Lausanne or Saint-Tropez?

Lausanne offers lake bathing rather than beaches. From late June to early September people swim from the lawns, piers and shingle at Vidy and Bellerive and towards Lutry, and the old Bellerive lido makes a good summer afternoon.

Saint-Tropez is the place for a proper beach. Pampelonne has about 5km of fine pale sand and clear sea, the coves at Escalet and Cap Taillat are quieter, and the swimming season is longer and warmer. The catch is that the best sand lies several kilometres outside the town.

Lausanne eats a little better, mostly thanks to its wine and its everyday Vaudois cooking: lake perch, papet vaudois and winter fondue, with Chasselas tasted straight from the growers in the Lavaux caveaux. The Saturday market around Riponne is good for cheese and charcuterie.

Saint-Tropez has grilled fish, bouillabaisse, rosé and the tarte tropézienne, and its market on the Place des Lices is lovely. Many quayside restaurants sell the view more than the cooking, though, and much of the town closes in winter. Both have excellent top-end tables and few cheap ones.

Lausanne has more for a cultural stay. There is the Gothic cathedral, where a night watchman still calls the hours, the steep old town around Place de la Palud, the Olympic Museum at Ouchy and the cluster of museums at Plateforme 10. Together they take two or three days.

Saint-Tropez has one notable museum, the Annonciade, with its pointillist and Fauvist views of the harbour, plus the citadel and the lanes of La Ponche. That makes a pleasant day's sightseeing, but the setting is the real attraction.

In summer Saint-Tropez is the livelier place. Afternoon beach-club parties at Pampelonne lead to champagne on the harbour and then to well-known clubs that stay open until dawn. The style is moneyed, with dress codes, and the scene fades by October.

Lausanne's nights are smaller, but they go on all year and are kept going by students. The clubs and late bars sit in the converted warehouses of the Flon, the wine bars in the old town, and in summer evenings move to the lakeside at Ouchy. It is busy at weekends and quiet on weeknights.

Both have a superb setting, but Lausanne has more within reach. The Lavaux terraces make one of Switzerland's finest vineyard walks and the lake is good for sailing and paddleboarding. The Vaud Alps and the Jura, about an hour away, add skiing, Glacier 3000 and long hikes in every season.

Saint-Tropez's outdoors are coastal. There is the Sentier du Littoral past coves to the capes of Camarat and Taillat, hiking in the Massif des Maures, snorkelling off the rocky points, and the national park islands of Port-Cros and Porquerolles. In summer, heat and the risk of forest fires can close trails.

Lausanne is much the better base. Trains reach Montreux and the Château de Chillon in about twenty minutes and Geneva and Bern in about an hour. Gruyères, Fribourg and Murten are easy too, and boats cross to Évian, all without a car.

From Saint-Tropez the outings are charming but modest: the hilltop villages of Ramatuelle and Gassin, Grimaud's castle, a boat to Port Grimaud, the wine estates and, further off, Porquerolles. Most need a car, and the roads jam badly in July and August.

Lausanne suits children better. The Olympic Museum is hands-on, the aquarium-vivarium and the animal park and pedal boats at Sauvabelin fill whole days, and the paddle steamers turn the lake into an outing. The steep streets are the main drawback.

Saint-Tropez has gently shelving sand at Pampelonne and Gigaro, which small children enjoy. Beyond the beach, though, most of the town is aimed at adults, and summer traffic and heat make everything harder work.

Lausanne is steep but well connected. The m2 metro climbs more than 300m from the lake to the upper town, buses and boats fill the gaps, and the station sits on the fast Swiss rail network, so you won't need a car.

Saint-Tropez itself is tiny and easy to walk, but there is no railway, the buses are slow and the beaches are kilometres away. Most visitors rely on a car, a scooter or taxis. The passenger boats across the gulf are the best way to avoid the summer jams.

In Lausanne, shopping is mostly about a few quality purchases: a Swiss watch or chocolate on Rue de Bourg, or a bottle of Lavaux wine. The streets around Saint-François and the Flon add the usual chains.

Saint-Tropez is far more rewarding to shop in, with a remarkable cluster of summer boutiques from the big fashion houses behind the port. It also has resort wear, hand-made Tropézienne sandals, and linen, baskets and pottery at the Place des Lices market. Much of it shuts in winter.

Both are among the most expensive places you could choose, and neither is easier on a budget. What differs is how you can soften the cost. Lausanne is expensive all year, but efficient public transport, free lakeside promenades and supermarket picnics help, and a glass of Chasselas in a village caveau is good value.

In Saint-Tropez the bill peaks in July and August, when loungers, taxis and parking come on top. Staying across the gulf, or coming in late spring or autumn, softens it a little.

Lausanne has a stage life far beyond its size. It is home to the Béjart Ballet and the Prix de Lausanne for young dancers, contemporary theatre at Vidy, a full opera season and a respected chamber orchestra. In July the Montreux Jazz Festival is a short train ride away.

Saint-Tropez offers summer open-air concerts on the citadel and the Bravade procession each May, but little else. Serious opera or theatre means a long drive to Toulon or Nice.

Lausanne is the more restful choice overall. You can take slow walks on the Ouchy and Vidy promenades or through the Lavaux vines, use the grand lakeside hotel spas, and reach the thermal springs at Yverdon-les-Bains and Lavey-les-Bains within an hour by train.

Saint-Tropez can be calm too, but only outside high summer. In May, June and September it slows to long lunches and pétanque under the plane trees. Its spas are mostly for hotel guests.