Frankfurt or Zurich?

Neither city has a coast, but Zurich does far more with its water. In summer you can swim from wooden bathing houses and lawned lidos along a clean lake, float down the Limmat at the Letten river baths, or step into the historic baths in the old town. All of it is from grass and decks, not sand.

Frankfurt's Main is for sitting beside, not swimming in. In July and August, the sandy gravel-pit lakes such as the Langener Waldsee are your best option, and getting there means a trip out of town.

The two are evenly matched at the table, but the character is quite different. Frankfurt's charm is rustic and communal: long shared tables in Sachsenhausen taverns, grey jugs of Apfelwein, Grüne Soße, and the Kleinmarkthalle for sausage and cheese. The cheap global food of the Bahnhofsviertel makes eating out easy on the wallet.

Zurich is more polished. You'll find veal in cream with rösti in panelled guild houses, fondue in winter, and the chocolate and confectionery of the Paradeplatz tea rooms. What it lacks is Frankfurt's market hall and street food, and every meal costs more.

Both make good material for two or three days, and each leans a different way. Frankfurt has more institutions to choose from, with over a dozen museums lining the Museumsufer, led by the Städel. Its old town is a rebuilt one around the Römer, set against Germany's only real skyline of towers.

Zurich's old town is the original, compact and well kept, with the Grossmünster and Chagall's windows in the Fraumünster. Its museums are fewer but strong, notably the Kunsthaus and the Rietberg in its lakeside villa.

Both cities have deep roots in electronic music, but Zurich has the larger and later scene. Clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and in Zurich West stay open until morning, and the August Street Parade is a major techno event. In summer, the lake bathing houses become bars. The main drawback is the price of a round.

Frankfurt's clubs are fewer and more serious. Evenings revolve around the cocktail bars of the Bahnhofsviertel, the rowdy pubs of Alt-Sachsenhausen and the neighbourhood bars on Berger Straße. It is cheaper but quieter, and only really fills up at weekends.

Zurich has the more dramatic setting. The Glarus Alps are visible across the lake, the Uetliberg ridge is a short train ride away, and Rigi, Pilatus and ski slopes such as Flumserberg can all be reached in about an hour.

Frankfurt's countryside is greener and softer. You'll find beech forest and Roman frontier trails on the Großer Feldberg in the Taunus, the vast Stadtwald, flat cycle paths along the Main, and vineyard walks in the Rheingau. It is lovely for a day on foot or by bike, but there are no mountains.

Both are outstanding bases, each at the heart of its country's railways, so the choice comes down to the kind of day out. From Frankfurt, it's mostly German towns and river scenery: Heidelberg's castle, the castle-lined Rhine Gorge, Cologne Cathedral, Würzburg's Residenz, and imperial cathedrals in Speyer and Worms.

From Zurich, the trips are lakes and old towns: Lucerne's wooden bridges, Bern's arcades, the St Gallen abbey library, the Rhine Falls with Stein am Rhein, and Rapperswil by boat.

Zurich is the easier city for children. It is safe and orderly, with a zoo that has an indoor rainforest and an elephant park, shallow lake lidos in summer, and lake boats. Technorama in Winterthur and the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne make easy day outings.

Frankfurt works well for a few days. The dinosaur skeletons at the Senckenberg, the central zoo, the Palmengarten glasshouses and the wildlife park in the Taunus will keep children busy, but there is less to build a whole family trip around.

Neither city needs a car and both centres are small enough to walk, but Zurich asks less of you. In Frankfurt it is only minutes on foot from the Römer and the cathedral across the bridges to the Museumsufer. One regional network carries you out to Mainz, Wiesbaden and the Taunus, and the airport train takes about a quarter of an hour. The cost of that reach is a tangle of lines and fare zones that can take a day to read with confidence.

Zurich's ticket is integrated too, but it is far easier to use from the first day, and it takes in more than streets and rails. One pass covers a tram through the old town, the climb up the Uetliberg and a boat across the lake, so a day that mixes hill, water and sightseeing needs almost no planning. The main station puts the airport and the rest of Switzerland a short ride away.

Zurich has the stronger draw. Bahnhofstrasse runs from the station to the lake, lined with watchmakers and jewellers. Watches are the speciality, chocolate is the easy souvenir, and the old viaduct arches in Zurich West house design shops.

Frankfurt is more practical. The Zeil offers department stores and malls, Goethestraße has luxury fashion, and Berger Straße and Schweizer Straße hold independent shops, but the city has no speciality to rival Swiss watches.

This is where the two cities differ most. Frankfurt is expensive by German standards, mainly because of hotels priced for business travellers, but its taverns, grills and market stalls keep meals cheap. If you avoid the trade fairs and visit at a weekend, it can be a moderate trip.

Zurich is among the most expensive cities in the world. Rooms, lunches, drinks, transport and museums are all costly. Picnics by the lake, supermarket lunches and the free lidos help a little, but they don't change the overall picture.

Opera leads the bill in each city, and the difference lies in what surrounds it and when. Frankfurt's company is known for adventurous productions. The Alte Oper is home to the radio symphony orchestra, Mousonturm stages contemporary dance, and cellar clubs keep a post-war jazz tradition going. The English-language theatre is a real help if you don't speak German. The season runs from autumn to early summer, though, so there is less on in July and August.

Zurich puts opera and ballet together at the Opernhaus on the lake, and the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in its restored hall. The Schauspielhaus is a major stage, but it performs mostly in German. Summer is where Zurich pulls ahead: open-air film and the Theater Spektakel come to the lake shore, and the Rote Fabrik hosts jazz, indie and electronic acts.

Zurich makes it a little easier to unwind without leaving town. There are thermal pools in the vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery with a rooftop pool, wooden lake houses that become saunas in winter with cold-water dips, and Baden's Roman hot springs twenty minutes away.

Frankfurt's own offer is limited to municipal pools and the Palmengarten. The spa towns around it make up for that, with the Art Nouveau Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme in Wiesbaden and the spa park at Bad Homburg.