Zermatt or Zurich?

Zermatt's mountain tarns are fed by meltwater. They are lovely with the Matterhorn reflected in them but far too cold to swim in, so a swim in Zermatt means a hotel pool.

Zurich is also inland, yet it is a real swimming city from June to early September. Lawned lidos and wooden bathing houses line the lake, and at the Letten river baths swimmers let the Limmat carry them downstream. You swim from grass and decks rather than sand, but neither city has a beach and Zurich is far ahead of Zermatt here.

Zermatt's best meals are on the mountain. Long lunches on chalet terraces at Findeln, Furi and Zum See, reached on skis or on foot, come with raclette, air-dried beef and Valais wines such as Petite Arvine. The range is narrow, though, and out of season many kitchens close.

Zurich has more variety and keeps it going all year. It ranges from veal Geschnetzeltes with rösti in the Altstadt guild houses to the casual, international places of Kreis 4 and 5. Its chocolate and confectionery, led by the old tea rooms on Paradeplatz, are a pleasure Zermatt can't match. Both are expensive at every level.

Zermatt's heritage is all about mountaineering. There is the Matterhorn Museum on the first ascent of 1865, the climbers' graves beside the church and the larch-wood granaries of the Hinterdorf, all easily seen in a morning. People come for the peaks, not the sights.

Zurich fills two or three full days. The Kunsthaus, the Swiss National Museum and the Rietberg are serious collections. The Altstadt adds the Grossmünster, where the Swiss Reformation began, and Chagall's stained glass in the Fraumünster.

Zermatt's nightlife is après-ski. Slope-side bars fill with ski boots and loud music from late afternoon, and a few bars and small clubs on the main street keep going on winter weekends. In summer the hikers turn in early, and between seasons little is open.

Zurich has a real club culture. Electronic music runs until morning in Kreis 4 and 5 and in Zurich West, Langstrasse is the rough-edged centre of it all, and the Street Parade takes over the lake shore every August. On summer evenings people move to the bars in the lake bathing houses.

Nature is where Zermatt wins. The Matterhorn stands over the village, lifts climb to the Gornergrat and to more than 3,800m at the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, and the glacier keeps some pistes open in summer. Once the snow melts, trails lead to the Five Lakes, the Hörnli hut and the Europaweg suspension bridge.

Zurich's nature is gentler and centres on the lake: promenades along both shores, plus the Uetliberg and the Albis ridge on the edge of town. Rigi, Pilatus and Flumserberg are about an hour away and make fine days out. But you come back to the city each evening rather than waking up under four-thousand-metre peaks.

From Zermatt, every outing starts with a long train ride down the valley. Sion, with its castle hills and steep vineyards, is the best of them, and Brig and Saas-Fee are also within reach. Most visitors spend their spare days in the mountains instead.

Zurich sits at the hub of the Swiss railways. Lucerne is under an hour away, and Bern, Basel and the abbey library at St Gallen are about an hour each. The Rhine Falls, Stein am Rhein and the lake boat to Rapperswil add more choice, and all are easy without a car.

Zermatt's car-free lanes are calm and safe. Children enjoy the nursery slopes at Sunnegga, spotting marmots and riding the cog railways. Beyond that, little is built for them, rainy days drag, and the highest viewpoints can be too cold and thin-aired for small children.

Zurich has much more to keep children busy, especially younger ones. There is the zoo with its Madagascar rainforest hall and elephant park, lake lidos with shallow areas and boat trips for all ages. The Technorama and Lucerne's Swiss Museum of Transport are an easy train ride away.

You won't need a car in either, but they work differently. Zermatt is a compact, car-free strip where you walk to the cog railway, the Sunnegga funicular and the gondolas, with electric taxis for the outlying stations. The drawbacks are steep climbs to the hotels on the edges and a train ride of over an hour to leave the valley.

Zurich goes further. Trams, S-Bahn trains, funiculars and lake boats all run on one ticket, services are punctual, and the airport is a short train ride from the main station.

Shopping in Zermatt means one main street of watch boutiques, souvenir shops and excellent ski and mountaineering outfitters. It is worth a visit if you need gear, and little more.

Zurich has Bahnhofstrasse, one of the world's great luxury streets, as well as antique shops in the Niederdorf, design shops in the viaduct arches of Zurich West and flea markets on summer Saturdays. Both cities lead with watches, but only Zurich is worth an afternoon of browsing.

Both are about as expensive as travel in Europe gets, so the difference lies in how you cut the bill. In Zermatt that means self-catering, supermarket picnics and sleeping down the valley in Täsch, while lift and railway tickets can't be avoided.

In Zurich, the travel pass and a visitor card that bundles transport with museum entry help a little. The lake lidos and drinking fountains are free.

Zermatt has no theatre or concert hall. Outside its two festivals, Zermatt Unplugged in spring and a chamber music festival in late summer, live music means a band in an après-ski bar.

Zurich runs a full season. There is opera and ballet at the Opernhaus, the Tonhalle Orchestra in its restored concert hall, and the Schauspielhaus, though most of its plays are in German. The Rote Fabrik and venues around Kreis 4 and 5 cover jazz, indie and electronic acts.

Zermatt relies on its hotel spas, many with mountain views and some open to day visitors. The car-free streets and clear air add to the quiet, although peak weeks feel active rather than restful.

Zurich offers somewhat more, with real bathing. There are thermal pools in the stone vaults of the old Hürlimann brewery, topped by a rooftop pool, and winter saunas in the wooden bathing houses on the lake and the river. Baden's hot springs, in use since Roman times, are about twenty minutes away by train.