Luxembourg or Lyon?

Neither city is a place for beach time, and both rely on lakes. In Luxembourg that means a trip of about an hour to the wooded shores of the Upper Sûre reservoir, or to the flooded gravel pits at Remerschen in the Moselle valley.

Lyon has a supervised bathing lake at Miribel-Jonage on its own edge, which is handier on a hot afternoon. Its best swimming, in the clear, slightly warmer Alpine water of Lake Annecy and the Lac du Bourget, is a longer day out.

Lyon is the far better place to eat. The bouchon is its own institution, serving quenelles, andouillette and praline tart with a pot of local red, and behind it lies a fine-dining tradition that goes back to the Mères lyonnaises. Les Halles Paul Bocuse and the Sunday markets by the Saône make the city a pleasure to shop for food in, too.

Luxembourg eats well but borrows most of what it serves: French kitchens at the top, brasseries and Portuguese and Italian places below, and only a few hearty dishes of its own. Its real local pleasure is a glass of Moselle Riesling or crémant. In both cities, lunch is the better-value meal.

Luxembourg's culture is mostly its setting: the UNESCO-listed fortress wrapped around a plateau, the casemate tunnels in the rock and the view from the Corniche down to the Grund. Add the palace, the national museum and MUDAM on Kirchberg, and two days covers it.

Lyon has far more history to explore. There are the Roman theatres on Fourvière, the Renaissance lanes and traboules of Vieux Lyon, the silk-weavers' hill of Croix-Rousse and a Musée des Beaux-Arts with one of France's finest collections outside Paris. It needs several full days, and it rewards them.

Lyon is the place to go out. Its students keep the Presqu'île bars full, the barges on the Rhône quays turn into bars and clubs, and warehouse clubs towards Gerland serve a serious electronic music scene.

Luxembourg's going out is limited to a few pockets: the old brewery site at Clausen, riverside pubs in the Grund and later venues in Hollerich. Thursday and Friday are the busy nights, because many residents leave at weekends, which is exactly when most visitors arrive.

The two are close, and the difference is where the green is. Luxembourg's best is near and feels wilder. Wooded gorges cut through the city centre, and the mossy rock passages of the Müllerthal are about half an hour away. The Ardennes and the Moselle cycle paths are easy to reach by free train.

Lyon's outdoor life is more urban, with car-free quays along the Rhône and the large Parc de la Tête d'Or. It does have the bigger landscapes within range, with Vercors and Chartreuse for serious hiking and the high Alps beyond, though a car helps for most of them.

Both are excellent bases. From Luxembourg, the day trips cross borders: Roman Trier and Gothic Metz are each under an hour by train, and there are castles at Vianden and Clervaux at home.

From Lyon, they stay in France and lean towards wine and old towns. Roman Vienne is twenty minutes south, and Pérouges, the Beaujolais villages and Burgundy around Beaune are all within reach. Annecy and its lake give a taste of the Alps.

For children, Luxembourg's real adventure is the fortress: the casemate tunnels cut into the rock and the ramparts above the Grund. The city is calm and safe, and lifts and a funicular take a pushchair down to the river. Beyond the small Parc Merveilleux at Bettembourg, though, little is made for children, and there is no zoo or aquarium.

Lyon fills more days. The Parc de la Tête d'Or alone has a free zoo, pedalos, pony rides and a small train. The dinosaur skeletons at the Musée des Confluences, the aquarium and Guignol's puppet theatres add plenty more. The one drawback is the stepped lanes of Fourvière and Croix-Rousse, which are hard going with a pushchair.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Luxembourg's trams, buses and trains are free across the whole country, so a castle or vineyard trip costs no more effort than crossing town, and public lifts handle the drop to the Grund.

Lyon is a bigger city, with four metro lines, trams, funiculars up Fourvière and a bike-share scheme along the quays. Its flat Presqu'île is a pleasure to walk, though some journeys need a climb or a change.

Luxembourg's shopping is polished but narrow. The Grand-Rue and the lanes around it carry international luxury labels for a wealthy local clientele. The things worth taking home are porcelain from the centuries-old tableware works and Moselle crémant, and independent design and bargains are hard to find.

In Lyon the interest lies in what the city itself makes. There are silk scarves and fabrics from its weaving past, designer workshops and small boutiques on the Croix-Rousse slopes, and antique dealers along the rue Auguste Comte. The chains and the large Part-Dieu mall cover the basics, and pralines, sausage and cheese from the Halles make the best souvenirs.

Lyon is much the cheaper stay. Its hotels are reasonable for a large Western European city, except during big trade fairs and the Fête des Lumières, and its set lunches in bouchons are some of the best-value meals in France.

Luxembourg is priced for business travellers and EU officials, and eating out costs well above the regional norm. Free transport, free museums and lower weekend room rates help, and many visitors save by sleeping in Trier or Metz.

Apart from its own philharmonic orchestra, most of what plays on Luxembourg's stages arrives on tour. The Philharmonie on Kirchberg, with its excellent acoustics, brings in visiting orchestras and soloists. The Grand Théâtre hosts touring opera and dance, and Neimënster adds summer concerts in its former abbey.

Lyon produces much of its own programme. Its opera company and ballet perform under the glass vault of the Opéra, and dance is a real specialism, at the Maison de la Danse and in the Biennale. In summer the Nuits de Fourvière festival stages concerts, theatre and dance in the Roman theatres above the city.

Luxembourg is the better choice for a restful stay. The thermal pools and saunas of Mondorf-les-Bains, fed by a mineral spring since the nineteenth century, are only half an hour away, and the city's quiet evenings and river walks make slowing down easy.

Lyon relaxes through its rhythm of long lunches and Sunday mornings by the Saône, with a few hammams and day spas. For proper thermal bathing you need to go to Aix-les-Bains, about an hour and a half away.