Cortina d'Ampezzo or Geneva?

Neither has a coast, but only Geneva has real summer swimming. In Cortina the water means snowmelt lakes such as Ghedina and Pianozes, which are lovely for a walk and icy for a swim, so most visitors swim in a hotel pool.

Geneva's lake warms to a comfortable temperature by August, and people dive off the jetty at the Bains des Pâquis or spread out on the lawns at Genève-Plage. It is a lido rather than a beach, but it adds a lot to a summer stay.

Geneva has the wider and more polished table, with French cooking at its heart, lake perch, fondue in old brasseries, its own Chasselas and Gamay, and a spread of international kitchens supported by the diplomatic crowd. Carouge and the Old Town are where the best restaurants gather.

Cortina's range is narrower but more tied to its setting: casunziei with poppy seeds, polenta with game, and lunch on a rifugio terrace among the peaks. Neither town does cheap street food, and in Cortina there is almost nothing international to vary the mountain menu.

Geneva is the clear choice for sightseeing. St Pierre Cathedral and the Reformation Wall tell the story of Calvin's city, the Palais des Nations and the Red Cross museum explain its place in the world, and CERN adds the science, which fills two or three full days.

Cortina's centre is pretty, with its basilica bell tower, painted houses and the 1956 Olympic ice stadium, and the Rimoldi art collection is good for a wet afternoon. Its most moving heritage is the First World War front on Lagazuoi and the Cinque Torri, which you reach by spending a day in the mountains.

Neither is a place to come to for nights out, but Geneva gives you more choice after dinner. The Pâquis keeps its bars busy late, Carouge has wine-bar terraces, and the alternative centres around Plainpalais and Jonction run club nights at weekends.

Cortina's evenings are après-ski drinks, a stroll along the Corso Italia and long dinners. A few smart bars and clubs stay open late only in the peak winter weeks, and the rest of the year the town goes quiet early.

Cortina is one of the great mountain settings anywhere, and the town sits right inside it. The Tofane, Cristallo and Cinque Torri ring the valley, lifts go straight up from the streets, and the Alta Via 1, historic via ferrata routes and the Dolomiti Superski slopes all start nearby.

Geneva looks out at its mountains. The Salève cable car, Jura ridge walks and sailing on the lake give it a strong outdoor side, with Mont Blanc on the skyline and Chamonix within an hour or so by road, but the high peaks take a drive.

Geneva has the far richer list of outings. Lake steamers and trains run to Lausanne, Montreux's Château de Chillon and the Lavaux vineyard terraces, Annecy and Yvoire are just across the French border, and Gruyères and Bern make longer days.

From Cortina, the outings that work best are mostly into the mountains. South Tyrolean towns such as Brunico and Bolzano, with its Iceman, are worth the drive, but Venice is a long day by coach, and most excursions need a car.

Geneva is slightly easier with children. Its flat, safe centre, trams that take pushchairs, the Natural History Museum's big dioramas and the little yellow harbour boats fill a few days well.

Cortina suits families who ski or hike, with ski schools at Socrepes, public skating at the Olympic stadium and gentle walks to huts with meadows. Neither has a zoo, aquarium or theme park, and in Cortina a run of rainy days with young children is harder to fill.

Geneva is far easier to get around. Frequent trams, buses and lake boats run on one network, the airport is a few minutes by train, and regional rail reaches the rest of Switzerland and the French suburbs, so a car is rarely needed.

Cortina's small, flat centre is easy on foot, and ski buses work well in winter. The town has had no railway since 1964, though, so arriving means a coach or a long drive, and the buses up to the passes are limited enough that many visitors hire a car.

Geneva is the stronger place to shop, above all for watches and jewellery. The Rue du Rhône is lined with flagship boutiques of the great Swiss watch houses, and there are Old Town chocolatiers, Carouge craft workshops and the Plainpalais flea market for something less formal.

Cortina's shopping is mainly one street, the Corso Italia, with furriers, jewellers and smart mountain wear, plus the old Cooperativa department store and local wood carving and filigree. It is polished, and you can see all of it in an afternoon.

Both are among the most expensive places in Europe to visit. Geneva is a little harder on the wallet, with costly hotels all year and steep restaurant bills, although free museums, free transport for hotel guests and cheap lake lidos help.

Cortina is expensive in a seasonal way: the winter peak and August are very dear, and lift passes add more. Early summer, late September and the rifugi lunches give some relief. In both places, budget travellers often stay just outside, in nearby valleys or across the French border.

Geneva has a full formal stage. There is opera and ballet at the Grand Théâtre, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Victoria Hall, French-language theatre at the Comédie, and concerts in a former pumping station in the Rhône.

Cortina has no theatre season or regular venue. Its music comes from summer chamber and classical festivals in churches and occasionally on the mountainside, plus a few concerts at Christmas, so outside those times there is little to go and see.

Geneva has a slight edge because its bathing is public and part of daily life. In winter the Bains des Pâquis runs a sauna and hammam where regulars plunge into the cold lake, and Évian and Divonne are close for a spa day.

In Cortina, wellness happens inside the hotels, with Alpine spas, hay baths and massages after skiing. Its other restful side is the mountain calm of June and September, which disappears in the busy peak weeks.