Interlaken or Lyon?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Interlaken at least has swimming on its doorstep. In July and August Lake Thun is warm enough to swim from the lidos and shingle at Neuhaus or along the shore towards Spiez. The colder turquoise water of Lake Brienz at Bönigen is the bracing alternative, and both lie under snow peaks.

In Lyon the choice is the supervised bathing lake at Miribel-Jonage on the city's edge, or sunbathing without swimming on the Rhône quays. Proper lake swimming means a day trip to Annecy or the Lac du Bourget.

Lyon is far ahead here. Bouchons serve quenelles, andouillette and cervelle de canut, the fine-dining tradition runs from the Mères lyonnaises onwards, Les Halles Paul Bocuse sells superb produce, and Beaujolais and northern Rhône wines come from close by. Eating is a reason to go in its own right.

Interlaken's restaurants feed hikers rather than food lovers. They serve fondue, rösti and raclette for visitors, along with Indian and Asian cooking. The best meals are on hut terraces above Grindelwald or Mürren, or picnics of Alpine dairy cheese.

The gap is very wide here. Lyon's UNESCO-listed centre holds the Roman theatres on Fourvière, the Renaissance lanes and traboules of Vieux Lyon, the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the silk-weavers' hill of Croix-Rousse, and it takes several days to see well.

Interlaken's sights are the row of grand hotels on the Höheweg, the Kursaal and a few timber houses in Unterseen. Visitors who want museums take the train to Bern.

Lyon's large student population keeps the wine bars on the Presqu'île, the pubs of Vieux Lyon and the barge bars along the Rhône busy, and warehouse clubs towards Gerland serve the electronic music crowd. Interlaken has a handful of backpacker pubs, a couple of basement clubs and the Kursaal casino. Its streets empty early because most visitors have a morning mountain train to catch.

Interlaken is one of the great mountain bases anywhere. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, the Lauterbrunnen valley, the Jungfraujoch at 3,454m and the trails from Grindelwald First or the Schynige Platte are all within an hour by rail. Paragliding, canyoning and rafting start from town, and skiing takes over in winter.

Lyon's outdoors is gentler and mostly in the city: the car-free Rhône quays, the Parc de la Tête d'Or and the walking in the Monts d'Or. Serious hiking in Chartreuse or Vercors needs a car and at least an hour's drive.

Both make strong bases, but for different outings. From Interlaken you travel by train and paddle steamer to Bern's arcaded old town, the castles at Thun, Spiez and Oberhofen, the woodcarvers of Brienz and the Ballenberg open-air museum, with Lucerne further afield.

From Lyon the themes are wine and old towns. Roman Vienne, medieval Pérouges, the Beaujolais villages and Burgundy around Beaune are all within reach, and Annecy lies towards the Alps.

Interlaken has the edge with children, because getting there is the fun. Rack railways, gondolas, summer toboggan runs and summit playgrounds fill the days, along with the St Beatus caves and the farm animals at Ballenberg. Wet days and the highest altitudes are its weak points.

Lyon covers exactly those gaps. It has a free zoo in the Parc de la Tête d'Or, an aquarium, dinosaurs at the Musée des Confluences and Guignol puppet shows, so a rainy day is far easier to fill there.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Interlaken itself takes twenty minutes to walk end to end. Its strength is the linked network of mainline trains, mountain railways, cable cars and lake steamers across the Jungfrau region, though the trains get crowded in summer.

Lyon has a full city system of metro, trams, bike share and funiculars up Fourvière, built around the flat, walkable Presqu'île. Its hills still mean some climbing.

Lyon is a real shopping city. It has the chains on the rue de la République, luxury labels around Place des Jacobins, the Part-Dieu mall, silk from its weaving past, boutiques in Croix-Rousse and food from Les Halles to take home.

Interlaken's Höheweg sells watches, army knives, cuckoo clocks and chocolate to tour groups. Carved wood from Brienz is the one local craft worth buying.

The cost gap is widest in what you do each day. In Interlaken the mountain railways and cable cars are the trip itself, and they are where most of the money goes, with the Jungfraujoch the biggest single outlay and paragliding or canyoning on top. In Lyon a day out costs far less: the funiculars and metro run on ordinary city fares, the museums are modest, and the zoo in the Parc de la Tête d'Or is free.

Meals and rooms widen the gap. Interlaken's hearty but plain dinners are priced at Swiss levels, which is why so many visitors live on supermarket picnics. Lyon's bouchon set lunch is a proper sit-down meal, and outside its busiest weeks a room costs what you would expect in a large French city. A tight budget works in Lyon, but in Interlaken it means cutting the mountain excursions you came for.

Lyon has a serious stage life. There is the Opéra de Lyon with its opera and ballet, the Orchestre National at the Auditorium and the Théâtre des Célestins. Dance is its speciality, at the Maison de la Danse, and in summer there are performances in the Roman theatres of Fourvière.

Interlaken offers the open-air William Tell, staged by local amateurs each summer, the occasional Kursaal concert and folklore evenings with alphorns. For anything more, you go to Bern.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so rest comes in different forms. In Interlaken it comes from the large spas in the grand hotels on the Höheweg, slow steamer crossings and the quiet of Wengen or Mürren, away from a busy centre built around activity. Lyon's calm comes from its pace: long lunches, Sunday mornings by the Saône, a few hammams and the open-air pool on the Rhône, with thermal baths a day trip away at Aix-les-Bains.