Interlaken or Luxembourg?

Neither is a beach destination, but Interlaken has more to offer a swimmer. Lake Thun warms to about 21°C in a good summer, with grassy lidos and shingle beaches at Neuhaus and towards Spiez, and the turquoise of Lake Brienz under snow peaks makes even a short, cold dip memorable.

Luxembourg's bathing means a drive of about an hour to the Upper Sûre reservoir or an afternoon at the old gravel pits of Remerschen, and for most visitors the indoor pools in town are the realistic option.

Luxembourg eats noticeably better. French cooking sets the tone in its restaurants, Portuguese and Italian neighbourhood places add range, and the city has a fine-dining tier unusual for its size, all washed down with Moselle Riesling and crémant.

Interlaken's kitchens serve fondue, rösti and international standbys competently but without much ambition. Its best meals happen above the town, on a hut terrace near Mürren or Grindelwald with cheese from a mountain dairy, and plenty of visitors simply live on supermarket picnics.

This is where the gap is widest. Luxembourg's old town sits on a sandstone plateau ringed by fortress remains, and you can walk the Bock casemates, look down on the Grund from the Chemin de la Corniche, then visit the Grand Ducal Palace, the cathedral and the national museum before crossing to MUDAM on Kirchberg.

Interlaken offers a row of grand hotels along the Höheweg, the Kursaal and a few timber houses in Unterseen, which takes an hour at most. For history and museums from there you take the train to Bern or Thun.

Luxembourg has the livelier evenings, though only modestly so. The bars and clubs of the Rives de Clausen, the stone pubs of the Grund and the later venues in Hollerich draw an international crowd of young professionals, busiest on Thursdays and Fridays.

Interlaken goes to bed early because everyone is up for the first train or a paraglide. Its nightlife is a handful of backpacker pubs and basement clubs near the hostels, the casino and a quiet drink on the Höheweg.

Interlaken is one of the great mountain bases in Europe, and Luxembourg cannot compete. The cliffs and waterfalls of Lauterbrunnen, the faces of the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and high trails reached by cable car at Grindelwald First or Schynige Platte are all within an hour. The cog railway up to the Jungfraujoch and its view over the Aletsch glacier takes about two hours each way, so that one needs a whole day. Rafting, canyoning and winter skiing come on top, with low cloud the only real spoiler.

Luxembourg's outdoors is green and walkable rather than grand. The wooded Pétrusse and Alzette gorges cut through the city itself, the mossy rock passages of the Müllerthal are half an hour away, and the Ardennes and the Moselle cycle paths add quiet days, best in autumn.

Both make excellent bases, but they point you towards different things. From Interlaken the trips are Swiss and largely scenic: Bern's arcaded old town, Thun's castle, steamer stops at Spiez and Oberhofen, the open-air museum at Ballenberg and Lucerne over the Brünig Pass.

From Luxembourg you cross borders. Roman Trier and the Gothic cathedral at Metz are each under an hour away, Nancy a little further, and closer to home the castle at Vianden, Echternach and the Moselle wine villages make slower outings.

Interlaken keeps children busier. Rack railways, gondolas and lake steamers are an adventure in themselves, and the summit stations above Grindelwald and the Harder Kulm add playgrounds, cliff walks and summer toboggan runs, with the St Beatus caves and Ballenberg's farm animals as dependable extras. Rainy days and high altitude for toddlers are the weak points.

Luxembourg is calm, safe and easy with a buggy thanks to its lifts, and the casemate tunnels thrill most children. Beyond the fortress, the natural history museum and the small Parc Merveilleux, though, there is little built for them, so it suits a few days rather than a full week.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Interlaken's strength is its linked web of mainline trains, narrow-gauge railways, cog lines, gondolas and lake boats that carries you across the whole Jungfrau region, though the popular mountain trains get crowded in summer.

Luxembourg makes things simple in another way: every tram, bus and second-class train in the country is free. Its centre is walkable but sits on several levels, with public lifts and a funicular linking the old town to the valley quarters and Kirchberg.

Luxembourg is the better place to shop, if not an exciting one. The Grand-Rue carries luxury and premium fashion for a wealthy local clientele, Avenue de la Gare has the chains, and Villeroy & Boch porcelain, crémant and the market on Place Guillaume II give you something local to take home.

Interlaken's Höheweg is given over to watch stores for tour groups, army knives, cuckoo clocks and chocolate, plus outdoor gear. Carved wood from Brienz is the one craft worth seeking out.

Both are among the costliest places to stay in Europe, but Interlaken is harder on the wallet. Swiss hotel and restaurant prices are only the start, since the mountain railways and the Jungfraujoch, which are the whole point of coming, add a heavy daily cost.

Luxembourg is expensive too, yet free public transport, several free museums, cheaper weekend hotel rates and lunch menus take some of the edge off, and staying in Trier or Metz is a common workaround.

Luxembourg has a proper cultural calendar. The Philharmonie on Kirchberg is a first-rate concert hall with its own orchestra and touring soloists, the Grand Théâtre brings opera, dance and drama, and the Rotondes and summer concerts at Neimënster round it out.

Interlaken's offer is seasonal and folkloric: the long-running open-air William Tell performed by local amateurs, yodelling and alphorn evenings, and occasional Kursaal concerts. Anything more serious means an evening trip to Bern.

Luxembourg is slightly the better place to unwind, mainly because of Mondorf-les-Bains, a nineteenth-century thermal spa half an hour away with mineral-fed pools in a landscaped park. The city's quiet evenings and river walks through the Grund add to the calm.

Interlaken has no spring of its own and relies on hotel spas along the Höheweg and the town pool. Its restful moments come from slow steamer crossings and the hush of Wengen or Mürren, not from the busy, activity-minded centre.