Lausanne or Munich?

Neither city is a beach destination, but in Lausanne the water is closer to hand. Lake Geneva runs along the city's whole front, and in midsummer you can swim from the lawns at Vidy, the old lido at Bellerive or the shingle towards Lutry, all within a short walk or bus ride.

Munich's in-town water is the Isar, where the gravel banks at the Flaucher are better for sunbathing and barbecues than for proper swimming. For a real swim you take the S-Bahn out to the Starnberger See or the Ammersee, which makes a lake day an outing rather than an afternoon.

Munich eats more generously and more sociably. The beer halls and chestnut-shaded beer gardens serve roast pork, Schweinshaxe and white sausage alongside Helles, the Viktualienmarkt is good for grazing in the middle of town, and decent meals are easy to find at every level.

Lausanne's strength is wine more than food. Lake perch, papet vaudois and winter fondue are pleasant, but the real highlights are tasting Chasselas in the Lavaux caveaux and the region's celebrated high-end tables. Between those two extremes the choice thins out, and casual eating takes more searching than in Munich.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two cities. Munich's Kunstareal alone holds the Alte Pinakothek's old masters, the Glyptothek's antiquities and the Blue Rider painters in the Lenbachhaus. Add the Wittelsbach Residenz, Nymphenburg Palace and the huge Deutsches Museum and you can easily spend a week of sightseeing.

Lausanne offers one fine Gothic cathedral with its night watchman, a steep and atmospheric old town, and a small group of museums led by the Olympic Museum at Ouchy and the unusual Collection de l'Art Brut. It is rewarding, but finished in a couple of days.

Munich has more choice on more nights of the week. Evenings often start in a beer hall and stay there, the Glockenbachviertel has a dense run of cocktail and gay bars, and a few techno clubs run until morning. Then there is the Oktoberfest, which takes over the city for over two weeks from late September.

Lausanne's going out is concentrated in the Flon, the old warehouse valley where student crowds fill clubs and terraces on Friday and Saturday. In summer, evenings by the lake at Ouchy add to that, but midweek the city goes quiet.

Both cities are excellent for the outdoors, and the difference is in how close the scenery comes. From Lausanne the French Alps rise straight out of the lake opposite, and the Lavaux terraces and the Sauvabelin woods start at the city's edge. Sailing and paddleboarding are on the doorstep, and the Jura is near enough for long hikes.

Munich sits on a flat plain, with the Alps an hour south at Garmisch and the Zugspitze. Inside the city it has the bigger green space, though: the English Garden with surfers on the Eisbach wave, and cycle paths running south along the Isar.

Lausanne's day trips are short hops through French-speaking Switzerland, most of them an hour or less by train and almost none needing a car. Vevey and Montreux are about twenty minutes along the lake, with the Château de Chillon on its rock just beyond. Gruyères, Fribourg and Bern's arcaded old town are easy rail outings, and boats cross to Évian on the French shore.

Munich's excursions reach further and cross borders, to Nuremberg's castle, Regensburg on the Danube, baroque Salzburg and Innsbruck. Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, the best-known trips, are about two hours away, so expect long, full days. Augsburg, half an hour by train, is the easy exception.

Munich makes things easier for parents. It is flat and friendly to pushchairs, and it has the Hellabrunn zoo along the Isar meadows, the children's sections of the Deutsches Museum and beer gardens with their own playgrounds, where parents can relax while children run about.

Lausanne has good outings too: the hands-on Olympic Museum, the aquarium-vivarium, the animal park and pedal boats at Sauvabelin, and paddle-steamer trips on the lake. Its steep streets and very high restaurant bills make a family stay harder work, though.

Munich is the easier city to cover. The old town is flat and largely pedestrianised, the U-Bahn, S-Bahn and trams run as one network out to the palaces, the lakes and the airport, and cycling is a pleasure. Its main weak point is delays on the central S-Bahn line.

Lausanne is smaller but built on a steep hillside, and stairs and lifts link its levels. The m2 metro does the heavy climbing from the lakeshore to the upper town, and the Swiss rail network makes onward travel unusually smooth.

Munich is far ahead for shopping. It has a proper luxury district on Maximilianstrasse and in the Theatinerstrasse arcades, the department stores of the main pedestrian street, independent boutiques in Glockenbach and Schwabing, and Dallmayr's historic delicatessen. Dirndls and lederhosen made by specialist tailors are a purchase you cannot make elsewhere, and the Christmas markets add craft stalls in December.

Lausanne is for a few targeted buys: a Swiss watch or chocolate from Rue de Bourg, and a few bottles of Lavaux wine.

Neither is cheap, but Lausanne is in a costlier league, with Swiss prices for rooms, meals, wine and taxis. Budget travellers there live on supermarket picnics and free lakeside walks.

Munich is still dear, especially its hotels during the Oktoberfest and the trade fairs, but day-to-day spending is easier. Beer-hall food is fair value, you can bring your own picnic to a beer garden, and several museums charge only a token fee on Sundays.

Munich is one of Europe's great music cities. The Bavarian State Opera at the National Theatre has world standing, three major orchestras play in halls such as the Herkulessaal, and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre is an occasion in itself. There is also operetta at the Gärtnerplatztheater and a respected jazz scene.

Lausanne's stage life is smaller and centred on dance. It is home to the Béjart Ballet and the Prix de Lausanne competition, with adventurous contemporary work at the Théâtre de Vidy, and Montreux Jazz is just along the lake in July.

Munich has a bathing culture of its own. There is the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad on the Isar, public saunas with infusion rituals in the German textile-free style, and the vast thermal complex at Erding nearby. Long afternoons in the beer gardens and quiet Sundays slow the city down too.

Lausanne offers calm rather than a tradition: lakeside promenades, walks through the Lavaux vines and the spas of the grand hotels. For warm springs you take the train out to Yverdon-les-Bains or Lavey-les-Bains.