Nuremberg or Zermatt?

Neither place is for swimming, but Nuremberg at least has an option. The Franconian Lake District around the Brombachsee is about an hour south, with grassy shores and water warm enough in high summer for an afternoon with children.

Zermatt has nothing comparable. Its mountain tarns are glacier-cold and best enjoyed for the Matterhorn reflected in them, so swimming means a hotel pool.

Nuremberg gives you more to eat and drink. There are finger-sized bratwurst grilled over beechwood, Sunday Schäufele and Lebkuchen, and above all Franconian beer, poured fresh from small breweries in old-town taverns and beer gardens along the Pegnitz.

Zermatt is narrower and much costlier. Its best moments are long terrace lunches in mountain hamlets such as Findeln and Zum See, with raclette, air-dried beef and Valais wines, and a few ambitious kitchens in the village. Many places close between seasons.

Nuremberg has far more to see. The walled old town, the imperial castle, St Sebaldus and St Lorenz, and the vast Germanisches Nationalmuseum could fill several days. The Rally Grounds documentation centre and Courtroom 600 bring the twentieth century in hard focus.

Zermatt's heritage is small and all about climbing: the underground Matterhorn Museum, the mountaineers' cemetery and the larch-wood barns of the Hinterdorf. It is moving, but it fits into a single morning.

Neither is a party destination, and both are mostly about bars. Nuremberg's evenings run all year, from old-town taverns and summer crowds on the riverbanks to the small alternative bars of Gostenhof. Erlangen's students keep weekends lively.

Zermatt's nightlife is seasonal. It means loud, cheerful and pricey après-ski on the runs into the village in winter, then early nights in summer among hikers with dawn starts.

This is Zermatt's reason to exist. The Matterhorn rises right above the village, ringed by dozens of four-thousanders and the Gorner Glacier, and lifts reach high-altitude skiing that links into Italy. In summer the same lifts open up trails like the Five Lakes walk and the Europaweg suspension bridge.

Nuremberg's outdoors is gentle by comparison. The Reichswald pine forest begins at the edge of town and there is riverside cycling along the Pegnitz. Franconian Switzerland, an hour away, has limestone towers, caves and good rock climbing.

Nuremberg is a superb base. Bamberg, Würzburg and Regensburg are each about an hour by train, the walled towns of Rothenburg and Dinkelsbühl are a little further, and Munich and Bayreuth are also easy to reach.

From Zermatt every outing begins with the long train ride down the valley. Sion, with its castle hills, is the best of it, and Brig and Saas-Fee are pleasant. Most visitors spend their spare days in the mountains instead.

Nuremberg has more made for children. Its toy-making past shows in the Toy Museum, the railway museum has full-size locomotives, the zoo spreads through wooded former quarries, and a play park sits just outside town in Zirndorf.

Zermatt is calm and car-free, with nursery slopes at Sunnegga and marmots to spot in summer. But there is no zoo or theme park, rainy days are hard to fill, and the highest viewpoints can be too thin-aired for small children. It works best for families who ski or hike together.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Nuremberg's walled centre is about 1.5km across and fully walkable, and one ticket covers the U-Bahn, trams and S-Bahn out to the zoo, the Rally Grounds and Fürth.

Zermatt is car-free, so you arrive by train via Täsch and walk the village, using electric taxis for the outer lift stations. Your transport is really the cog railway, funicular and gondolas, and leaving the valley takes over an hour.

Nuremberg has a little more to offer. Its main streets are ordinary chain-store territory, but Lebkuchen tins, wooden toys and the Handwerkerhof's crafts make good gifts, and in Advent the Christkindlesmarkt is one of Germany's most famous.

Zermatt's single main street sells luxury watches, cowbells and chocolate. It is genuinely worth it only for ski and mountaineering gear.

The gap here is wide. Nuremberg is mid-priced for Western Europe, with cheap beer, filling meals and inexpensive transport. Hotels jump only during trade fairs and the Advent market, so time your stay around those.

Zermatt is among the dearest places in the Alps, with steep rooms, pricey meals and lift fares that every visitor pays. Self-catering or staying down in Täsch softens the bill, but only slightly.

Nuremberg has a proper year-round season. The Staatstheater stages opera, ballet and drama in its Art Nouveau house, two orchestras perform, and in summer there are the free Bardentreffen folk weekend and a big open-air concert in the Luitpoldhain.

Zermatt has no theatre or concert hall. Its calendar rests on two festivals: Zermatt Unplugged in spring and chamber music in the church in late summer. Otherwise, live music means an après-ski band.

Both are fairly level here, and neither has historic baths of its own. Nuremberg relies on the German sauna culture, with a large thermal spa a short U-Bahn ride away in Fürth and floating saline pools at Bad Windsheim, plus slow beer garden afternoons.

Zermatt's strength is its many excellent hotel spas with mountain views, some open to non-residents. The car-free quiet and clear air are restful, though the village mood is active rather than lazy.