Dusseldorf or Zurich?

Neither city has a beach, but Zurich at least gives you a proper swim. In summer its clean lake is lined with wooden bathing houses and lawned lidos, and the Letten river baths let you float down the Limmat. You swim from piers and grass rather than sand, and only for a short season.

Düsseldorf cannot match that. The Rhine is too dangerous for swimming despite its sandy banks, so a dip means a trip out to Unterbacher See or one of the gravel-pit lakes on the edge of town.

Düsseldorf is the more interesting place to eat. Its Altstadt brewhouses pour Altbier until you cover your glass, with hearty Rhineland plates and sharp local mustard, and the Japanese quarter around Immermannstrasse adds ramen, izakaya and bakeries of real quality. Carlsplatz market rounds it off.

Zurich is polished and reliable rather than exciting: veal in cream with rösti, fondue in wood-panelled guild houses, and chocolate and Luxemburgerli that are the true highlight. It has little street food or market life, and every meal costs a lot.

The two are evenly matched, but they reward different interests. Düsseldorf is an art city above all, with K20's Klee collection, the net under the dome at K21 and the Kunstpalast, yet its Altstadt is largely rebuilt and its finest historic site, Benrath Palace, lies out in the suburbs.

Zurich has the better-preserved old town, with the Grossmünster where the Swiss Reformation began, the Chagall windows of the Fraumünster and guild houses along the Limmat. The Kunsthaus and the Swiss National Museum make it the stronger choice for history, Düsseldorf the stronger for modern and contemporary art.

Both cities go out well, but in very different ways. Düsseldorf's night is a pub crawl turned street party, with crowds drinking Altbier outside the packed Altstadt bars, and Carnival, when the whole city turns out in costume, is the year's peak. Its clubs are modest.

Zurich is a clubbing city. Venues in Kreis 4 and 5 and Zurich West run electronic music until morning, and the Street Parade brings techno to the lake shore every August. Summer drinks in the bathing houses are a pleasure, but prices tend to keep nights shorter.

Here Zurich is in another league. The lake, with the snow-capped Glarus Alps at its far end, is right in the city, the Uetliberg ridge is a short train ride away, and real high-mountain hiking and skiing at places such as Flumserberg lie within about an hour.

Düsseldorf's outdoors is gentle and flat: grassy Rhine meadows with long cycle paths to Kaiserswerth, the Grafenberg forest and the Neandertal valley. The Bergisches Land and Siebengebirge are fine for a walk, but there is nothing dramatic.

Both make excellent bases without a car, and the difference lies in what you see. From Düsseldorf it is a dense run of cities: Cologne cathedral in under half an hour, Bonn, the Brühl palaces, the industrial heritage of Zollverein, Aachen and even Maastricht across the Dutch border.

Zurich's excursions are more scenic. Lucerne's wooden bridges, the Rhine Falls with Stein am Rhein, Bern's arcades and a boat up the lake to Rapperswil mix towns with water and mountains, and the Swiss rail network makes each one easy.

Both are safe, orderly cities where buggies are no trouble, but Zurich gives children more. Its zoo, with the Madagascar rainforest hall and the elephant park, is a major day out, the lake lidos have shallow areas and lawns, and the Technorama and the Swiss Museum of Transport are easy trips.

Düsseldorf has the Aquazoo, the tilted windows of the Rheinturm and the free game park in Grafenberg. Its one real advantage is that Phantasialand and Movie Park are within an hour, which Zurich cannot offer.

Düsseldorf's centre is flat and compact, so the Altstadt, the Königsallee, the Hofgarten and the Japanese quarter are all an easy walk apart along the riverside. Its trams and light rail join a regional network that reaches Cologne and the Ruhr, though the fare zones take some puzzling out at first.

Zurich goes a step further and makes getting around almost effortless. Trams, S-Bahn trains, funiculars, the Uetliberg railway and even the lake boats all run on one ticket, on time and with clear signs. From the main station you can carry straight on across the country.

The two are closely matched, each built around one great luxury street. Düsseldorf's Königsallee, along its canal, is backed by big department stores, Flingern's design boutiques and the stationery and homeware shops of the Japanese quarter.

Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse runs from the station to the lake and is above all about watches, with chocolate as the souvenir. The viaduct arches in Zurich West and the summer flea markets add variety, but everything costs noticeably more than in Düsseldorf.

The gap here is wide, and it shapes the whole trip. In Düsseldorf the hotel is the real expense. Rooms are high for a city of its size and climb sharply when a trade fair is on, so check the fair calendar before you book. After that, everyday spending is in line with other well-off German cities, and some museums let you in free or at a reduced rate at times.

Zurich costs more than Düsseldorf on almost every item, from a simple room to a glass of wine or a museum ticket, and over a few days the difference adds up quickly. A visitor card that bundles transport and museum entry takes the edge off. Still, this is a city to budget for generously, not one where careful spending stretches very far.

Opera is what separates them. Düsseldorf has a steady season of opera and ballet at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein beside the Hofgarten, and symphony concerts in the Tonhalle, a domed former planetarium. It also has a long tradition of political cabaret, and its proudest claim is in music history, as the birthplace of Kraftwerk and early German electronic music.

Zurich's Opernhaus on the lake shore is the more distinguished house, with a reputation across Europe, and the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in a finely restored nineteenth-century hall. For jazz, indie and electronic acts there are the old Rote Fabrik factory and the venues of Kreis 4 and 5. In both cities the Schauspielhaus is among the leading German-language theatres, but it offers little to anyone who doesn't speak German.

Zurich is the easier place to unwind. Its thermal bath in the stone vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery has a rooftop pool, the wooden lake bathing houses turn into saunas in the colder months, and the hot springs of Baden are only twenty minutes away.

Düsseldorf has no springs of its own. Relaxing means the mixed, swimwear-free saunas of its public baths, a trip of about an hour to a thermal complex or to Aachen, and slow walks through the Hofgarten and the Japanese garden in Nordpark.