Geneva or Lausanne?

Both cities swim in the same lake over the same short summer, so the choice comes down to the setting. Geneva's signature is the Bains des Pâquis, a concrete jetty out in the harbour where you dive in with the Jet d'Eau in view, and Genève-Plage across the water adds pools and lawns.

Lausanne's swimming is more spread out along the shore: the old Bellerive lido, grassy banks at Vidy and small shingle coves towards Pully and Lutry. In both cities it is lido life rather than a beach, and something to fit around a summer stay.

The two eat equally well, and both serve lake perch, fondue and Chasselas, but the emphasis differs. Geneva's table is more French and more international, because the diplomatic community supports a wide range of cuisines and a polished fine-dining scene in Carouge and the Old Town.

Lausanne stays closer to the Vaud countryside, with papet vaudois, the Saturday market around Place de la Riponne, and caveaux in the Lavaux villages where you taste wine with the growers. In neither city is a cheap casual meal easy to find.

The sights are of similar weight and take two or three days in either city, but they tell different stories. Geneva's are about ideas and institutions: Calvin's St Pierre Cathedral and the dig beneath it, the Reformation Wall, the Palais des Nations and the Red Cross museum, with CERN on the edge of town.

Lausanne's interest lies more in its museums. The Olympic Museum at Ouchy and the Plateforme 10 cluster by the station lead them, and the Collection de l'Art Brut is unlike anything in Geneva. Its Gothic cathedral, where a night watchman still calls out the hours, is the finer single building.

Neither is a party city, and both go quiet on weeknights. Geneva's late drinking is in the Pâquis bars behind the station, with a small alternative club scene in squat-born centres around Plainpalais and Jonction.

Lausanne's tens of thousands of students give its weekends a little more energy, and it all gathers in one place. The Flon's old warehouses hold the clubs and late bars, so a night out there feels more concentrated than Geneva's scattered scene.

Both are superb bases for the outdoors, with the lake in front and the Jura behind. Geneva's mountains sit on the skyline: the Salève's cable car and cliffs are just over the French border, and Chamonix and Mont Blanc are about an hour away.

Lausanne has the walking on its doorstep, with the Lavaux terrace paths between Lutry and Saint-Saphorin and the Sauvabelin forest above town. The Vaud Alps resorts and the glacier at Glacier 3000 are within an hour, and its view straight across the water to the French Alps is the more dramatic.

Geneva's outings lean across the border into France. A boat crosses the lake to medieval Yvoire, Annecy's canals and old town are under an hour by road, and Nyon's Roman ruins and Lausanne's steep old town are a quick train ride up the shore. Montreux, Chillon and the Lavaux terraces are within reach as well.

Lausanne sits in the middle of the Swiss rail network, so more of the country is close at hand. Vevey and Montreux are about twenty minutes away, while Bern, Fribourg, Neuchâtel and walled Murten each make an easy day. Gruyères works from either city. Almost none of it needs a car, which makes Lausanne the better base for a week of train trips.

Lausanne does more for children. The Olympic Museum is hands-on, the aquarium-vivarium shows river and lake creatures from around the world, and Sauvabelin combines an animal park, pedal boats and a wooden lookout tower in one outing. Paddle steamers and the lidos at Ouchy and Bellerive fill summer afternoons.

Geneva is flatter and kinder to pushchairs, and its Natural History Museum dioramas are a real hit. Beyond that it is mostly small animal enclosures, parks and harbour boat rides, so families tend to run out of ideas sooner.

Geneva is the easier city to move around. The centre is nearly flat from the station across the bridges to Carouge, the airport is a few minutes away by train, and the yellow harbour boats are part of the tram and bus network.

Lausanne is just as compact, but it is built on a steep slope, with stairs, bridges and lifts between its levels. The m2 metro, which climbs more than 300m from Ouchy to the upper town, does most of the work. Without it, getting about is real exercise.

This is where Geneva pulls well ahead. The Rue du Rhône and the streets around it hold the flagship boutiques of the major Swiss watch houses and international luxury labels. Carouge's small workshops and the Plainpalais flea market give it an independent side as well.

Lausanne has watch shops and chocolatiers along Rue de Bourg and a few design shops in the Flon, but no luxury district and few independents. It is the place to pick up chocolate or a bottle of Lavaux wine, not to plan a trip around.

Both are among the most expensive cities a visitor can choose, and the gap between them is too small to change a budget. The ways to save differ. In Geneva many city museums are free and hotel guests usually get free local transport, and the French border lets you sleep or eat more cheaply across it.

In Lausanne savings come from supermarket picnics on the lakeside promenades and a glass of Chasselas in a Lavaux caveau.

The two stages are equally strong but lean different ways. Geneva's strength is classical music and opera, with a full season at the Grand Théâtre and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in the gilded Victoria Hall.

Lausanne leads in dance, as home of the Béjart Ballet and the Prix de Lausanne, and the Théâtre de Vidy brings contemporary work with a Europe-wide reputation. In July the Montreux Jazz Festival is a short train ride along the shore.

Geneva has a bathing ritual of its own. In winter the Bains des Pâquis lido turns into a sauna and hammam, and regulars go from the heat straight into the cold lake. The spa towns of Évian and Divonne are just over the French border, and the quiet Sundays and lakeside promenades slow the city down.

Lausanne has nothing like that in town. Its steep centre is also busier, so the calm is found on the edges, in the Lavaux vines and along the shore at Ouchy. What it does have is real thermal water nearby. Yverdon-les-Bains is under half an hour by train, and Lavey-les-Bains, with the hottest springs in Switzerland, is under an hour up the Rhône valley.