Innsbruck or Queenstown?

Neither city is a swimming destination. In both, a swim means a lake in a short summer. The real difference is the water temperature. Innsbruck's shallow plateau lakes, the Lanser See and the Natterer See, warm to about 22°C at the height of summer and suit a lazy afternoon. In Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu stays near 12°C and is mainly for a quick jump off the town jetty, while Lake Hayes and Moke Lake are the gentler options.

Innsbruck has a cuisine of its own, and Queenstown has a wine region instead. In Innsbruck you eat Tyrolean food: Gröstl, Kaspressknödel and Kaiserschmarrn in old-town inns and mountain huts, and strudel in Viennese-style coffee houses.

Queenstown has no local cooking to match that. It offers a wider casual spread of burgers, pies and Asian kitchens, plus Central Otago pinot noir at the Gibbston Valley cellar doors nearby. Wine lovers will get more from Queenstown, and anyone after regional dishes will prefer Innsbruck.

The gap here is wide. Innsbruck was a Habsburg seat, and its compact arcaded old town holds the Golden Roof, the Hofburg and the Hofkirche with Maximilian I's tomb. Ambras Castle and the Ferdinandeum fill the days after that.

Queenstown was built around its landscape. Its sights are the coal-fired TSS Earnslaw, a few stone buildings from the gold rush and the view from Bob's Peak. Arrowtown tells the mining story better, but a museum-minded visitor will be done in a morning with what takes two or three days in Innsbruck.

Innsbruck's nights belong to its students, and Queenstown's to seasonal workers and visitors. The university fills the bars and small clubs in the brick arches under Innsbruck's railway viaduct, and the old town adds quieter pubs and wine bars. Innsbruck's après-ski happens mostly out in the resorts rather than in town.

In Queenstown, backpackers, skiers and young resort staff pack the dance and cocktail bars of a few central blocks. The result is louder and younger, especially on winter weekends, though it is drinking and DJ bars rather than proper clubs.

Both put big mountains at the end of the street, so the choice comes down to character. Innsbruck is classic Alpine country. A funicular from the old town reaches the Nordkette ridge in under half an hour, with the Karwendel behind it, mountain huts linking the trails, and snow on the Stubai Glacier for most of the year.

Queenstown sets the jagged Remarkables above a long glacial lake. Further out are the Routeburn Track, Mount Aspiring National Park and Milford Sound. Its outdoors also leans towards speed, with jet boats in the Shotover canyons and steep bike tracks off the gondola.

Innsbruck's rail links give it far more range. Hall in Tirol is ten minutes away, and Munich and Salzburg are each under two hours. Over the Brenner Pass lie Bolzano, Merano and Ötzi the Iceman, so one week can take in three countries.

Queenstown's outings are pleasant but fewer. There are Arrowtown's miners' cottages and Chinese settlement, Wanaka over the Crown Range, and wine days around Gibbston and Cromwell. Milford Sound is the famous one, but it takes three to four hours each way by road.

Small children are well looked after in either town. What changes is the kind of day out. In Innsbruck, the funicular stops at the Alpenzoo for ibex, bears and lynx, then carries on to adventure trails and hut playgrounds, and the plateau lakes are warm enough for a proper swim.\n\nQueenstown has more ready-made fun, with the gondola and luge on Bob's Peak, jet-boat rides and kiwi at the wildlife park. Its best-known thrills have age and weight limits, though, and the bigger sights mean long drives.

Innsbruck is far easier without a car. The flat centre is walkable, and trams and buses reach Igls and the Stubai valley. The funicular starts at the edge of the old town, and regional trains run along the valley.

Queenstown's centre is tiny and easy on foot too, and buses reach Frankton, the airport and Arrowtown. The wineries, Glenorchy, Wanaka and most trailheads are spread along winding roads, though, so an independent visitor really needs a hire car, sometimes with chains in winter.

Neither city is worth a trip for the shops, but Innsbruck offers a little more. Maria-Theresien-Strasse has the high-street chains, and the old-town arcades sell loden jackets, dirndls, woodcarvings and crystal next to excellent ski shops. Queenstown's Mall sticks mostly to outdoor gear, merino and possum-wool knitwear, greenstone and souvenirs, with a summer craft market by the wharf.

Both are costly, but Queenstown is harder on the wallet. Innsbruck charges Western European prices with an Alpine premium. Still, rooms are cheaper in spring and autumn, and the city cards bundle transport, lifts and sights.

Queenstown's rooms cost more than elsewhere in New Zealand, and its meals carry resort prices. On top of that come the bungy jumps, jet boats, scenic flights and lift passes that are the reason to go. Self-catering and the free trails help, but the budget needs careful planning.

Innsbruck has a real performing arts season, and Queenstown largely does not. The Tiroler Landestheater stages opera, operetta and dance, and the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra gives concerts. Each summer the Festival of Early Music fills historic rooms such as the Spanish Hall at Ambras.

In Queenstown, live music usually means a covers band in a pub. Touring acts come to the events centre now and then, and the winter festival brings a few days of concerts.

Neither city has hot springs, so in both, relaxing means a spa and mountain air. In Innsbruck the unhurried town helps, along with the hotel spas in Igls and the plateau villages. The big thermal complexes of the Ötztal and Zillertal are about an hour away.

Queenstown's speciality is a private cedar hot tub above the Shotover River, or a lodge spa. The centre is built around adrenaline, though, so a truly slow stay works better in Arrowtown or Glenorchy.