Chamonix or Siena?

Neither city is a place for a beach trip. Chamonix's swimming means Lac de Passy down the valley or a day at Lake Annecy, so you swim in cool, clear mountain lakes with peaks behind them. From Siena it is a long drive to the sandy Maremma coast for a sea swim, and on most summer days a hotel or agriturismo pool is the easier option.

Siena eats better and with more depth. Hand-rolled pici, ribollita, cinta senese pork and the panforte and ricciarelli from old bakeries are a proper regional cuisine. Chianti Classico, Brunello and Vino Nobile are grown close by, and the family osterie in the contrade are the places to try them.

Chamonix's strength is narrower. It does Savoyard cheese dishes like fondue and tartiflette, eaten on terraces facing the glaciers, and the food shops are good for a picnic for the hills. Away from that, menus repeat themselves, and many places close between the winter and summer seasons.

Here the gap is wide. Siena is a complete medieval city, with the shell-shaped Campo, the Palazzo Pubblico and its Good and Bad Government frescoes, the striped Duomo, and Santa Maria della Scala and the Pinacoteca for the Sienese painters. Sightseeing fills two or three days properly.

Chamonix's heritage is the story of alpinism, from the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786 to the 1924 Winter Olympics. The Musée Alpin and the climbers' cemetery tell that story well, but it is a half-day subject, and the real sight is the massif above town.

Chamonix has the livelier evenings, though neither town is a big night out. In winter, après-ski bars at the foot of the slopes fill up in the late afternoon, and then a lane of pubs in the old town and a couple of small clubs stay open late, with a young, mostly English-speaking crowd.

Siena's evenings are slower: dinner, a glass of wine on the Campo and a stroll through the lit streets, with student pubs but almost no clubs. The Palio nights, when the contrade dine outdoors until late, are the one big exception.

Chamonix is one of the great mountain destinations anywhere. The Mont Blanc massif rises almost 4km above the valley floor, and cable cars put you among hanging glaciers and granite needles within minutes. Skiing, ski touring, the Vallée Blanche, mountaineering, via ferrata and paragliding all start in the valley.

Siena's countryside is gentler and more pastoral: the bare clay hills of the Crete Senesi, the cypress lanes of the Val d'Orcia, and white gravel roads for cycling. It is beautiful to ride or walk through, but there are no high peaks and no real wilderness.

Siena has far more within reach. Florence, San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, Volterra, the Chianti villages, Pienza, Montalcino and Montepulciano are all close, and the abbeys of Sant'Antimo and San Galgano add more. You could fill a week without repeating yourself, though a car makes the hill towns much easier.

Chamonix's day trips come from its position near three countries: Courmayeur and Roman Aosta through the tunnel, Annecy and Geneva by road, and Martigny by the Mont Blanc Express. After those, most places within reach are other ski resorts.

Chamonix suits families better, provided they like being outdoors. It has ski schools and sledging in winter, and lake walks, a luge, treetop courses and the Merlet animal park in summer. The red train to the Mer de Glace is a hit with children of every age. The highest cable cars are not for toddlers, and wet days are hard to fill.

Siena is safe and mostly free of cars, and children are welcome at the table, but older children get the most from climbing the Torre del Mangia and watching the contrada drummers. With small children, a farmhouse with a pool outside town works better.

Chamonix is easier to get around without a car. The flat centre has the Aiguille du Midi and Montenvers stations within walking distance, and the buses and the Mont Blanc Express along the valley are free with the guest card. Ski buses get packed in winter, though, and evening services are sparse.

Siena's centre is walkable and largely closed to traffic, but it sits on three ridges, so expect steep climbs and stepped lanes, with escalators up from the station. Getting out is the weak point: trains are slow, and most visitors hire a car for the hill towns.

Neither town is a shopping destination, but they are good for different things. Chamonix is about technical gear: its old climbing and ski shops are a reason for climbers to save their big purchases for this trip. Siena has Italian clothing and leather on Banchi di Sopra, hand-painted majolica, contrada scarves and the big weekly market by the Fortezza. For fashion, go to Geneva from one and Florence from the other.

Siena is the easier place to keep costs down. Rooms inside the walls are in demand, especially around the Palio, but an osteria lunch with house wine is good value, and staying in an agriturismo outside town cuts the cost further. Museum entry is the main thing that adds up.

Chamonix is expensive at almost every turn. Peak-week chalets, lift passes, the big cable cars, guides and paragliding all cost a lot. Free valley transport, self-catering, picnics and trails that start from the valley floor help, and so does visiting in the shoulder seasons.

Siena has a modest but real musical life. The Accademia Chigiana's summer concerts in palaces and churches, Siena Jazz, and a winter drama season at the Teatro dei Rinnovati and the Teatro dei Rozzi give you something to book. Chamonix has a summer jazz festival with some sets played high in the mountains and the odd church concert or mountain film evening, but no season at all. For opera, both send you elsewhere, Siena to Florence and Chamonix to Geneva.

Both are good for unwinding, in different ways. In Chamonix, relaxation comes after a hard day: hot outdoor pools and saunas facing the glaciers, chalet spas, and the thermal springs of Saint-Gervais in their wooded gorge. Around Siena, the warm water is out in the countryside, at the travertine pools of Rapolano, the medieval bath at Bagno Vignoni and the free limestone pools of Bagni San Filippo. A farmhouse stay among the hills completes the calm, slower pace.