Innsbruck or Lugano?

Neither city has a coast, but Lugano at least has its own swimming lake. The main lido sits at the mouth of the Cassarate, with smaller bathing spots towards Castagnola and Paradiso and lake baths in villages you reach by boat, all from June to early September.

In Innsbruck you have to head up to the shallow Lanser See or Natterer See on the plateaus for a summer dip. The beautiful Achensee is too cold for most swimmers, so a swim there fills an afternoon rather than a whole vacation.

The two are broadly level, and in both the setting matters more than the range. Innsbruck's best meals are Gröstl, Kaspressknödel and Kaiserschmarrn at mountain huts reached by cable car. Lugano's equivalent is the grotto, where you eat polenta and braised meats at granite tables under chestnut trees.

Lugano has the better drink and the market. Ticino Merlot grows close to town, and the old centre has a weekly market, which Innsbruck lacks. Innsbruck has Viennese-style coffee houses and cheaper student places, and neither city offers much street food.

Innsbruck has clearly more to see. Its time as a Habsburg seat left the Hofburg, the Golden Roof and the Hofkirche, where 28 bronze figures stand around Maximilian I's tomb. Ambras Castle adds its cabinet of curiosities and armour collection, and together they fill two or three days.

Lugano's sights take about a day. The highlights are the arcaded Lombard old town, San Lorenzo above the lake and Luini's Passion fresco in Santa Maria degli Angioli. The LAC and the Hesse museum in Montagnola round it out pleasantly, but there is less depth.

Innsbruck has more going on after dark, thanks to its students. Bars and small clubs fill the brick arches under the railway viaduct and stay open late at weekends, and in winter there is après-ski in the resorts.

Lugano's evenings centre on an aperitivo and a long dinner, with a smart local crowd and high prices. Most nights the town is quiet before midnight, and young locals who want to go out go to Milan.

Both cities have mountains, but Innsbruck's are higher and wilder. The Nordkette ridge rises straight above the city and leads into the Karwendel. The Stubai Glacier keeps snow for most of the year, and in winter several ski areas are close by.

Lugano's landscape is gentler: lake and wooded slopes rather than high Alps. Monte Brè, San Salvatore and Monte Generoso give wide views. The Gandria path and the Lema to Tamaro ridge make fine walks, and kayaks and paddleboards are easy to hire on the water.

Lugano has the stronger excursions because it sits right on the Italian border. Milan is just over an hour by train, Como about half an hour, and Bellinzona's castles and the Lake Maggiore shore are both close.

Innsbruck's options are good but further out. Hall in Tirol is ten minutes away, while Munich, Salzburg and Bolzano over the Brenner each take roughly two hours. That makes the bigger cities long days rather than easy hops.

Both cities are safe and calm, and neither has big attractions built for children. In Innsbruck the Alpenzoo, with its ibex, bears and lynx, is on the funicular line, and there are ski schools in winter.

Lugano relies on the lake: boat trips, slides at the lidos, mountain railways and the miniature park at Melide. Its steep streets are hard work with a pushchair, whereas central Innsbruck is flat.

Both cities are just as easy to get around without a car. Innsbruck's centre is flat, with trams running out to Igls and the Stubai valley.

Lugano's centre is all slope. A short funicular links the station to the old town, and lake boats do much of the work that trams do in Innsbruck.

Lugano is a little better for shopping, mainly because of Via Nassa. Its arcades hold Swiss watchmakers, jewellers and Italian fashion houses, and there is a large designer outlet near Mendrisio.

Innsbruck's strengths are more practical: loden jackets, dirndls, woodcarvings and excellent outdoor and ski shops. In both, a serious shopping trip still ends up in a bigger city.

Innsbruck is expensive, but Lugano costs far more. Innsbruck's prices drop in spring and autumn, and student cafés and city cards that bundle transport with lifts make a difference.

In Lugano, hotels, meals, wine, boats and mountain railways all carry Swiss prices. Grotti, set lunches and the regional transport that comes with a hotel stay soften the bill only a little.

The two are about even, with different strengths. Innsbruck's Landestheater stages its own opera and operetta, and the summer Festival of Early Music uses settings like the Spanish Hall at Ambras.

Lugano centres on the acoustics of the LAC concert hall and the free Estival Jazz concerts on Piazza della Riforma. Opera lovers there head to La Scala.

Neither city has thermal springs, so relaxing works differently in each. Innsbruck's version is a hotel sauna in Igls after a day on the trails, with big thermal spas in the Ötztal and Zillertal about an hour away.

Lugano's calm comes from its pace: palm-lined lakeside benches in Parco Ciani, afternoons at a lido and grotto lunches. For pools and saunas there is an indoor complex near Rivera.