Cortina d'Ampezzo or Munich?

Neither is a beach destination, but Munich at least has proper summer swimming. Cortina's lakes, such as Ghedina and Pianozes, are snowmelt-cold and better walked round than swum in, so a hotel pool does most of the work.

Munich has the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher and, a short S-Bahn ride out, the Starnberger See and Ammersee with lawns and jetties. The water is fresh rather than warm, but a lake afternoon fits easily into a summer city trip.

Cortina's cooking is good mountain food with a Venetian touch: casunziei with poppy seeds, polenta with game, and long lunches on rifugio terraces. The range is narrow, though, and almost everything is pricey.

Munich offers more ways to eat. There are beer halls and chestnut-shaded beer gardens with roast pork and white sausage, the Viktualienmarkt for snacking, a serious coffee-and-cake habit, starred restaurants and solid Italian and Turkish cooking.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Cortina has a pleasant centre with its basilica bell tower and painted houses, plus three small museums led by the Rimoldi art collection, enough for a rainy afternoon. Its most moving heritage is the First World War front on Lagazuoi and the Cinque Torri, and that takes a mountain day.

Munich is built on royal collections: old masters in the Alte Pinakothek, Blue Rider painting at the Lenbachhaus, the Wittelsbach Residenz, Nymphenburg Palace and the vast Deutsches Museum. You could spend a week on its museums and not finish.

Cortina's evenings are après-ski drinks, a stroll along the Corso Italia and a long dinner, with a few smart bars staying open late only in peak winter weeks.

Munich gives you real choice. You can make a night of it in a beer hall, find cocktail and gay bars around Gärtnerplatz and the Glockenbachviertel, or go to techno clubs that run till morning at weekends. It is orderly rather than wild, but late September brings the Oktoberfest tents.

Both put you near the Alps, but Cortina puts you inside them. The pale Dolomite walls ring the town, lifts start from the streets, and the Tre Cime, Lago di Misurina and the Fanes-Sennes-Braies park are all close. This is hut-to-hut hiking, via ferrata and big-mountain skiing without a commute.

Munich's mountains begin about an hour away by train, at Garmisch, the Zugspitze or Tegernsee, so they make good day outings rather than the setting of the stay. In town, the English Garden, the Eisbach surfers and the Isar cycle paths add green space Cortina has no need for.

From Cortina, outings are mostly into the mountains or north to South Tyrol: San Candido, Brunico with Messner's museum, and Bolzano's Iceman about two hours away. Venice is a long coach day each way.

Munich is a far stronger base. Augsburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg and Salzburg all lie within an hour or two by train, and Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee and the painted villages of Oberammergau add the classic castle and alpine days.

Cortina works for families who ski or walk. There are ski schools and nursery slopes at Socrepes, skating at the Olympic stadium and gentle trails to huts. Beyond the outdoors there is little for children, and wet days drag.

Munich covers both kinds of day. It has Hellabrunn zoo along the Isar, hands-on halls at the Deutsches Museum, Sea Life in the Olympic Park, beer gardens with playgrounds and Legoland within reach, all on transport that takes pushchairs.

Cortina's centre is a few minutes' walk across, but the town has had no railway since 1964. Arrival means a coach from Venice or a long drive, and buses to the passes are sparse, so most visitors end up hiring a car.

Munich needs no car at all. A walkable old town, one integrated U-Bahn, S-Bahn and tram network, flat cycling routes and regional trains to the lakes and mountains make it one of the easiest cities to move around.

Cortina's shopping is one short, polished street, the Corso Italia, with furriers, jewellers and upmarket ski wear, anchored by the old Cooperativa store and a few wood-carving and filigree shops.

Munich has more range. You will find luxury houses on Maximilianstrasse, department stores along Kaufingerstrasse, the historic Dallmayr food hall, independent boutiques in Glockenbach and Schwabing, and tailors selling dirndls and lederhosen as the souvenir with real local character.

Neither is cheap, but Cortina is the harder one on the wallet. Hotels and restaurants in peak winter and August run at luxury-resort level, and lift passes and hire add up. Rifugio meals and the shoulder months of June and late September help, but many budget visitors sleep in cheaper valleys.

Munich's hotels are dear too, especially around the Oktoberfest and trade fairs. Still, a picnic in a beer garden, free parks and lakes, token Sunday museum entry and fairly priced transport keep daily costs in check.

Cortina offers summer chamber and classical concerts in churches and mountain settings, plus the odd festive concert, and little else.

Munich is one of Europe's great music cities. The Bavarian State Opera plays the National Theatre most of the year, three orchestras of real standing fill the Herkulessaal and Prinzregententheater, and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre, the Gärtnerplatztheater and jazz clubs fill out the evenings.

Cortina's wellness lives in its hotels, with alpine spas, hay baths and post-ski massages. Its real calm comes from the setting itself in June, September and quiet winter weeks, rather than from any bathing culture.

Munich has an actual bathing tradition. There is the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad, there are textile-free public saunas with infusion rituals, and the huge Erding thermal complex and the spa towns of Bad Tölz and Bad Reichenhall are within easy reach.