Interlaken or Milan?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Interlaken has its water right at hand. Lake Thun and Lake Brienz lie on either side of town, with lidos at Neuhaus and Bönigen for a swim after a day on the trails. The season is only July and August, and the water stays cool.

Milan has only the Idroscalo basin and its open-air pools, so a proper swim means an hour on the train to Como or Maggiore. Those lakes are a little warmer, but going there is a planned day out, not a quick dip.

Milan is by far the better place to eat. Saffron risotto, ossobuco and cotoletta, cooking from every Italian region, fine dining and the aperitivo ritual around the Navigli and Isola make meals a highlight of the trip.

Interlaken feeds hungry hikers with fondue, rösti and international standbys, which are reliable but forgettable. Its best food is up the mountain: cheese from Alpine dairies, a meal on a hut terrace above Mürren, white wine from Lake Thun, and a good many supermarket picnics.

Here the gap is wide. Milan has the Duomo with its rooftop spires, Leonardo's Last Supper, the paintings at the Brera and Michelangelo's Rondanini Pietà in the Castello Sforzesco. That is enough for several full days, even though the old buildings come in clusters rather than one continuous old town.

Interlaken's sights amount to the grand hotels and the Kursaal on the Höheweg and a few timber houses in Unterseen. For history, take the train to Bern or Thun.

Milan has a real night out. Aperitivo carries on along the Navigli towpaths, Brera has quieter bars, the streets of Porta Venezia are relaxed and at the centre of the gay scene, and there are dressy clubs around Corso Como. Expect style rather than wild nights, and a thinner scene in August.

Interlaken goes to bed early. A few backpacker pubs, a couple of basement clubs and the casino in the Kursaal are all there is, which suits people catching the first train up the mountain.

Interlaken is one of the great Alpine bases. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau and the waterfalls of the Lauterbrunnen valley are all within an hour, and a longer climb by cog railway reaches the Jungfraujoch at 3,454m, looking over the Aletsch glacier. Lifts take you straight onto high trails, and paragliding, canyoning and winter skiing are all run from town.

Milan sits on the flat Po plain, with a few parks and the canal towpaths. Its outdoors begins an hour to the north at Como, Maggiore and the Grigne ridges. They are very fine, but each visit is an outing, not the view from your window.

Both cities make good bases thanks to excellent railways, but Milan reaches further and offers more. High-speed trains put Verona, Turin and Bologna within easy range, and Bergamo, Lake Como and the Certosa di Pavia are closer still. Mantua's Gonzaga palaces, Cremona's violin-making heritage and Parma's food culture make longer but rewarding days. Few cities have so many art towns within a day's reach.

Interlaken's outings are gentler: Bern's arcades in under an hour, the castles of Thun, Spiez and Oberhofen by paddle steamer, the open-air museum at Ballenberg, and Lucerne over the Brünig Pass.

Interlaken is the easier choice with children. Rack railways, gondolas and steamers are adventures in themselves, and the summit stations have playgrounds, toboggan runs and short walks. The St Beatus caves and the farm animals at Ballenberg are good backups. Its weak points are wet days and the highest summits, which can trouble very young children.

Milan does better on a rainy day, with the submarine and trains at the science museum and the aquarium by Parco Sempione. Older children may want a day at Gardaland or Leolandia. But summer humidity is tiring, and most of the big sights are for adults.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Interlaken is a small, flat town whose strength is the network of narrow-gauge trains, cog railways, gondolas and steamers linking the whole Jungfrau region, though the most popular trains get crowded in summer.

Milan runs as a city system. It has five metro lines with contactless gates, old orange trams through the centre and a walkable core from the Duomo to Brera. The drawbacks are hot platforms in summer and the long transfer from Malpensa airport.

Milan is one of the world's fashion capitals. It has the flagship stores of the great houses in the Quadrilatero, the Galleria and La Rinascente beside the Duomo, design showrooms, vintage shops in Porta Ticinese and antique markets on the Navigli.

Interlaken's Höheweg sells watches, army knives, cuckoo clocks and outdoor gear to passing tour groups. Carved wood from Brienz is the only thing with real local character.

Neither is cheap, but Interlaken is harder on the wallet. Rooms and meals cost full Swiss prices, and the mountain railways and lifts add up fast, the Jungfraujoch above all. Beyond hostels, picnics and transport passes there is little room to save.

Milan is expensive for Italy, especially during trade fairs and fashion weeks, but it gives you more ways round the cost. Public transport is fairly priced, aperitivo snacks can replace supper, and lunch menus for office workers are good value.

Milan has La Scala, whose season of opera, ballet and concerts opens each December on the feast of Sant'Ambrogio. Around it are the Piccolo Teatro, a fine symphony orchestra, jazz clubs and big summer concerts at San Siro.

Interlaken has the open-air William Tell in the woods each summer, occasional concerts in the Kursaal and folklore evenings with alphorns. It is charming but slight, and serious music means a trip to Bern.

Interlaken's calm comes from its setting rather than its facilities. The grand hotels on the Höheweg have sizeable spas and there is a public wellness area, but the real rest is an early morning on the lakeshore, a slow steamer crossing or a night up in Wengen or Mürren, away from the coach groups in the centre.

Milan has what Interlaken lacks: a thermal spa complex in the city with outdoor pools and saunas, and in summer the restored 1930s pools of the Bagni Misteriosi. Yet the city is busy and work-minded, so most people head to the lakes to slow down.