Monaco or Zurich?

Monaco has the edge for swimming, though neither is a classic beach destination. Larvotto is a short, groomed city beach with calm, clear water, and the warm Mediterranean is backed by rocky bathing platforms, beach clubs, the coves of Cap d'Ail and the long beaches of Menton and Nice a train ride away.

Zurich swims in fresh water instead: lidos and old wooden bathing houses along the lake, and the Letten river baths where people drift downstream with the current. It makes a fine dip after sightseeing, but there is no sand, and the season is shorter and cooler.

Both are expensive and broadly level, but the cooking points in different directions. Monaco aims at the top end: starred and grand hotel dining rooms cooking Riviera and Ligurian food, and harbour terraces where the view matters as much as the plate. Its local snacks, barbagiuan and socca, come from the covered Condamine market, but a cheap, casual meal is hard to find.

Zurich is heartier and more Alpine, with veal in cream sauce and rösti, fondue and raclette in panelled Altstadt taverns, and chocolate as its real strength. Around Langstrasse, Kreis 4 and 5 add relaxed international places that Monaco largely lacks, although Zurich has little street food and no markets on any scale.

Neither city takes long to see, but they reward different interests. Monaco is about setting and spectacle: the Prince's Palace and its guard ceremony, the cathedral on the Rock, the Belle Époque Oceanographic Museum on its cliff and the Casino across the harbour.

Zurich has the stronger collections. The Kunsthaus, the Swiss National Museum and the Rietberg's world art give a museum lover more to do, and the Grossmünster and the Chagall windows of the Fraumünster tie the old town to the Reformation and to modern art.

Zurich is the better night out. Its electronic music scene runs deep, with clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and Zurich West going until morning, rough-edged Langstrasse at the centre, summer drinks in the lake bathing houses and the Street Parade every August.

Monaco's evenings are about dressing up for the Casino square, hotel bars and a few glossy seafront clubs. It is spectacular in summer and on Grand Prix weekend but quiet the rest of the time, with no casual bars or underground scene to fall back on.

Both have dramatic surroundings, but Zurich has more of them. The lake with the Glarus Alps at its far end, the Uetliberg ridge a short train ride away and high-mountain hiking on Rigi and Pilatus within about an hour make it the stronger base for walkers, and in winter it adds ski days.

Monaco's outdoors is coastal and steep: limestone cliffs such as Tête de Chien, old mule paths up to Èze and shoreline walks around Cap Martin. Its clear water also suits diving, snorkelling and paddleboarding, which a lake city cannot match.

Both are superb bases, and both need no car. From Monaco the trips are Mediterranean: harbour towns and Nice along the coast, Menton's lemon gardens, perched villages such as Èze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, and Italian market towns just over the border.

From Zurich the rail network opens up Switzerland: Lucerne's wooden bridges, the UNESCO old town of Bern, Basel's museums, the Rhine Falls and lake towns such as Rapperswil by boat. One means a week of seaside towns, the other a run of old towns, lakes and abbeys.

Zurich is the easier city with children. The zoo, with its Madagascar rainforest hall and elephant park, is a full day in itself, the lake lidos have shallow areas and lawns, and the Technorama and Lucerne's transport museum are easy outings by train.

Monaco is safe and compact, and the aquarium, Larvotto's gentle water and the palace guards make a good day or two. Beyond that it is built for adults, with formal restaurants and steep streets, so families often move on along the coast.

Zurich is close to effortless. Trams, buses, S-Bahn trains, funiculars and lake boats share one ticket, services run on time, and the airport is a short train ride from the centre.

Monaco is small enough to walk end to end, but the problem is the climb from the sea. Free public lifts and escalators help once you know where they are, and the railway station puts the coast within easy reach.

Zurich offers more range. Bahnhofstrasse matches Monaco for luxury, with watches as its speciality, and beyond it there are boutiques and antique shops in the Niederdorf, design shops in the old viaduct arches and summer flea markets.

Monaco's offer is concentrated almost entirely in the Carré d'Or around the Casino gardens, where fashion houses and jewellers fill a walk of a quarter of an hour. Window-shopping there is part of the Monte-Carlo scene, but anyone wanting ordinary shops heads to Nice.

Both are among the most expensive places anyone can visit, so the difference lies in how to soften the blow. In Monaco the usual answer is to sleep elsewhere, in Nice, Menton or Beausoleil, and come in for the day, enjoying the free lifts and the walks around the Rock and harbour.

Zurich gives you fewer ways out of the city but more within it: an integrated travel pass, a visitor card that bundles transport and museums, supermarket picnics by the lake and free public lidos.

Zurich has the deeper stage. The Opernhaus is one of Europe's most respected houses, the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in a restored nineteenth-century hall, and the Rote Fabrik and venues in Kreis 4 and 5 add jazz, indie and electronic acts on ordinary nights, although the Schauspielhaus performs mostly in German.

Monaco is remarkable for its size, with opera in the gilded Salle Garnier and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, but its calendar is seasonal and there are few small venues to drop into.

The two are broadly level, but they relax you in different ways. Monaco is the place for a treatment day: you book a seawater session or a hotel spa, then spend a slow afternoon in the gardens, and it does all of this with more polish than ceremony.

Zurich works better as a routine you can come back to, especially in the colder months. You go between the brewery-vault baths, the lake saunas with their cold plunges and a half-day soak at Baden, and you can do it with locals rather than as a hotel guest. Monaco has no public bathing culture of this kind.