Lucerne or Nice?

Lucerne has lake bathing rather than a beach. People swim from the Lido, the old wooden baths and the lawns at Ufschötti, in clean water with a mountain backdrop, but only in high summer and never from sand.

Nice has a 7km pebble shore below the Promenade des Anglais, with clear water warm enough to swim in for five months of the year. Loungers from the beach clubs soften the stones, and sandier, calmer water is a short ride away at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Juan-les-Pins.

Lucerne's tables are hearty and dependable: Chügelipastete, fondue, rösti and perch from the lake, served in guild houses and on terraces along the Reuss. Quality is good, but the range is narrow and many places near the Chapel Bridge cater to tour groups.

Nice gives you more to eat your way through. Socca from wood ovens, pissaladière, stuffed vegetables and pan bagnat form a genuine local cuisine with Ligurian roots, and the morning market on the Cours Saleya and the small Bellet vineyards add to it. The family places in Vieux Nice and around the port are where to eat.

The two are close, but they differ in scale and character. Lucerne packs its fame into a small medieval core, with the Chapel Bridge and Water Tower, the towers of the Musegg Wall and the carved Lion Monument, plus Picasso and Klee at the Rosengart. A day or two covers it.

Nice has a little more to fill your days. Its Savoyard old town and Belle Époque villas tell two different stories, and its art is the stronger draw: Matisse among the Roman ruins of Cimiez, Chagall's biblical cycle and the Yves Klein rooms at MAMAC.

Neither is a clubbing city, but Nice keeps going later. Lucerne's evenings are a drink by the river or a cocktail in the Neustadt, and the lakefront is usually empty by midnight, apart from the nights of Fasnacht.

In Nice, the lanes of Vieux Nice fill with students, locals and visitors moving between wine bars and pubs, and in summer the beach clubs and the promenade stay busy into the night. For a glossier night out, people head along the coast to Monaco or Cannes.

Lucerne is the stronger choice for scenery and the outdoors. Real mountains rise straight from the lake: you can take the steep cogwheel railway up Pilatus, walk the ridges on Rigi, or go up to the year-round snow on Titlis. Paddle steamers link it all, so a boat, a train and a hike fit into one day.

Nice's appeal is the meeting of mountains and sea. You get coastal paths around Cap Ferrat, cycling on the corniches, and diving and kayaking in the bay. The high country of the Mercantour and the ski slopes are a longer drive inland, rather than a view from your hotel window.

Lucerne's central position puts Bern, Basel and Zurich each under an hour away by train. The lake itself makes an outing, with boats to Weggis, Vitznau and the Rütli meadow of the William Tell story.

Nice has the richer choice of short outings, and the towns are closer together and more varied. Monaco is about twenty minutes away, and Èze, Menton, Antibes, the perfume houses of Grasse and Saint-Paul-de-Vence are all within easy reach without a car. You can even pop over to Sanremo in Italy by train.

Lucerne is a little easier with children. The Swiss Museum of Transport fills a whole day, the centre is flat and very safe, and the steamers and cogwheel trains are a treat in themselves. The catch is that rain or low cloud can leave you short of ideas.

Nice offers the water jets and playgrounds of the Promenade du Paillon, Parc Phoenix, and the sea, which is a big draw for most children. Against that, the pebbles are hard on small feet, high summer is hot and crowded, and the steps in the old town are awkward with a pushchair.

Lucerne is remarkably easy. The station, the boat piers and the Old Town sit side by side on the lakefront, and one integrated ticket system carries you onto the steamers, the mountain railways and the cable cars.

Nice is also simple without a car. Its centre is a flat half-hour walk across, a tram runs from the airport, and regional trains serve the coast. Summer trains can be packed, though, and the mountains inland are really only reachable by car.

Lucerne's shopping is mostly about watches. The big houses on Schwanenplatz sit beside shops selling army knives, chocolate and cuckoo clocks, with few fashion labels to go with them.

Nice has more variety. There are high-street chains and Galeries Lafayette on Avenue Jean Médecin, luxury houses around rue Paradis, olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics in Vieux Nice, and a flea and antiques market on the Cours Saleya every Monday.

Neither city is a bargain, but Lucerne is in a different league of expense. Hotels, simple meals and especially the mountain railways that give the stay its point all cost a lot, and lake picnics only soften the bill.

Nice gives you more ways to save. Trams and coastal trains make day trips cheap, many city museums cost little to enter, and socca and market lunches keep food costs down. Spring and late autumn bring hotel prices down noticeably.

For classical music, Lucerne is clearly the destination. The Lucerne Festival brings leading orchestras to Jean Nouvel's lakefront hall, which is famous for its acoustics and keeps a year-round programme of its own. At Fasnacht, Guggenmusik brass bands fill the streets.

Nice offers a solid regional calendar. The red-and-gold Opéra stages opera and ballet, and two big events stand out: the long-running jazz festival in July and the Carnival parades in February. Most other evenings, live music means small bars.

Lucerne is a little calmer. Neither city has thermal baths, but Lucerne has one soak worth the journey: Mario Botta's mineral bath high on the Rigi, an hour away by steamer and cogwheel train, where you lie in warm water with the Alps in front of you. The town winds down early, so evenings are unhurried, and an afternoon on a lake boat or a summer dip from the wooden baths asks nothing of you. The peace only breaks in the Old Town around midday, when the tour groups pour in.

In Nice, spa time is limited to hotel treatment rooms and the seawater therapy centres further along the coast, and nothing there compares with a pool on a mountainside. The city relaxes you through the shape of the day instead: a morning swim, a slow lunch, a walk along the bay at dusk. That works well in the mild months on either side of summer. In July and August, though, the heat and the crowded shore make Nice far less soothing than Lucerne's lakeside.