Lugano or Nice?

Lugano has no sea. Swimming means its lidos, with lawns, decks and ladders into the lake at the Cassarate mouth and along the shore towards Castagnola and Paradiso. The water is pleasant on a hot afternoon, but the season is short.

Nice has a proper seaside vacation. There is a long pebble shore right in the city, clear water for most of the year, and beach clubs with loungers that make the stones comfortable. Sandier coves at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Antibes are a short ride away.

Lugano's best eating is in the grotti, rustic taverns in the hills and lakeside villages serving polenta, risotto and braised meats with Ticino Merlot. Beyond those there is little variety and almost nothing cheap.

Nice has a stronger food scene with its own dishes. Socca straight from the wood oven, pissaladière and stuffed vegetables give the old town real street food, the Cours Saleya market adds produce and olives, and family places around the port cook simply and well. The main thing to avoid is the set menus on the promenade terraces.

Lugano is a pleasant day of sightseeing: the arcaded squares around Piazza della Riforma, San Lorenzo above the lake, Luini's Passion fresco and the art collection split between LAC and Palazzo Reali.

Nice has two or three days' worth. The Savoyard old town and Castle Hill sit beside a whole Belle Époque resort quarter, and the art is the real draw, with Matisse among the Roman ruins of Cimiez, Chagall's biblical cycle and Yves Klein at MAMAC.

Neither city is a party destination, but Nice gives you a real night out. The lanes of Vieux Nice fill with wine bars, pubs and a mixed crowd of students and visitors, and in summer the beach clubs keep going late. In Lugano the evening is an aperitivo on the lakefront and a long dinner, and the town is mostly quiet before midnight.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, but the settings differ. Lugano is all lake and mountain: funiculars to Monte Brè and San Salvatore, the shore path to Gandria, the Lema to Tamaro ridge walk and the green rivers of the Verzasca valley about an hour away.

Nice has mountains running down to the sea. You can walk the coastal paths around Cap Ferrat, cycle the corniches and hike the red rocks of the Esterel, and the Mercantour park and winter ski slopes are within reach. Diving and sailing add a sea side that a lake cannot match.

A day out from Lugano usually means crossing a border and switching between lakes and cities. Milan's Last Supper and the Brera gallery are just over an hour away by train, and Como is half an hour away. In the other direction lie Bellinzona's castles and Lake Maggiore with the Borromean Islands. Boats run to arcaded Morcote, and Lucerne is a longer run north through the Gotthard.

Nice's trips follow one coastline instead, and each stop feels different. The coastal railway links Monaco, Menton, Antibes and Cannes. Èze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence look down from the hills, and Sanremo is just over the Italian border. Almost all of them take under an hour without a car, so it suits travellers who would rather mix seaside towns and art villages than big-city galleries.

The two are about level for families, and both suit younger children better than teenagers. Lugano's treats are its funiculars, the Generoso rack railway, lido slides and the Swiss miniature park at Melide, although the steep streets are hard work with a pushchair.

Nice is flat along the promenade, and the Promenade du Paillon has water jets and big playgrounds. Parc Phoenix and Monaco's aquarium are good outings, but the pebbles are hard on small feet.

Both are easy to manage without a car. In Lugano the centre is small, but the hills mean using the station funicular, buses up to the hillside districts and boats along the lake. Nice is flatter and larger, with a tram line running from the airport across the centre to the port, and regional trains that can be crowded in summer.

Nice gives you more choice. Avenue Jean Médecin covers the high street, the area around rue Paradis has the luxury labels, and Vieux Nice sells olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics, with an antiques market on the Cours Saleya on Mondays.

Lugano is mainly Via Nassa, with watchmakers and Italian fashion under the arcades, plus delicatessens in the old town and the designer outlet near Mendrisio. There is little for cheaper tastes.

Both are expensive, but Lugano costs much more. Swiss prices apply to hotels, meals, boats and mountain railways alike, and grotti and set lunches are the only real savings.

Nice gives budget travellers more ways to cut costs. Trams and coastal trains are cheap, many city museums cost little, and socca and market picnics make cheap meals. Prices also drop in spring and late autumn.

The two are close, but their programmes differ. Lugano's cultural life is mostly at LAC, where the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana plays mainly classical music, and in summer Estival Jazz puts on free concerts in Piazza della Riforma.

Nice has a nineteenth-century opera house with opera and ballet, the long-running Nice Jazz Festival in July and the February Carnival with its flower battles.

Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, so the difference is in the kind of rest. Lugano's is quiet and steady: coffee under the arcades, an hour on a bench in Parco Ciani, a lunch that runs into the evening, and that pace holds even in July and August. For pools and saunas there is a large indoor complex near Rivera, north of town, as well as the spas in the big lakeside hotels.

Nice offers salt water instead. Thalassotherapy centres along the coast towards Monaco and Antibes, an early swim before the shore fills and a slow walk on the promenade at dusk set its rhythm. It is calmest out of season, when mild winter days keep you outdoors, but in high summer the heat and crowds make it less restful than the lake.