Innsbruck or Salzburg?

Neither city is a swimming destination, but Salzburg has the better summer lakes. Fuschlsee, Wolfgangsee and Mondsee are all within forty-five minutes. They are clear, green and warm by August, and you get in from lawns and wooden jetties.

Innsbruck's options are smaller. The shallow plateau lakes such as the Lanser See warm up nicely in midsummer, while the beautiful Achensee stays too cold for most swimmers.

The two eat at much the same level, but the best moments differ. In Innsbruck it is Gröstl or Kaiserschmarrn at a mountain hut you reach by cable car or on foot. In Salzburg it is the coffee houses, a Salzburger Nockerl, and beer from the barrel in the Augustiner monastery brewery's chestnut garden, where you bring your own food. In both old towns, the restaurants nearest the famous sights mostly cater to tour groups.

Salzburg is the stronger sightseeing city. Its whole old town is a UNESCO-listed Baroque ensemble built by the prince-archbishops. It has a cathedral, the Residenz state rooms, one of Europe's largest intact medieval fortresses above it, the Mozart houses and the catacombs of St Peter.

Innsbruck's Habsburg heritage is more compact. The Golden Roof, the Hofburg and above all the Hofkirche, with Maximilian's bronze-ringed tomb, are the highlights, and Ambras Castle with its cabinet of curiosities is worth the trip to the edge of town.

Innsbruck stays up later. Its student crowd fills the bars and small clubs in the brick arches under the railway viaduct until late at weekends, and in winter the après-ski in nearby resorts adds to it.

In Salzburg a typical evening is a concert, dinner and a litre mug in a beer hall, and the old town is quiet by midnight. Rudolfskai has a few later bars, but most people after a real night out take the train to Munich.

Innsbruck has the bigger mountains, and they start right at the edge of town. The funicular and cable cars lift you onto the Nordkette in minutes. Behind it lies the Karwendel, Austria's largest nature park, and across the valley the Stubai glaciers and a shared ski pass cover several areas.

Salzburg's landscape is softer and more varied. There are wooded ridges in the city centre, the Untersberg cable car on the southern edge, the lakes of the Salzkammergut for paddling and sailing, and the Königssee fjord in Berchtesgaden half an hour away. The big ski areas are about an hour's drive.

Innsbruck's position on the main Alpine rail lines makes three countries easy. Medieval Hall is ten minutes away, Rattenberg has its glassblowers, and over the Brenner you reach Bolzano and Ötzi the Iceman. Munich and Salzburg are each under two hours by train.

Salzburg's day trips are better still. Hallstatt and its prehistoric salt mine, the quiet villages of St Wolfgang and St Gilgen, imperial Bad Ischl, the salt mine at Hallein and Berchtesgaden across the border are all close by. A hire car helps for the lakes, as the buses are slow.

Both cities are safe and small, and they are about equally good with children, but the days out differ. Innsbruck is about the mountains: the Alpenzoo's ibex and wolves are on the way up the funicular, and the slopes have adventure trails, hut playgrounds and ski schools. Salzburg offers more in town. There are Hellbrunn's trick fountains and zoo, the hands-on Haus der Natur for wet days, and the miners' slides in nearby salt mines, though its cobbled lanes are hard going with a pushchair.

Both centres are compact enough to walk, and neither needs a car in town. Innsbruck is a little easier overall. Trams reach Igls and the Stubai valley, the funicular leaves from the edge of the old town and links to the cable cars, and regional trains run along the valley.

Salzburg relies on trolleybuses and buses, with no tram. Its riverside paths are good for cycling, but reaching the Salzkammergut lakes by bus is slow.

Salzburg offers more to buy. Getreidegasse, with its wrought-iron guild signs, is the classic shopping street, and Tracht workshops make dirndls and loden jackets to measure. The farmers' market by the Andräkirche sells regional cheese, and the Advent market on Domplatz is one of the region's best known.

Innsbruck has the high-street chains on Maria-Theresien-Strasse and crystal and craft shops under the arcades. Its real strength is outdoor and ski gear, where the specialist shops are excellent.

Neither is cheap, but Innsbruck is a bit easier on the budget. Its hotels cost most in ski season and at Christmas, and spring and autumn are clearly cheaper. Cable car tickets are the cost that builds up on an active trip.

Salzburg's old-town hotels are expensive all year, and both rooms and restaurant tables become scarce during the summer festival and Advent. Staying across the river or in the suburbs and taking the bus in is the usual way to save.

This is where the two differ most. Salzburg is one of Europe's great classical music cities. The Salzburg Festival fills the Felsenreitschule and the Festspielhaus every summer, Jedermann is performed in front of the cathedral, and Mozart Week and the Easter Festival extend the year. Between festivals there are the Mozarteum and the Marionette Theatre.

Innsbruck has a solid regional programme at the Landestheater and its own gem in the Festival of Early Music, held in places like the Spanish Hall at Ambras, but it is not a reason to travel.

Salzburg makes it easier to slow down. The Paracelsus Bad in the city park has saunas and a pool, and the brine baths of Bad Reichenhall are twenty minutes away. The radon springs and Belle Époque hotels of the Gastein valley are within reach for a day.

Innsbruck's version is a sauna after a day on the mountain, best in the hotel spas up in Igls. The large thermal complexes in the Ötztal and Zillertal are about an hour away.