Chamonix or Munich?

Neither place is for a beach trip, but Munich gives summer swimmers more. Chamonix has the small mountain lake at Lac de Passy, the municipal pool and Lake Annecy more than an hour's drive away, so a swim is an occasional afternoon off.

Munich has a real local swimming culture: gravel banks along the Isar at the Flaucher, and the Starnberger See and Ammersee reachable by S-Bahn, with jetties and lawns. The water is fresh in both places, but in Munich a lake day is easier to fit in.

Chamonix eats like a Savoyard resort: fondue, raclette and tartiflette made with Reblochon and Beaufort, mountain restaurants with glacier views, and cheese shops for a trail picnic. Beyond that, menus repeat, and many places close between seasons.

Munich has more range and more character around the table. Brewery beer halls and chestnut-shaded beer gardens, the Viktualienmarkt, a serious coffee-and-cake habit and a tier of starred restaurants give you far more choice through a week. The cooking is heavy in both places, pork and dumplings here against cheese there.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Chamonix's heritage is the story of alpinism, told in the Musée Alpin, the Espace Tairraz, the guides' quarter and the climbers' cemetery. It is interesting and done within a morning.

Munich has enough for days. The Kunstareal alone holds old masters, modern art, ancient sculpture and the Blue Rider painters. Then there are the Residenz, Nymphenburg Palace and the Deutsches Museum, plus the Dachau memorial just outside the city.

Chamonix's nights are small and loud. Après-ski runs from late afternoon, then the crowd moves on to a narrow lane of pubs and two or three little clubs, mostly young and English-speaking. In summer and the shoulder seasons it goes quiet.

Munich offers more ways to spend an evening, though it is rarely wild. Beer halls lead into cocktail and gay bars around Gärtnerplatz and student pubs in Schwabing, and a few techno clubs keep going until morning at weekends. For just over two weeks from late September, the Oktoberfest tents take over.

Both put you near serious mountains, but Chamonix puts you inside them. Lifts climb from the town centre to 3,842m on the Aiguille du Midi. Glaciers hang above the valley, and the Vallée Blanche, the Tour du Mont Blanc and the oldest guiding company in the world are all on your doorstep.

Munich's outdoors is gentler and more spread out: the English Garden, the Eisbach surfers and Isar cycle paths in town, with the Zugspitze, Tegernsee and the Five Lakes about an hour or more away. It is excellent for a mix of walking, cycling and sailing, but it is not high-mountain country.

Chamonix's excursions come from sitting near three borders: Courmayeur and Roman Aosta through the tunnel, Annecy and Geneva by road, and Martigny on the Mont Blanc Express. Once you have done those, most places in reach are other resorts.

Munich is the far stronger base. Fast trains reach Augsburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Salzburg and Innsbruck, and the royal castles of Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee are classic outings. You could spend a fortnight on day trips and not run out.

Munich is the easier choice with children. Hellabrunn zoo, the Deutsches Museum's hands-on areas, the transport museum and a Sea Life aquarium give you options when it rains. Beer gardens with playgrounds and a calm, green city fill the rest of the time.

Chamonix rewards families who like the outdoors: nursery slopes, sledging, the summer luge, the Merlet animal park and the little red train to the Mer de Glace. The high cable cars aren't for toddlers, though, and wet days leave little to do.

Munich is the easier place to get around, though you won't need a car in either. Chamonix's centre is small and flat, with the Aiguille du Midi and Montenvers stations right in town, and the valley buses and Mont Blanc Express are free with a guest card. The catch is winter, when the ski buses are packed and evening services thin out.

Munich's U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses run as one network that reaches palaces, museums, the lakes and the airport. Regional trains handle most day trips, which from Chamonix often go more easily by car. The flat riverside routes suit cycling, and the city's one weak spot, a central S-Bahn line prone to delays, is a smaller nuisance than a crowded ski bus.

Chamonix is a specialist's town. Its long-established climbing and ski shops are worth saving big gear purchases for, alongside cheeses, génépi and rock crystals, but there is little fashion.

Munich covers far more. You get luxury houses on Maximilianstrasse, department stores on the pedestrian axis, independent boutiques in Glockenbach and Schwabing, Tracht tailors for dirndls and lederhosen, and Christmas market stalls in December.

Neither is cheap, but Chamonix weighs harder on the budget. Peak-week lodging, lift passes, the big cable cars and guided activities add up, though free valley transport, self-catering and trails from the valley floor help.

Munich is dear for hotels, especially during the Oktoberfest and trade fairs. Day to day, though, it gives more back. Beer-hall food is fair value, picnics are welcome in beer gardens, the parks and lakes are free, and some museums charge only a token fee on Sundays.

Chamonix has almost no stage life, just a summer jazz festival with some sets high in the mountains, church concerts and mountain film evenings.

Munich is one of Europe's great music cities. The Bavarian State Opera plays in the National Theatre, three orchestras of real standing perform in halls such as the Herkulessaal, and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre, operetta at the Gärtnerplatztheater and a respected jazz scene add to it. Drama is mostly in German.

The two are fairly close, with Munich slightly ahead. Chamonix's unwinding comes after physical effort: hot outdoor pools facing the glaciers at the day spa, chalet saunas and the thermal springs at Saint-Gervais. The town itself starts early and fills up in high season.

Munich has a deeper bathing culture: the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad, textile-free German saunas and the huge thermal complex at Erding. It also has an easy-going pace, with idle afternoons in beer gardens and quiet Sundays.