Nice or Zurich?

Nice has a real Mediterranean shore. About 7km of pebble beach runs below the Promenade des Anglais, the water is clear and warm enough to swim from June into October, and there is sand at Villefranche, Beaulieu and Juan-les-Pins. The stones call for water shoes or a lounger, but you can build a whole vacation around the sea here.

Zurich swims in its lake and river instead. You go in from wooden bathing houses, lawns and piers at Utoquai or Mythenquai, or let the Limmat carry you downstream at Letten. The water is clean and it is good fun, but the season is short and there is no sand, so it works as a dip after sightseeing rather than a beach trip.

Nice has its own regional cooking with Ligurian roots: socca from wood ovens, pissaladière and stuffed vegetables, plus the Cours Saleya market and Bellet wine from the hills. It is easy to eat simply and well, as long as you stay away from the promenade terraces.

Zurich's food is richer and more formal: veal in cream sauce with rösti, and fondue in the guild houses in winter. Chocolate is its real strength. It has no street food or market culture to set against Nice's, and every meal costs much more.

Nice has the edge for art lovers. The Matisse and Chagall museums in Cimiez and the MAMAC sit alongside an Italianate old town and Belle Époque villas. Zurich has one strong collection in the Kunsthaus, as well as the Swiss National Museum and the Rietberg.

The old towns feel quite different. Vieux Nice is ochre, baroque and a little chaotic. Zurich's Altstadt is tidy and shaped by the Reformation, with the Grossmünster and Chagall's windows in the Fraumünster. Each rewards two or three days rather than a week.

A night out in Nice means bars rather than clubs. Wine and cocktail bars spill into the lanes of Vieux Nice, the port has a few more grown-up spots, and in summer the beach clubs keep people out late. For dancing, the coast's glossier nights happen in Monaco and Cannes.

Zurich goes out much harder. Electronic music fills clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and Zurich West until morning at weekends, Langstrasse stays busy late, and every August the Street Parade turns the lake shore into a huge techno gathering. The cost of a round is the main brake on the night.

Both cities have mountains on the doorstep, but the landscapes differ. Nice puts the Alps beside the sea. It has coastal paths around Cap Ferrat, cycling on the corniches and the red rocks of the Esterel, with the Mercantour about two hours inland and sailing, diving and paddleboarding on the water.

Zurich's outdoors is lakes and high peaks: shore promenades, the Uetliberg ridge a short train ride away, and Rigi, Pilatus and the Glarus valleys within about an hour. Both can manage a winter ski day, at Isola 2000 or Flumserberg. Summer hiking is better around Zurich, though, because Nice's midday heat makes long walks hard.

Both are superb bases, and neither needs a car. From Nice the trips are short hops along one coast: Villefranche, Monaco, Èze, Menton, Antibes, Cannes and even Sanremo across the Italian border. Inland, Grasse and Saint-Paul-de-Vence are within easy reach.

From Zurich the rail network opens up a whole country: Lucerne's covered bridges, Bern's arcades, Basel's museums, St Gallen's abbey library and the Rhine Falls. The rides are longer, usually about an hour, but they buy more variety between very different cities, where the Riviera offers a string of seaside towns minutes apart.

Nice is relaxed with children. There are water jets and playgrounds on the Promenade du Paillon, Parc Phoenix and the long flat promenade. Pebbles, old town steps and hot, crowded summers make it harder work, though.

Zurich is easier overall: clean, safe and good with buggies. Its zoo, with the Madagascar rainforest hall, is the highlight, and there are shallow lake lidos and boat trips too, with the Technorama and Lucerne's transport museum close by. Neither city has a big theme park.

Nice is easy on foot. The old town, the promenade and the port are a flat half-hour walk apart, a tram runs from the airport, and coastal trains go to Monaco and Cannes. The catch is packed trains and slow coast roads in summer.

Zurich is close to effortless. Trams, the S-Bahn, funiculars and even the lake boats all run on one ticket, and services keep to time. The airport is a short train ride from the main station, which links straight to the rest of Switzerland.

Shopping in Nice is browsing rather than a reason to go. There are high-street chains on Avenue Jean Médecin, some luxury labels near rue Paradis, and olive oil, soaps and Provençal fabrics in Vieux Nice. On Mondays the Cours Saleya becomes a flea and antiques market.

Zurich is the stronger shopping city, built around Bahnhofstrasse, where watchmakers, jewellers and old department stores line the way to the lake. Zurich West adds design shops under the old viaduct arches. Beyond luxury and design the range is narrow, and prices are high.

Neither city is cheap, but Nice is much easier on the wallet. Hotels and beach loungers cost a lot in summer. Trams, coastal trains, socca and market picnics keep daily costs down, though, and spring and late autumn are cheaper again.

Zurich is among the most expensive cities in the world to visit, and a casual lunch costs what a good dinner does elsewhere. Supermarket picnics by the lake, the free lidos and the travel pass help, but only a little.

Nice has a regional programme: opera and ballet at the red-and-gold Opéra de Nice, drama in French, and two big dates, the Jazz Festival in July and the Carnival in February. Outside those, live music mostly means small bars.

Zurich goes much further. The Opernhaus is one of Europe's leading opera houses, the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in a restored nineteenth-century hall, and the Schauspielhaus is one of the leading theatres of the German-speaking world. The Rote Fabrik and venues in Kreis 4 and 5 cover jazz, indie and electronic acts.

In Nice, relaxing is about the rhythm of the day rather than any bathing ritual: an early swim, a long lunch, a walk along the promenade at dusk. Spa time means seafront hotels or the thalassotherapy centres along the coast. High summer is too busy to be restful.

Zurich has more to offer. There are thermal pools in the vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery, and in winter the lake bathing houses open as saunas, with cold dips between sessions. The hot springs of Baden are twenty minutes away by train.