Lugano or Munich?

Neither city has a coast, but in Lugano the swimming is part of town life. The lido at the mouth of the Cassarate and the bathing spots towards Castagnola and Paradiso are a short walk away, and boats reach small village baths around the lake.

Munich's locals sunbathe on the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher, but to swim properly you take the S-Bahn out to the Starnberger See or the Ammersee. The water there is fed from the Alps and feels fresher, and you need to set aside half a day.

Munich gives you more choice and makes eating easier. Beer halls and chestnut-shaded beer gardens serve roast pork, white sausage and pretzels, and the Viktualienmarkt is good for grazing. There are starred restaurants for a special night, and decent Italian, Turkish and Balkan cooking when you want a change.

Lugano's strength is the grotto: polenta, risotto and salumi at granite tables, with a glass of Ticino Merlot. Beyond that the choice is thin and costly, with little street food, and many visitors cross into Italy for their serious meals.

Munich is a major museum city. The Kunstareal alone holds old masters at the Alte Pinakothek, the Blue Rider painters at the Lenbachhaus and classical sculpture at the Glyptothek. Add the Residenz, Nymphenburg and the Deutsches Museum, and you have several days of sightseeing.

Lugano's sights are few and quick to see. They are the arcaded old town around Piazza della Riforma, San Lorenzo above it, Luini's Passion fresco and the art collection split between LAC and Palazzo Reali. The Hesse museum in Montagnola is worth the extra trip, but a single day covers the main sights.

Munich has a real night out. You can stay at a beer-hall table, move on to the cocktail and gay bars around Gärtnerplatz and the Glockenbachviertel, or head for the techno clubs that run until morning at weekends. During the Oktoberfest the whole city becomes a party.

In Lugano, an evening means an aperitivo under the arcades or by the lake and then a long dinner. The town is mostly asleep before midnight, and the young crowd goes to Milan.

The two are level for the outdoors, but the scenery works differently. In Lugano the mountains start where the town ends. Funiculars climb Monte Brè and San Salvatore, the lakeside path runs to Gandria, and the ridge walk from Monte Lema to Monte Tamaro is a classic. The green waters of the Verzasca valley are about an hour away.

Munich itself is flat, and you need about an hour to reach the foothills. In return you get the high Alps around the Zugspitze and Garmisch, with skiing in winter. In town there is the English Garden, with the surfers on the Eisbach at its edge.

Both cities make excellent bases, so the choice comes down to the kind of excursion you want. From Lugano your trips are mostly Italian and lakeside: Milan's Last Supper, Lake Como, Lake Maggiore and the Borromean Islands. The castles of Bellinzona are a short ride the other way.

From Munich you head for old German and Austrian towns: Augsburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Salzburg and Innsbruck. The royal castles of Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee are also within reach, though several of these trips are longer train rides.

Munich has much more to offer children. There is the big Hellabrunn zoo on the Isar meadows, hands-on halls at the Deutsches Museum, a Sea Life aquarium, and beer gardens with playgrounds. The city is flat and its public transport handles pushchairs easily, and teenagers find plenty to do.

Lugano keeps younger children happy with boat rides, lido slides, funiculars, the Monte Generoso rack railway and the miniature Swiss landmarks at Melide. Its steep streets are hard work with a pushchair, though, and it has none of the big attractions older children look for.

Munich is the easier city to move around. The pedestrianised old town is compact, and one integrated network of U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses reaches the museums, Nymphenburg and the lakes. The city is flat enough to cycle almost anywhere.

Lugano is small enough to walk, but steep. A funicular links the high station with the old town, and buses climb to the hillside districts. Its lake boats and mountain railways double as sightseeing, so getting around is part of the fun.

Munich has the depth: luxury houses on Maximilianstrasse, department stores along Kaufingerstrasse, independent boutiques in Glockenbach and Schwabing, and Dallmayr's historic food hall. The Tracht tailors give you a souvenir you can only really buy here, and in December the Christmas markets add craft stalls.

Lugano's shopping is mostly a single arcaded street, Via Nassa, lined with watchmakers and jewellers. The outlet village at Mendrisio is its other draw, and anyone shopping seriously goes to Milan.

Neither is cheap, but Lugano is the harder place on the budget. Hotels, meals, wine, boats and mountain railways all carry Swiss prices, and there is no cheap way to stay. Grotti, set lunches and the regional transport that comes with most hotel stays are the only real savings.

Munich's hotels are expensive too, and they climb further during the Oktoberfest and trade fairs. Its everyday costs are easier to manage, though. You can bring a picnic to a beer garden, the parks and lakes are free, and several museums charge only a token fee on Sundays.

Munich is one of Europe's great music cities. The Bavarian State Opera fills the National Theatre for most of the year, three orchestras of real standing play in halls such as the Herkulessaal, and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre stages chamber opera. Add operetta at the Gärtnerplatztheater, jazz clubs and big concerts at the Olympic Park.

In Lugano, nearly everything happens at LAC, where the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana is based. In summer there is also free open-air music at Estival Jazz on Piazza della Riforma. For opera you go to La Scala in Milan.

Munich has a real bathing culture. There is the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad with its Roman-style steam bath, public saunas run on the German textile-free custom, the huge thermal complex at Erding, and the spa towns of Bad Tölz and Bad Reichenhall towards the mountains.

Lugano has no such tradition. Its spas are mostly in the lakeside hotels, plus the indoor pools near Rivera. Here relaxing is about the setting: palm-lined shores, a quiet afternoon at a lido, and a lunch in a grotto that runs on into the evening.