Luxembourg or Zermatt?

Neither place is for swimmers, but Luxembourg at least has lakes. There are wooded bathing spots on the Upper Sûre reservoir about an hour north, and the old gravel pits at Remerschen are warm enough in high summer for an afternoon swim.

Zermatt has nothing like that. Its mountain tarns reflect the Matterhorn but stay glacier-cold even in August, so a swim means a hotel pool.

Luxembourg has the wider choice: French-led restaurants, Belgian- and German-style brasseries, Portuguese and Italian neighbourhood places, plenty of fine dining, and Moselle Riesling and crémant by the glass. Lunch menus are how to eat well there for less.

Zermatt's cooking is narrower, mostly Valais raclette, fondue and air-dried beef with Fendant or Cornalin. Its best meals come with a view, though: long lunches on chalet terraces at Findeln, Furi and Zum See, reached on skis or on foot. Out of season many kitchens close.

Here the two are far apart. Luxembourg's old town is the sight in itself: a UNESCO-listed fortress on a sandstone plateau, the Bock casemates cut into the rock, the Corniche above the Grund, the cathedral, the palace and the national museum, with MUDAM across the Red Bridge. That fills two full days.

Zermatt's heritage is all about climbing. The Matterhorn Museum tells the story of the 1865 first ascent, and there are the mountaineers' cemetery and the old larch barns of the Hinterdorf. Together they fill a morning, and after that the mountains take over.

Both are quiet after dark, but in different ways. Luxembourg's nights belong to an international crowd of young professionals in the bars of the Rives de Clausen, the riverside pubs of the Grund and the later venues in Hollerich. Thursday and Friday are the busy nights, and weekends are quieter.

In Zermatt, going out means winter après-ski. Slope-side bars get loud from late afternoon, and on busy weekends a few clubs on the main street stay open past midnight. In summer the hikers are in bed soon after dinner.

Luxembourg's countryside is gentle and close. Wooded gorges run through the city centre, the mossy rock passages of the Müllerthal are half an hour away, and beyond them are the Ardennes hills and the cycle paths through the Moselle vineyards. It is good walking country, but there are no mountains.

Zermatt is on a completely different scale. The Matterhorn rises over the village, dozens of four-thousand-metre peaks surround it, and the lifts reach the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise at over 3,800m. You can ski in winter and on the glacier in summer, and summer trails lead to the Five Lakes, the Europaweg bridge and the Hörnli hut.

Luxembourg is the far better base for day trips, sitting where three countries meet. Trier's Porta Nigra and Metz's Gothic cathedral are each under an hour by train. Vianden castle, Echternach, Clervaux and the Moselle wine villages are all easy to reach without a car.

In Zermatt, every day out starts with the long train ride down the valley. Sion, with its two castle hills, is the best of them at about an hour and a half. Most visitors would rather spend a spare day on another trail.

Both are calm, safe and easy with children, and neither has a zoo, aquarium or theme park. In Luxembourg the highlight is the fortress, whose tunnels and ramparts feel like an adventure, along with the natural history museum and the small Parc Merveilleux at Bettembourg.

Zermatt suits families who ski or hike together: car-free streets, nursery slopes at Sunnegga, marmots and cog railways. Rainy days are harder to fill there, and the highest viewpoints can be too cold and the air too thin for small children.

You need no car in either place, but for different reasons. In Luxembourg, trams, buses and trains are free across the whole country, and public lifts and a funicular link the city's levels, so a trip to Vianden or the Moselle needs no ticket at all.

Zermatt is closed to ordinary cars. You arrive by train, walk around the compact village and take cog railways, a funicular and gondolas up the mountains. Leaving the valley is the slow part, at over an hour by train.

Luxembourg has more to browse: luxury fashion on the Grand-Rue, high-street chains on Avenue de la Gare, the Villeroy & Boch porcelain outlet and the market on Place Guillaume II, with Moselle crémant the best thing to take home. Zermatt's one main street is mostly watches, jewellery and souvenirs, though its ski and mountaineering shops are well stocked if you need gear.

Neither is cheap, but Luxembourg is clearly easier on a budget. Free public transport, museums that charge nothing and lunch menus make up for some of the hotel costs, and Trier or Metz make cheaper places to stay.

Zermatt costs even more. Rooms and meals on mountain terraces are steep, and lift and railway tickets come on top. Self-catering, supermarket picnics and a bed down the valley in Täsch help, but only up to a point.

Luxembourg has a full programme. The Philharmonie on Kirchberg has its resident orchestra and hosts touring soloists, the Grand Théâtre stages opera and dance, and there are concerts at the Rotondes and open-air music at Neimënster in summer.

Zermatt has no theatre or concert hall. Apart from Zermatt Unplugged in spring and a chamber music festival in the village church in late summer, live music means a band in an après-ski bar, so most evenings are about dinner.

Both make for a calm stay, though neither has its own bathing culture, and they offer different kinds of rest. Luxembourg has a real thermal spring at Mondorf-les-Bains, half an hour away, with pools and saunas in a landscaped park, and quiet river walks through the Grund.

Zermatt has no springs, but it has an unusual number of excellent hotel spas, many with mountain views and some open to day visitors. The clear air and car-free streets add to the quiet, though in peak weeks the mood is more active than restful.