Interlaken or Turin?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Interlaken at least has water on its doorstep. In July and August you can swim from the lidos and shingle beaches of Lake Thun at Neuhaus or towards Spiez, or brave the colder turquoise water of Lake Brienz at Bönigen, with snow peaks above you.

Turin has nothing comparable within the city. Locals head out to small lakes such as Avigliana in summer, and the Ligurian sea is a long day's round trip away.

In Interlaken you eat to refuel after a day on the mountain. In Turin, eating is a reason to go. Interlaken's menus stick to fondue, raclette, rösti and veal in cream, with Indian and Asian places alongside. The food is hearty and reliable, but the best of it is out of town, at hut terraces above Grindelwald or Mürren, at dairies selling Alpine cheese and with white wine from Lake Thun.

Turin's Piedmontese cooking is rich and precise. Look for agnolotti del plin, tajarin, vitello tonnato, white truffles from the Langhe in autumn and Barolo or Barbaresco on most wine lists. Vermouth comes from here too, and so do gianduja and bicerin, served in the old arcaded cafés. Porta Palazzo market is good for produce and snacks.

Interlaken is a base for the mountains, not a place to go sightseeing. Its sights amount to the hotel facades and Kursaal along the Höheweg, a few timber houses in Unterseen and a small local museum.

Turin is a former royal capital with a great deal to see. The Museo Egizio holds one of the most important Egyptian collections outside Cairo, and around it are the Royal Palace, Palazzo Madama, the Shroud cathedral and the UNESCO-listed Savoy residences. The Mole's cinema museum, the Lingotto and Castello di Rivoli carry the story into the industrial and modern age.

Interlaken goes to bed early because people are up for the first trains and paragliding flights. Apart from a few backpacker pubs, basement clubs and the Kursaal casino, an evening usually means one drink on the Höheweg.

Turin has a proper evening culture. The aperitivo leads on to wine bars in the Quadrilatero Romano, student crowds on the pavements of San Salvario, the more alternative Vanchiglia and the riverside Murazzi in summer. It is sociable rather than wild, but it lasts much later than Interlaken.

Both cities have the Alps in view, but Interlaken is already among them. Lauterbrunnen's steep valley is under an hour away by rail, with the Trümmelbach meltwater pounding inside the rock. The cog railway to the Jungfraujoch at 3,454m, above the Aletsch glacier, takes longer and makes a full day. The Harder Kulm funicular leaves from town, the two lakes add kayaking and paddling, and in winter there's skiing at Wengen and Mürren. Low cloud is the one thing that can spoil it.

From Turin, the mountains are an hour or more away: the ibex country of the Gran Paradiso, the Susa valley or the slopes around Sestriere. Closer to town, the Superga hills, the walled Mandria forest with its deer and the cycle paths along the Po make good breaks from a city on a flat plain.

Both make good bases, and Turin has a small edge for variety. From Interlaken, trains and paddle steamers reach Bern's arcaded old town, the castles at Thun, Spiez and Oberhofen, the woodcarving town of Brienz with Ballenberg nearby, and Lucerne over the Brünig Pass.

Turin adds wine country to the list. Alba, Barolo, La Morra and Bra in the Langhe are about an hour south, Milan is an hour away by fast train, and the Sacra di San Michele, Roman Aosta and Genoa's port make longer days out.

Interlaken is the easier place with children, because getting up the mountain is half the fun. Rack railways, gondolas, lake steamers, summit playgrounds, summer toboggan runs, the St Beatus caves and Ballenberg's farm animals fill the days, though wet weather and high altitude can be a problem.

Turin works well enough with older children. They tend to like the glass lift up the Mole, the car museum and the mummies of the Museo Egizio, and the arcades help with pushchairs. Its main zoo park is out at Cumiana, and you'll want a car to get there.

Interlaken has the better network for what visitors come to do. Mainline trains, narrow-gauge mountain railways, cog railways, gondolas and lake steamers link up so neatly that you can explore the whole Jungfrau region without a car, and the town itself is a flat walk between its two stations.

Turin's grid of arcaded streets is easy to cover on foot, but beyond the centre there is only one metro line, with trams and buses that take some working out. For the wine hills and the mountains, a car helps.

Interlaken's Höheweg sells watches, army knives, cuckoo clocks and chocolate to tour groups. Apart from Brienz woodcarving, there is little you couldn't find elsewhere.

Turin gives you much more to browse: luxury labels under the arcades of Via Roma, boutiques around Via Lagrange, antique dealers on Via Maria Vittoria and the Balon flea market. Its best buys are edible, from chocolate makers and pastry shops to delicatessens selling truffles and wine.

Interlaken is one of the most expensive places you can choose. Swiss hotel and restaurant prices come first, then the mountain railways, with the Jungfraujoch the costliest of all, and then any adventure activities on top.

Turin is comfortable rather than cheap, but a generous aperitivo can stand in for dinner, trattorie and market food are good value and most of the centre is walkable. Only fine dining and truffle season push the bill up.

Interlaken's live performance is mostly summer folklore: the amateur open-air William Tell in the woods, yodelling and alphorn evenings, and the occasional concert at the Kursaal.

Turin has a full programme all year. There is opera and ballet at the Teatro Regio, the RAI National Symphony Orchestra in its own hall, concerts at the Lingotto auditorium, theatre in the baroque Teatro Carignano and small jazz venues around the centre. The theatre is almost entirely in Italian, but music needs no translation.

Neither city has thermal baths of its own, and they are broadly level here, but they offer different kinds of rest. In Interlaken you unwind in the large spas of the old Höheweg hotels, on quiet lake crossings and in Wengen or Mürren, away from the busy town centre.

In Turin the calm comes from the pace of the city: long breaks in historic cafés, evening walks under the arcades and slow afternoons in Valentino park. Real thermal water at Acqui Terme or in the Aosta valley means a journey of close to two hours.