Lyon or Turin?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both send swimmers out of town. Lyon has a supervised bathing lake at Miribel-Jonage on its edge, and the clear Alpine water of Annecy and the Lac du Bourget is within two hours.

Turin has small lakes such as Avigliana close by, and the Ligurian Riviera at Savona is a long day out. So Turin is the one where a trip to the sea is realistic, and Lyon is the one for lake swimming.

Both are serious eating cities, and the difference is one of style. Lyon centres on the meal itself: the bouchon with quenelles and andouillette, a deep fine-dining tradition and generous set lunches, with Les Halles Paul Bocuse for oysters and Bresse poultry.

Turin centres more on rituals and sweet things: aperitivo in the Quadrilatero or San Salvario, bicerin and gianduiotti in the cafés under the arcades, and white truffles with Barolo in autumn. Porta Palazzo is the bigger and cheaper market. Neither does much street food.

The two have a similar depth of sights but a different shape. Lyon's strength is its layers of history: Roman theatres on Fourvière, the Renaissance lanes and traboules of Vieux Lyon, and the Beaux-Arts collection in its old abbey. They are best taken slowly over a few days.

Turin has the single big draw that Lyon lacks, the Museo Egizio, set in a royal capital of palaces, Savoy residences and the Mole. Both have a cinema story to tell, with the Institut Lumière in Lyon and the National Cinema Museum inside the Mole in Turin.

Lyon goes out harder. Its students fill the wine and cocktail bars of the Presqu'île, the barges on the Rhône quays turn into bars and clubs, and its electronic scene is serious, with the Nuits Sonores festival in spring.

Turin's evening is built around the aperitivo, and after that the crowd moves to the pavements of San Salvario, the Quadrilatero and, in summer, the Murazzi by the Po. It is sociable and relaxed rather than late. Both cities quieten outside term time.

Lyon's outdoor life is mostly gentle and centred on its rivers: the car-free Rhône quays, boating on the lake at Tête d'Or, walks in the Monts d'Or and cycling through the Beaujolais. Chartreuse and Vercors have serious hiking, but the high Alps are about two hours away.

Turin is the better choice for anyone who wants mountains. The Alps fill its horizon, and Gran Paradiso's ibex and high trails, the Susa valley and the Sestriere ski slopes are an hour or so away. That means skiing in winter and hut-to-hut hiking in summer.

Lyon's day trips are pleasant and varied. Roman Vienne is twenty minutes south, and medieval Pérouges and the Beaujolais villages are close. Cluny, Beaune and Annecy are further out.

Turin has the richer choice. The UNESCO-listed wine hills of the Langhe, with Alba, Barolo and Barbaresco, are an hour south, and Milan is an hour away by fast train. The Sacra di San Michele, Aosta and Genoa add more. Both cities are good bases for wine country, but from Turin you can also reach a major city and the coast.

Lyon gives children more to do in town. The Parc de la Tête d'Or has a free zoo, pedalos and a small train, the Musée des Confluences has dinosaur skeletons, and there is an aquarium and Guignol puppet shows. The stepped lanes of the hills are hard going with a pushchair, though.

Turin's flat, arcaded centre makes pushchairs easy, and the glass lift up the Mole, the mummies and the car museum suit older children. But the city has no zoo or aquarium, and the main animal day out, at Cumiana, needs a car.

Lyon is the easier city to get around. Its four metro lines, trams and buses run on one ticket system, two funiculars climb from Vieux Lyon to Fourvière and Saint-Just, and a rack-style metro line goes up the Croix-Rousse hill, which takes much of the effort out of the steep slopes. A separate bike-share scheme and the riverside cycle paths make cycling easy too, and a tram links the airport with Part-Dieu.

Turin's grid of arcaded streets is a pleasure to walk, and most of the sights can be reached on foot. Beyond the centre there is only one metro line, and the trams and buses are slower and harder to work out.

Lyon's pralines and Turin's gianduiotti are the best things to carry home, and in both cities the fashion streets are comfortable rather than a reason to come. Beyond food, Lyon has silk scarves and fabrics from its weaving past, designer workshops and small boutiques on the slopes of Croix-Rousse, and the large Part-Dieu mall for the chains.

Turin puts its big labels under the arcades of Via Roma and its mainstream shops along pedestrian Via Garibaldi. What it adds is the Balon flea market behind Porta Palazzo every Saturday, which grows into the Gran Balon once a month. Antique hunters do well in both, on the rue Auguste Comte and on Via Maria Vittoria.

Lyon is the more expensive of the two. Lunch is its bargain, with generous set menus in the bouchons, but dinners cost what they do elsewhere in France. Hotels get scarce and dear during trade fairs and the Fête des Lumières.

Turin makes the same budget go further. An aperitivo can stand in for dinner, the trattorie and Porta Palazzo market are cheap, and public transport costs little. Museum entry and the truffle season are where the costs add up.

Both have a full calendar of opera, orchestra and theatre for a city of their size, and what differs is what stands out. In Lyon it is dance: the Maison de la Danse, the Biennale and the summer Nuits de Fourvière festival in the Roman theatres.

Turin's highlights are the Teatro Regio and the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, with more concerts at the Lingotto. Its prose theatre is almost all in Italian, while Lyon's dance needs no translation.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and both rely on hotel spas and a slow pace. Lyon's calm comes from long lunches, Sunday mornings by the Saône and an open-air pool on the Rhône quays. The thermal baths of Aix-les-Bains are about an hour and a half away.

In Turin it comes from time in the cafés under the arcades and walks along the Po. Its nearest thermal waters, at Acqui Terme or in the Aosta valley, are close to two hours away.