Strasbourg or Zurich?

Zurich is far the better place for a swim. Wooden bathing houses and lawned lidos line the lake right in the city at Utoquai, Enge and Mythenquai, the water is clean and clear, and at the Letten river baths you can drift down the Limmat with the current.

Strasbourg's swimming means the old gravel-pit lakes on its outskirts, such as the Baggersee at the end of a tram line. They are pleasant on a hot afternoon but nothing like as close or as attractive. In neither city is there sand, and neither is a beach vacation.

Strasbourg eats better, and more distinctively. Its winstubs serve choucroute garnie, baeckeoffe and tarte flambée with Riesling or Pinot Gris from the vineyards to the south, and the covered market and street markets are well stocked with Munster and charcuterie. The weak spots are the tourist menus around the cathedral and a narrow choice of other cuisines.

Zurich's cooking is reliable but more limited: veal Geschnetzeltes with rösti, fondue in the guild houses, and outstanding chocolate and pastries in the old tea rooms on Paradeplatz. It has a wider spread of international places around Langstrasse, but few markets and little street food, and every meal costs a lot.

Strasbourg has the richer set of sights. The pink sandstone cathedral with its astronomical clock, the timber-framed lanes of Petite France and the imperial avenues of the Neustadt together form a UNESCO-listed townscape that Zurich's old town cannot match. The Palais Rohan's three museums and the Alsatian Museum add depth on top.

Zurich's strength is in particular collections rather than the townscape. The Kunsthaus, with Monet, Munch and Giacometti, is the stronger art museum of the two cities, and the Chagall windows in the Fraumünster and the Grossmünster's Reformation history are the highlights of a neat, compact Altstadt.

Zurich goes out properly, and Strasbourg mostly does not. Zurich's electronic scene runs deep, with clubs in Kreis 4 and 5 and Zurich West open until morning at weekends, rough-edged Langstrasse at the centre of it and summer bars in the lake bathing houses. The cost of a round is the main brake on a long night.

Strasbourg's evenings revolve around bars: student places and beer cellars in the Krutenau and around Place Saint-Étienne, and full riverside terraces in summer. There are only a few clubs, and much of the city is quiet by midnight on weeknights.

Zurich has more striking scenery and more of it close by. The lake, with the snow-capped Glarus Alps at its far end, is part of the city, the Uetliberg ridge is a short train ride away, and high-mountain hiking on Rigi or Pilatus and skiing at Flumserberg are within an hour, all reachable by rail.

Strasbourg is flat and green, with the Orangerie, riverside forests with storks and beavers, and some of France's best cycling along the Rhine. Its hills are gentler: the forested Vosges with their castle ruins to the west and the Black Forest to the east, both easier to explore with a car.

Both cities make excellent bases, and the difference is in the kind of trip. From Strasbourg the days out are about wine and timber-framed towns: Colmar, the Alsace wine route through Riquewihr and Eguisheim, Haut-Koenigsbourg above the vineyards, then a second set in Germany with Baden-Baden, Freiburg and Heidelberg. The wine villages are much easier by car or bike.

From Zurich the rail network does all the work, and the trips are to lakes, waterfalls and other Swiss cities. Lucerne, Bern and St Gallen's abbey library are each about an hour away, and the Rhine Falls pair well with Stein am Rhein. Basel is within reach of both.

Zurich is the easier and more rewarding city with children. Its zoo, with the indoor Madagascar rainforest and the elephant park, is a full day on its own, the lake lidos have shallow areas made for small swimmers, and the Technorama and Lucerne's transport museum are short train rides away.

Strasbourg is pleasant and manageable, with boat trips through Petite France, storks and rowing boats in the Orangerie and the Vaisseau science centre. Its trump card is one Zurich lacks: Europa-Park, a major theme park about an hour away across the border.

Zurich is about as smooth as city transport gets. Trams, buses, S-Bahn trains, funiculars, the Uetliberg railway and even the lake boats all run on one ticket, and the airport is a short train ride from the main station.

Strasbourg is also easy without a car, but in a different way. Its island centre can be crossed on foot in twenty minutes, the trams reach as far as Kehl in Germany, and separated cycle lanes make a bike the quickest way about. It falls short of Zurich mainly beyond the city, where the wine villages and hills are much easier with a car.

Zurich is the stronger shopping city, though only at the top end. Bahnhofstrasse runs from the station to the lake past watchmakers, jewellers and fashion houses, and the railway viaduct arches in Zurich West hold design shops. Beyond luxury and design the range is narrow, and prices are high throughout.

Strasbourg is more about regional things to take home: Alsace wine, Soufflenheim pottery, printed linens and kougelhopf moulds from the lanes near the cathedral, with craft stalls at the December market. It has little luxury or fashion to speak of.

This is the largest gap between the two cities. Strasbourg costs what a big French regional city does, with reasonably priced winstub meals, cheap trams and bike hire and free old-town sights. Hotels are the main expense, and they climb sharply during the Christmas market and Parliament sessions.

Zurich is among the most expensive cities in the world to visit. Rooms, meals, drinks, museums and transport are all priced high. Supermarket lunches, lakeside picnics, the free public lidos and a visitor card help a little, but the same stay will cost far more than in Strasbourg.

Zurich has the bigger stage. The Opernhaus on the lake shore is among Europe's most respected opera and ballet houses, the Tonhalle Orchestra plays in a restored nineteenth-century hall, and the old Rote Fabrik factory and venues in Kreis 4 and 5 bring jazz, indie and electronic acts. The Schauspielhaus is a leading theatre, but nearly all of it is in German.

Strasbourg's calendar is serious for its size: the Opéra national du Rhin on Place Broglie, the Philharmonic and the Théâtre National de Strasbourg. Its particular strength is contemporary music, with the Musica festival every autumn.

The two are close here, and each has a spa town called Baden on its doorstep. From Strasbourg it is Baden-Baden, under an hour away, with the grand Friedrichsbad and Caracalla baths. In the city itself the tiled Bains municipaux, with their hammam and saunas, are a local habit.

Zurich's Swiss Baden is only twenty minutes by train. In town, the thermal baths in the vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery have a rooftop pool, and in the colder months the wooden bathing houses on the lake and the Limmat become saunas with cold-water dips between sessions.