Maastricht or Zurich?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Zurich does far more with its water in summer. From June to early September you can swim from the wooden bathing houses and grassy lidos along its clean lake, or drift down the Limmat with the current at Letten, all close to the old town.

Maastricht has nothing like this in the city itself. The old gravel-pit lakes along the Maas have small sandy shores and are fine for a hot afternoon, but a hotel pool is the more reliable way to swim.

The two cities eat about equally well, but in different styles. Maastricht's food comes from Limburg and Belgium: zuurvlees with fries, vlaai from the bakery, asparagus and game in season, local white wine and Belgian beer. You eat it in brown cafés or out on the terraces of the Vrijthof and Wyck.

Zurich's cooking is richer and more Alpine, with veal Geschnetzeltes and rösti, fondue in the guild-house dining rooms in winter, and chocolate and confectionery as its real strength. Its casual and international places in Kreis 4 and 5 give it a little more variety. Neither city has much street food, and every meal in Zurich costs far more.

The two are evenly matched for sights, and either can be covered in two or three days. Maastricht's strength is its age. Its Romanesque basilicas, the Helpoort and the medieval walls, the 13th-century bridge and the guided tunnels of the Sint-Pietersberg make the whole town feel historic.

Zurich relies more on its museums. The Kunsthaus, the Swiss National Museum and the Rietberg give it more art and history to see indoors. Its Altstadt adds the Grossmünster, where the Swiss Reformation began, and Chagall's windows in the Fraumünster.

Zurich has far more going on at night, mainly thanks to electronic music. At weekends, clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and Zurich West stay open until morning, Langstrasse stays busy late, and every August the Street Parade takes over the lake shore. The catch is the price of a round.

Maastricht is a bar town rather than a club town. Students drink Belgian beer in the brown cafés around the Markt and the Vrijthof, and people who want a big night out cross the border. Carnival is the exception, when the whole town parties in the streets for days.

Zurich's setting is far grander. It has the lake with the Glarus Alps on the horizon, the Uetliberg ridge a short train ride away, and proper mountain hiking and skiing within about an hour. That makes it a strong base for active days in any season.

Maastricht's countryside is softer. It has the marl cliffs of the Sint-Pietersberg, the green Jeker valley, and the orchards and sunken lanes of the Heuvelland that road cyclists love. It is lovely in spring and early autumn, but gentle rather than dramatic.

Both cities are excellent bases, and Zurich edges ahead because its trips are so easy and so varied. Lucerne, Bern, Basel and St Gallen are each about an hour away by train, the Rhine Falls and Stein am Rhein lie to the north, and you never need a car.

Maastricht's appeal is the number of countries within reach. Aachen and Liège are each about half an hour away and Tongeren and Valkenburg are even closer. Cologne, Brussels and Leuven make longer days out, so one short stay can take in three countries and languages.

Maastricht is small, flat and quiet, so children can roam the squares while parents linger on a terrace. Older children can cycle the easy riverside paths along the Maas. For a bigger outing you leave town, perhaps for the large zoo at Kerkrade, and the city's own pleasures are aimed more at adults.

Zurich gives families more to do, and none of it needs a car. The Technorama science centre in Winterthur is about twenty minutes away by train, Lucerne's Swiss Museum of Transport makes a full day out, and the zoo's hill has forest playgrounds. There is no big theme park nearby, though, and the calm evenings suit younger children better than teenagers.

Both centres are compact and easy to walk, but Zurich's public transport is far better. Trams, S-Bahn trains, funiculars and even the lake boats all use the same ticket, and direct trains from the main station reach the airport and most of the country.

In Maastricht you walk or cycle. Everything is within about fifteen minutes on foot, and the riverside paths are easy on a bike. Trains run to Liège and Aachen, but the hill villages are much easier to reach by car or bike.

Zurich has the better shopping, mainly at the expensive end. Bahnhofstrasse runs from the station to the lake past watchmakers, jewellers and department stores, and design shops fill the old railway arches in Zurich West. Prices are high everywhere.

Maastricht is where its Dutch, Belgian and German neighbours come for a weekend of shopping. It has designer boutiques in the restored houses of the Stokstraat quarter, high-street brands on the Grote Staat, independent shops in Wyck and a weekly market on the Markt. It is more relaxed to browse, but has less luxury.

Maastricht costs much less. Restaurants, terrace drinks and hotels are priced at the usual Dutch level, a little below the big Dutch cities. The main thing that pushes prices up is the weekend, when visitors on short breaks fill the rooms, so arriving on a Sunday and leaving before Friday is the simplest way to save.

Zurich costs more to visit than almost anywhere else in Europe, and the high prices apply to museums and transport as well as rooms, meals and drinks. The visitor card, which combines travel with museum entry, helps a little. Summer helps more, because the public lidos are free, the drinking fountains run with clean water, and a supermarket picnic by the lake is how many careful travellers eat.

Zurich is the place for a night at the opera or a concert. The Opernhaus has a full season of opera and ballet, and the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in a restored nineteenth-century hall. For jazz, indie and touring bands there are the Rote Fabrik and the venues in Kreis 4 and 5.

In Maastricht most performances happen at the theatre on the Vrijthof, home to the regional orchestra and opera, along with organ concerts in the churches and recitals by conservatory students. Its biggest moments are the open-air summer concerts on the Vrijthof and the brass bands at carnival, not a full season of performances.

Zurich has a little more right on the doorstep. There are thermal pools and a rooftop pool in the vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery, and in winter the bathing houses on the lake and river become saunas, with cold dips between sessions. Baden's hot springs are twenty minutes away by train.

Maastricht has no baths of its own, but the region makes up for it. The thermal spa above Valkenburg, Aachen's baths, in use since Roman times, and the Belgian town of Spa itself are all within an hour. The city's slow rhythm of long lunches and riverside walks is restful in its own way.