Interlaken or Montpellier?

Neither is a beach destination, but Montpellier comes much closer. Its coast is a tram and bus ride away: a long run of fine, shallow sand from Palavas and Carnon past La Grande-Motte to the dunes of l'Espiguette, warm enough for swimming through high summer.

Interlaken has lake swimming instead. Lake Thun has lidos and shingle beaches at Neuhaus and towards Spiez, and Lake Brienz has colder turquoise water at Bönigen. A swim under snow peaks in July or August is lovely, but beach life plays no real part in a stay.

Food is a real reason to prefer Montpellier. It eats from the Languedoc around it: Pic Saint-Loup wines, oysters and mussels from the Thau lagoon, tielle from Sète and the counters of the Halles Laissac. Its students keep casual places cheap and plentiful.

Interlaken feeds hikers well rather than interestingly, with fondue, raclette and rösti for visitors and a spread of Indian and Asian places. Its best meals are up the mountain, on hut terraces above Grindelwald or Mürren, or a picnic of cheese from an Alpine dairy.

This is where the two differ most. Montpellier has a medieval core to wander in the Écusson, the formal Peyrou terrace with its aqueduct, a fortress-like cathedral, the oldest botanical garden in France and the Musée Fabre's European painting, plus Bofill's Antigone for something modern.

Interlaken's own sights come down to the grand hotels and the Kursaal on the Höheweg and a few timber houses in Unterseen. For history and museums you take the train to Bern or Thun.

Montpellier is the place to go out. Its huge student population fills the terraces of Place Jean-Jaurès and the squares of the Écusson on weeknights as well as weekends, and the clubs out towards Lattes and the coast take over later. Interlaken's evenings end early. It has a few backpacker pubs and basement clubs near the hostels and the Kursaal casino, because most people have an early train to catch.

Interlaken is one of the great mountain bases anywhere. Cog railways and cable cars lift you to the Jungfraujoch above the Aletsch glacier, to Lauterbrunnen's waterfalls, the Schynige Platte ridge and Grindelwald First. Paragliding, canyoning, lake paddling and winter skiing all run straight from town, and cloud is the only catch.

Montpellier's nature is gentler and more spread out: flamingos on the coastal lagoons, the Camargue an hour away, the climb up Pic Saint-Loup and canoeing in the Hérault gorges. It is good for walking in spring and autumn and for kitesurfing on the windy coast, but much of it needs a car.

Both make strong bases, and Montpellier has the edge for variety. Within about an hour by train it reaches Roman Nîmes, Arles and the Palace of the Popes in Avignon, with Carcassonne a little further. Closer in are Sète, Aigues-Mortes and Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, though the smaller places are easier with a car.

Interlaken's trips are Swiss in character and easy by rail: arcaded Bern under an hour away, Thun's castle, lake steamers to Spiez and Oberhofen, the open-air museum at Ballenberg and Lucerne over the Brünig Pass.

Interlaken is the better family choice, especially for children who like the outdoors. Rack railways, gondolas and steamers are outings in themselves, and the summit stations have playgrounds, cliff walks and summer toboggan runs. The St Beatus caves and the farm animals at Ballenberg add variety, though wet days and high altitude with toddlers are its weak points.

Montpellier is easy too, with a pedestrian centre, the Lunaret zoo, an aquarium and planetarium at Odysseum, and gently shelving beaches for small swimmers. Its limit is the midsummer heat in the stone streets.

Interlaken has the edge, because its whole region works without a car. Mainline trains, narrow-gauge railways to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald, cog railways, gondolas and steamers all connect neatly, and the flat town is an easy walk between its two stations. The popular trains can be packed in summer.

Montpellier's compact, mostly car-free centre and its tram network cover the city well, and fast trains reach Nîmes, Avignon and Carcassonne. But the beaches mean a slow tram and bus trip in summer, and the hills, gorges and Camargue are far simpler by car.

Montpellier is the more rewarding place to shop. It has small boutiques, bookshops and delis in the stone lanes of the Écusson, the Polygone mall beside the Comédie, and wine, olive oil and honey from its markets. Interlaken's Höheweg sells watches, army knives, cuckoo clocks and chocolate to tour groups, and woodcarving from Brienz is the one local craft worth seeking out.

Your money goes much further in Montpellier. It is mid-range for Western Europe, with student bars, market halls and lunch menus to fall back on, though dinners out and summer rooms on the coast push costs up.

Interlaken is expensive at every turn. Hotels and restaurants charge Swiss prices, and the mountain railways cost far more than most visitors expect, the Jungfraujoch above all. Hostels, passes and supermarket picnics help, but only so far.

Montpellier has a proper stage season. The Opéra Comédie and the Corum share opera, ballet and concerts by the national orchestra, and the Montpellier Danse festival is among the most respected in Europe for contemporary dance. Summer adds the Radio France concerts and outdoor theatre at the Domaine d'O.

Interlaken's offer is seasonal and folk-based: the amateur open-air William Tell in the woods each summer, yodelling and alphorn evenings and the occasional concert at the Kursaal. For an orchestra you go to Bern.

Neither city has a bathing culture of its own and both rely on hotel spas, so the difference is in kind. Interlaken restores you through its setting: early mornings on the lakeshore, slow steamer crossings and quiet nights up in Wengen or Mürren, away from the busy centre.

Montpellier's calm comes from its pace, with long lunches and shaded squares. It also has real thermal water at Balaruc-les-Bains on the Thau lagoon, about half an hour away.