Lausanne or Monaco?

Lausanne's swimming is lake bathing: grassy lawns, piers, shingle and concrete steps at Vidy, Bellerive and towards Lutry, with a short summer season and the old Bellerive lido as the highlight. It fits around a stay but rarely drives one.

Monaco comes out well ahead because it has the Mediterranean. Larvotto is small and groomed rather than wide, but the water is calm, clear and warmer for longer, and the coves of Cap d'Ail and the long beaches of Menton and Nice are a short hop away.

The two are broadly level, but the cooking could hardly be more different. Lausanne eats Alpine and Vaudois: lake perch, papet vaudois, fondue and raclette in winter, with Chasselas from the Lavaux growers' caveaux and the Saturday market at Riponne as its strengths.

Monaco's table is Riviera and Ligurian, olive oil, fish and herbs, with a concentration of starred hotel dining rooms and harbourside terraces. Barbagiuan and socca at the Condamine market are the local touch. Both are thin on cheap, casual meals, though Monaco's evening dining is the more formal of the two.

Sightseeing is evenly matched, and both cities can be seen in two or three days. Lausanne's strength is its museums: the Olympic Museum at Ouchy, the art, photography and design museums at Plateforme 10 and the striking Collection de l'Art Brut, with the Gothic cathedral and its night watchman above the old town.

Monaco's appeal lies more in setting and spectacle: the palace guard ceremony and the cathedral of Grace Kelly on the Rock, the Belle Époque Oceanographic Museum on its cliff, and the Casino square in Monte-Carlo. It is grander to look at, but has less depth than Lausanne's collections.

Monaco has a slight edge, though the two nights out are very different. Lausanne's runs on students: the Flon's clubs and late bars in old warehouses fill on weekends, with wine bars in the old town and lakeside evenings at Ouchy in summer, then go quiet midweek.

Monaco's evenings are about dressing up, with hotel bars around the Casino, glossy clubs on the Larvotto seafront and champagne by the yachts, peaking in summer and on Grand Prix weekend. There are no casual pubs, so Lausanne feels more relaxed and Monaco more glamorous.

Lausanne is the stronger base for the outdoors. The Lavaux terraces, the Sauvabelin woods and sailing on the lake are all on the doorstep, and the Vaud Alps and the Jura offer skiing, glacier trips, hiking and cross-country trails within about an hour.

Monaco itself is built up, but the limestone mountains behind it are dramatic. The mule path up to Èze, the Tête de Chien viewpoint and the pine-lined trails around Cap Martin make for fine walking, and snorkelling and diving in the clear sea are something the lake cannot offer.

Both are excellent bases, and neither needs a car. From Lausanne the Swiss trains reach Montreux and Chillon, Geneva, Bern, Fribourg and Gruyères, with boats across to Évian, so a week can mix castles, Alpine villages and other cities.

From Monaco the coastal line and buses lead to Nice, Villefranche, Menton and Èze, then further to Antibes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Grasse, with an easy crossing into Italy for Sanremo and Dolceacqua. In short, it is Swiss towns and mountains against Riviera villages and the sea.

Lausanne is a little better with children. The Olympic Museum is hands-on, the freshwater aquarium-vivarium and the animal park, pedal boats and lookout tower at Sauvabelin fill whole days, and paddle-steamer trips are an outing in themselves. The steep streets are hard work with a pushchair.

Monaco has a great aquarium in the Oceanographic Museum, gentle water at Larvotto and the palace guard ceremony, but little beyond that. Its formal restaurants are built for adults, so families staying several days usually spread out along the coast.

Both are compact, and in both the challenge is height rather than distance. Lausanne climbs more than 300m from the lakeshore in steep layers of stairs and bridges, and its metro does the heavy lifting from Ouchy through the station and the Flon to the upper town, with lake boats linking the shore towns.

Monaco is small enough to cross on foot in well under an hour, and it handles its slopes with free public lifts, escalators and a little solar ferry across the harbour rather than a metro. Both stations connect to excellent rail lines, the Swiss network in one case and the Riviera coast in the other, and a car is little use in either.

Monaco comes out ahead, but only for luxury. The Carré d'Or around the Casino gardens packs the big fashion houses, high jewellers and watchmakers into a few streets where window-shopping is part of the evening scene, though ordinary shops are scarce.

Lausanne has more everyday range, with international names around Saint-François and chains in the Flon, but its upmarket offer along Rue de Bourg is modest. The best buys here are chocolate, a Swiss watch or Lavaux wine.

Neither is a budget destination, but Lausanne is the slightly gentler bill. Meals, wine and hotels are steep by any European standard, yet supermarket picnics, the free lakeside promenades and a glass of Chasselas in a village caveau keep a stay manageable.

Monaco sits at the very top end, with hotels priced for the very wealthy and costs that rise further on event weekends. The usual workaround is to sleep in Nice, Menton or Beausoleil and come in for the day.

Both small places punch well above their size, with Monaco very slightly ahead. Lausanne leads with dance, through the Béjart Ballet and the Prix de Lausanne, and adds contemporary theatre at Vidy, a respected chamber orchestra and an opera season, with Montreux's July jazz festival close by.

Monaco's draw is the gilded Salle Garnier for opera, the Philharmonic and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, concentrated from winter to spring, with open-air shows by the sea in summer. Spoken theatre and small music venues are easier to find in Lausanne.

Broadly level, though the water is different. Lausanne relies on grand hotel spas, lakeside promenades and quiet vineyard lanes, with real thermal springs a short train ride away at Yverdon-les-Bains and Lavey-les-Bains.

Monaco offers seawater rather than spring water, in the large thalassotherapy centre beside the Casino, alongside hotel spas and calm mornings in the Japanese Garden. It is ideal for a polished treatment day, while Lausanne suits travellers who want to soak in hot springs.