing Mont Blanc. Lake Annecy, a little over an hour away, has some of the clearest water in the Alps.

Heidelberg's river is for boats, not swimming. On hot days you're left with the outdoor pools or the gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain, about half an hour away.

Both are hearty regional kitchens of a similar standard, but built on different things. Chamonix is about Savoyard cheese: fondue, raclette and tartiflette. Its best moments come on mountain terraces facing the glaciers, or with a picnic from the town's cheese shops and charcuteries.

Heidelberg is about pork dishes, Maultaschen, spring asparagus and above all wine, with Bergstrasse and Palatinate Riesling poured everywhere. Its weak spot is the tourist strip on the Hauptstrasse. Chamonix's is the off-season, when many kitchens close.

Heidelberg is far ahead. The red sandstone castle ruin, the Old Bridge, the Church of the Holy Spirit and the old university quarter make one of Germany's most complete historic townscapes. The Kurpfälzisches Museum and the Pharmacy Museum add more.

Chamonix's heritage is the story of alpinism, told well at the Musée Alpin and in the climbers' cemetery. Once you've walked past the Belle Époque hotels, though, the sightseeing is done.

Oddly, both towns do most of their drinking along one narrow old-town lane, and neither offers a big-city night out. The crowds differ. Chamonix runs on après-ski and seasonal workers, so it's loud in winter, gentler in summer and quiet in the shoulder months. Heidelberg's Untere Strasse fills with students in term time and goes quiet in the breaks. The one real advantage is in Heidelberg: Mannheim and Frankfurt are a short train ride away for proper clubs.

This is Chamonix's great strength. The Mont Blanc massif rises almost 4km above the valley floor, and the Aiguille du Midi cable car and the Montenvers railway carry you up to glaciers and granite spires. Summer brings mountaineering, via ferrata and paragliding, and winter brings ski touring and the Vallée Blanche.

Heidelberg has woods right at the edge of town, the Philosophers' Walk view, forest trails over the Königstuhl and the Neckar cycle path. It is gentle, green country for an afternoon's walk or ride, not a reason to plan a trip around the outdoors.

Heidelberg makes the richer base. Speyer's Romanesque cathedral, the palace gardens at Schwetzingen, Worms, Lorsch and Maulbronn are all easy outings by regional train. The castle villages up the Neckar and the Palatinate wine villages fill relaxed days.

Chamonix's draw is its location near three countries. Through the tunnel there's Courmayeur and Roman Aosta, Annecy and Geneva are a little over an hour away, and a rack railway climbs to Martigny in Switzerland. Beyond those, mountain roads mostly lead to other resorts.

Both towns are small and safe with children, but the kind of fun differs. Chamonix is all about the outdoors: ski schools and sledging, the Merlet animal park, the little red train to the Mer de Glace and summer luge runs. However, the high cable cars are unsuitable for small children, and there is little to do in the rain.

Heidelberg relies more on rides and museums: the funicular, the fairy-tale park on the Königstuhl, the riverside zoo and the Technik Museum Speyer with its space shuttle. These give you more to fall back on when the weather turns, though the cobbles are hard work with a pushchair.

Both have compact centres you can walk easily, so neither needs a car. In Chamonix, visitors in local accommodation ride the valley buses and the Mont Blanc Express free with a guest card. In winter, though, those ski buses get crowded.

Heidelberg's single regional fare covers trams, buses and the S-Bahn across the Rhine-Neckar area, which makes its day trips simple. The catches are a tram ride in from the station and a steep, cobbled climb to the castle unless you take the funicular.

Heidelberg gives you the broader shopping. The long, pedestrianised Hauptstrasse has department stores and high-street chains at one end and souvenirs and beer steins at the other, with independent bookshops and boutiques in the side lanes.

Chamonix is narrower but excellent in its field. Its specialist climbing and ski shops are where serious mountain people come to buy their gear. Beyond that, the takeaways are cheese, génépi and rock crystals.

Heidelberg is clearly the cheaper stay. Rooms are the main cost and get pricier during congresses, but student cafés, bakeries and modest museum entry fees keep each day cheap. Staying in Mannheim is a simple way to save.

In Chamonix, lift passes, the big cable cars, guides and paragliding pile on top of resort hotel prices. Self-catering, picnics and walking up from the valley floor help, as do the quieter months between seasons.

Heidelberg has a real season. The municipal theatre stages opera, drama and dance, the town's philharmonic gives regular concerts, the Heidelberger Frühling festival brings chamber music in spring, and plays and musicals fill the castle courtyard in summer.

Chamonix has a summer jazz festival, with some sets played high in the mountains, and the occasional church concert. For anything more, you have to go to Geneva.

Chamonix comes out a little ahead because the spas are right on hand. Its large day spa has hot outdoor pools looking up at the glaciers, which is ideal after a day on the slopes. Many chalets have their own saunas, and the springs of Saint-Gervais are down the valley.

Heidelberg has no thermal baths of its own. You have to travel to the Kraichgau or Baden-Baden, but the town itself is calmer, with river meadows, forest paths and unhurried wine taverns rather than early starts and climbers in the streets.