Aarhus or Berlin?

Neither city is a beach destination, and the difference is sea against lake. In Aarhus you swim in the Kattegat itself, from fine sand at Bellevue, the old bathing pier at Den Permanente or Moesgaard Strand below the forest. The water is calm and shallow but stays cool even in August.

Berlin has no coast at all. In summer it heads for the lakes instead, with the long sandy lido at Wannsee and its wicker beach chairs, the Müggelsee and the small forest lakes reached by S-Bahn. The water there is noticeably warmer, which makes a swim easier to enjoy.

Berlin eats better, mainly because of its range. Turkish bakeries and grill houses in Kreuzberg and Neukölln, Vietnamese, Korean and Levantine cooking and street-food evenings in the market halls give you good meals at every price.

Aarhus is at its best at the top end, with tasting menus built on Jutland produce and fish from the bay, plus excellent rye sandwiches and cardamom pastries. Below that, choice thins out quickly, and there is little cheap eating outside the food halls.

Berlin is in another league here. Museum Island, Nefertiti, the old masters of the Gemäldegalerie and Charlottenburg Palace would be enough on their own. Then come the Reichstag, the Holocaust memorial, the Topography of Terror and the Wall at Bernauer Strasse, which bring the twentieth century home at the places where it happened.

Aarhus has three museums that punch well above the city's size: ARoS with its rainbow walkway, the open-air streets of Den Gamle By, and Moesgaard's Grauballe Man. Its old core, though, is just the Latin Quarter and the cathedral, enough for two or three days rather than a week.

Berlin is one of the cities people travel to just for the night. Its techno clubs in old power stations and factories have no fixed closing time, and around them are dense bar districts in Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg and Neukölln, so you can find a drink at almost any hour.

Aarhus has a cheerful student weekend in the riverside bars of Åboulevarden and the Latin Quarter cellars. Midweek it goes quiet, and two nights cover it.

Aarhus has the better landscape on its doorstep, because its forest meets the sea. Beech woods run down to the bay, deer feed from your hand in Marselisborg, and coastal paths link the beaches. Within an hour you can walk the glacial hills of Mols Bjerge or paddle the Gudenå below Himmelbjerget.

Berlin's green space is more urban: the Tiergarten, the runways of Tempelhof and the Wall Trail by bike. The Grunewald, the Havel and the Müggelsee are good for sailing and paddling, but there is no coast, and the countryside is even flatter.

The two are roughly level, but they offer different kinds of day out. From Berlin you get a few big names: Potsdam's palaces and gardens half an hour away, then Wittenberg, Leipzig, the Bauhaus in Dessau and a long day to Dresden.

Aarhus offers a spread of smaller places instead. There are the Tollund Man in Silkeborg, the Jelling runestones, cobbled Ebeltoft, Odense's Andersen sites and the Lego House in Billund. None is a headline sight, but there are plenty to choose from.

Berlin gives children more to do within the city: two large zoos, an aquarium, a towering dinosaur at the Natural History Museum and trains and planes at the Museum of Technology. Its weak points are the lack of a theme park and history sights that are heavy for young ones.

Aarhus has a gentler set of things to do in town, such as Den Gamle By, small Tivoli Friheden and the deer park. For the big days out you have to leave the city: Djurs Sommerland and Legoland are both around an hour away, so plan on a car or a long bus ride.

Berlin's network is the more complete. U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses share one ticket, and trains run all night at weekends. That matters, because Mitte, Kreuzberg and Charlottenburg are separate centres a fair ride apart.

Aarhus barely needs a network. Its main sights are a short walk from the station, and bike lanes and the light rail handle the beaches and Moesgaard.

Berlin offers far more to browse. The Kurfürstendamm and KaDeWe cover the big brands, and Mitte has concept stores. The real draw is the Sunday flea markets at Mauerpark and Boxhagener Platz, full of vinyl, old furniture and East German curios.

Aarhus is worth a morning if you love Danish design. The Latin Quarter's small shops sell ceramics, lighting and clean-lined clothes. Beyond that there is mostly a chain-store pedestrian street.

Berlin is noticeably easier on a budget. Döner, Vietnamese canteens and Kneipe beer keep daily costs reasonable, hotels are cheap for a capital, and one day ticket covers the whole city.

In Aarhus, meals, drinks, coffee and taxis all cost high Nordic prices. Bakeries, food halls and supermarket picnics help, and so does a compact centre that you can see on foot or by bike for nothing.

Berlin has three opera houses, the Berlin Philharmonic in Scharoun's Philharmonie and stages such as the Berliner Ensemble and the Schaubühne. Add a deep circuit of jazz cellars and experimental music spaces, and there is a serious choice every night.

Aarhus puts nearly everything in one place, Musikhuset, home to the symphony orchestra and the Danish National Opera. Rock and jazz venues in the old railway yards add to it. The calendar is fullest during the summer jazz festival and Aarhus Festuge.

Neither city has thermal springs, and each follows its own sauna tradition. Berlin's is the more developed. It has large German sauna complexes with infusion rituals and quiet rooms, mixed and clothes-free, and the columned halls of the Stadtbad Neukölln. Brandenburg's spa resorts are about an hour away.

Aarhus offers something rawer: wood-fired saunas on the harbour and at Den Permanente, with a cold plunge into the bay between rounds, all year round.