Hallstatt or Zermatt?

Neither is a place for a beach, but Hallstatt at least gives you somewhere to swim. Hallstätter See has a bathing lawn and jetty at the north end of the village and a lido at Obertraun. In high summer the water is cold but bearable for a bracing dip after a hike.

Zermatt has no bathing lake at all. Its mountain tarns are too cold to swim in even in August, so a swim there means a hotel pool.

Zermatt eats noticeably better. Its best meals are on the mountain, at chalets in the hamlets around Findeln, Furi and Zum See, where skiers and walkers settle in for long lunches. Raclette, air-dried beef and Valais wines such as Petite Arvine give the cooking a clear regional character, and the village also has a few ambitious fine-dining kitchens.

Hallstatt has a handful of guesthouse dining rooms serving schnitzel and goulash. The one local speciality is char or whitefish from the lake. Kitchens can close early, and for coffee and cake of real quality you go to the old patisseries of Bad Ischl.

Hallstatt has far more history. People have mined salt in the mountain for millennia, and the Iron Age finds from the burial ground named a whole period of early European history. The salt mine, the Museum Hallstatt and the painted skulls in the Beinhaus fill a rich day in a village that is itself a UNESCO landscape.

Zermatt's heritage is almost all about mountaineering. The underground Matterhorn Museum tells the story of the 1865 first ascent, the cemetery holds the graves of climbers, and the old larch barns of the Hinterdorf stand on their stone slabs. Together they make a good morning.

Neither village is built for going out, but there is still a real gap between them. Hallstatt has nothing at all, while Zermatt has a scene for part of the year. Once the tour groups have gone, Hallstatt simply goes silent, and for many overnight guests that stillness on the water is the reason to stay.

Zermatt's nights depend on the snow. In winter, après-ski starts in the afternoon at the bars on the last runs into the village. At peak weekends a few main-street bars and small clubs carry on late, cheerful and pricey rather than varied. In summer the climbers and hikers go to bed early for dawn starts, and the village is nearly as quiet as Hallstatt.

Both sit in magnificent Alpine country, and Zermatt is the more dramatic of the two. The Matterhorn and a ring of four-thousand-metre peaks rise around the village. Lifts reach glacier level at over 3,800m, there is summer skiing on the glacier, and guides take climbers up the big summits.

Hallstatt's scenery is lower, but it has more variety. There is a deep lake for rowing and paddling, the Dachstein ice caves, the Five Fingers platform on the Krippenstein, and the walk to the Gosausee. It suits a mix of water and hill days rather than days spent at high altitude.

Hallstatt is much better placed for days out. It sits in the middle of the Salzkammergut, with Bad Ischl and its Kaiservilla about half an hour away, St Wolfgang's altarpiece and Gmunden's lake castle further on, and Salzburg as a long but rewarding day. A car makes it all easier.

From Zermatt, every outing starts with a long train ride down the valley. Sion, with its castle hills and vineyards, is the best of them, and Brig has the Stockalper Palace. Most visitors spend their spare days in the mountains instead.

The two are about equal for families, but for different reasons. Hallstatt has a few memorable outings: the salt mine with its wooden miners' slides, the ice caves and boats on the lake. The village itself is a steep, narrow lane that is crowded at midday and hard with a pushchair, so families usually stay in Obertraun.

Zermatt works better as a base. Its car-free streets are safe, the ski school and Sunnegga nursery slopes are close by, and there are marmots to spot. However, rainy days are hard to fill, and the thin air at the highest viewpoints can be too much for small children.

Both centres are free of cars and easy to cover on foot, but Zermatt connects far better. Its cog railway, underground funicular and gondolas all start within walking distance of the centre, electric taxis cover the outer stations, and the train ties smoothly into the Swiss rail network.

Hallstatt's railway station is on the far shore, so you cross the lake by boat to reach the village. The buses to Obertraun and Bad Ischl are limited, particularly outside summer, which is why many visitors bring a car.

Hallstatt's shopping is one lane of souvenir shops. Salt from the mine above the village, sold in bags, grinders and bath mixes, is the one buy you won't find elsewhere.

Zermatt's main street, running from the station towards the church, gives you more to look at. It has Swiss watch and jewellery boutiques aimed at wealthy skiers, and ski and mountaineering outfitters good enough to equip a climb. Apart from the gear, there is no market and few independent shops to browse.

Both are expensive, but Hallstatt is noticeably easier to manage. Its rooms and meals are at Alpine resort level, and staying in Obertraun, Bad Goisern or Bad Ischl cuts the cost a lot.

Zermatt is among the dearest places in the Alps. Even plain hotels charge heavily in season, and the lifts every visitor relies on add up fast. Self-catering and a bed down the valley in Täsch help, but only so far.

Zermatt has a little more live music in the village itself. In spring, Zermatt Unplugged brings acoustic sets to tents and mountain stages, and a chamber music festival in late summer fills the church with serious classical players.

Hallstatt has a brass band on feast days and the odd church concert. For more, you go to the operetta season at Bad Ischl or to concerts in Salzburg.

The two are about equal for a relaxing stay, but the kind of rest differs. In Zermatt it happens inside the hotels, which have excellent spas with mountain views, and a few of them sell day passes. The car-free quiet adds to the calm, but the mood in peak weeks is active.

Hallstatt has little spa culture of its own, but it sits in an old bathing region, with the brine baths of Bad Ischl and Bad Aussee close by. Its calm comes at the edges of the day, with misty mornings and evenings by the lake.