Geneva or Venice?

Venice has an actual beach. The Lido gives kilometres of fine sand on the open Adriatic, with shallow, warm water that suits waders, and Pellestrina is wilder still. It is greenish rather than clear, though, and most visitors give it an afternoon at most.

Geneva has lake swimming instead: jetties, lawns and pebbles at the Bains des Pâquis and Genève-Plage, in clean but cold water with a short summer season. It is a city lido, pleasant as an extra, while Venice at least offers a proper day on the sand.

The two are broadly level, but they eat very differently. Geneva cooks French with a Swiss accent, with lake perch, fondue and raclette in wood-panelled brasseries, local Chasselas and Gamay, and a polished international and fine-dining scene in Carouge and the Old Town.

Venice is at its best standing at a bacaro counter with cicchetti and a spritz, and in lagoon dishes such as black cuttlefish risotto from the Rialto market. It is narrower in range and full of poor tourist menus near San Marco, while Geneva has no casual street food and is costly at every level.

This is where Venice pulls far ahead. The whole city is a monument, from the Basilica and Doge's Palace to the Grand Canal palazzi, and the art runs from Titian and Tintoretto to the Peggy Guggenheim and the Biennale. A week barely covers it.

Geneva's sights are solid but fewer: St Pierre Cathedral and the Reformation Wall, the Palais des Nations and the Red Cross museum, CERN and the watchmaking museum. They tell a fascinating story of faith and diplomacy, and two or three days does them justice.

Neither is a party city, but Geneva gives a little more to do after dark. The Pâquis bars stay busy late, Carouge has wine terraces, and the alternative cultural centres of Jonction and Plainpalais host club nights.

Venice peaks at the aperitivo hour along the Fondamenta della Misericordia, then thins to a few student bars on Campo Santa Margherita. By midnight the canals are silent, lovely for a walk but not for a night out.

Geneva is a far better outdoors base. The Salève's cliffs and paragliding, forest hikes and cross-country skiing on the Jura, sailing on the lake and Mont Blanc on the horizon put real mountains within an hour.

Venice's nature is the lagoon: salt marshes around Torcello with egrets and flamingos, kayaking and standing-up Venetian rowing, and cycling along the Pellestrina sea walls. It is quiet and unusual, but flat, and the Dolomites are a long day away.

Both are excellent springboards, with Venice holding a slight edge. Fast trains put Padua, Verona and Vicenza within easy reach, and Murano, Burano and Torcello make a day out across the lagoon without any train at all.

Geneva's outings mix two countries and a long lake: steamers to Lausanne, Montreux and Chillon, the Lavaux vineyard terraces, Yvoire and Annecy in France, and Gruyères or Bern further out. Choose Venice for Italian art cities, Geneva for lake and mountain scenery.

Geneva is the more practical choice with children. It is safe, mostly flat and pushchair-friendly, with the Natural History Museum's dioramas, small animal parks and lakeside playgrounds, though there is no zoo or theme park.

Venice has more wonder, with boats for buses and glass-blowing on Murano, but stepped bridges, summer crowds, heat and few parks make it tiring. It works best on a short stay with older children.

One city runs on trams and timetables, the other on foot and by water. Geneva's centre is small enough to cross on foot, from the station over the bridges to the Old Town and down to Carouge, and trams, buses and the yellow harbour boats form one punctual network. The airport is a few minutes from the main station by train, and regional rail carries on into France and the rest of Switzerland, so getting around takes almost no thought.

Venice has no cars, so walking is the main way to get about. Its alleys twist, dead-end at canals and climb over stepped bridges that make wheeled cases and wheelchairs hard work. The vaporetto is scenic but slow and crowded, and water taxis cost a lot, so in Venice moving about is part of the experience rather than a convenience.

Geneva has the stronger shopping, mainly for one thing: watches and jewellery, with the great Swiss houses along the Rue du Rhône, plus chocolatiers, Carouge craft workshops and the Plainpalais flea market.

Venice is about crafts made on the spot, such as Murano glass, Burano lace, papier-mâché masks and marbled paper. The best of it means finding real workshops in Dorsoduro or Castello and passing the imported fakes on the main routes.

Both are expensive, but Geneva is harder on the wallet. Hotels, meals and wine there cost more than almost anywhere in Europe, softened by free museums, free transport for hotel guests and cheaper beds across the French border.

Venice is costly too, especially near San Marco and in summer. Cicchetti at a bar counter, a room in a quieter sestiere or in Mestre, and a winter visit bring it down further than Geneva's options allow.

The two are evenly matched for the formal stage. Geneva has the Grand Théâtre's opera and ballet, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Victoria Hall and a lively French-language theatre and alternative music scene.

Venice has La Fenice, the house that premiered Verdi and Rossini, plus the Biennale festivals and nightly Vivaldi concerts in churches. It has more history, while Geneva offers more in the way of jazz and rock.

A sauna on a lake jetty against hotel spas in old palazzi sums up the difference. In winter Geneva's Bains des Pâquis becomes a sauna and hammam, and regulars plunge straight into the cold lake. The lakefront hotels and the spa towns of Évian and Divonne add more, and the city's orderly pace and very quiet Sundays give Geneva the edge for a restful stay.

Venice has no bathing tradition, so pampering means a hotel spa on the Lido or Giudecca, or an hour's trip to the thermal mud and pools of Abano Terme. With no traffic, Venice is hushed at dawn and in Castello and Cannaregio, but the daytime crowds around San Marco and the Rialto break that calm.