Annecy or Freiburg?

Annecy has a real summer swimming vacation and Freiburg does not. Lake Annecy is clean and green-blue, and from late June to early September it warms enough for long swims. You can swim from the lawns at Albigny and the Marquisats or from the village beaches round the shore at Sevrier and Talloires.

Freiburg's swimming is more improvised. You cycle out to flooded gravel pits on the Rhine plain or drive an hour to Titisee and Schluchsee, which are scenic but chilly. Its open-air pools crowd up in July. Neither town has sand, but only Annecy is worth visiting for the water.

Freiburg eats better and more widely. Baden cooking has a light French touch, with Flammkuchen and Schäufele, Black Forest ham and spring asparagus. The Kaiserstuhl Pinot Noir and the daily Münster market sausage are local rituals, and some of Germany's best fine dining is close by.

Annecy's table is heavier and narrower: fondue, tartiflette and raclette, with lake féra and Savoie whites alongside. Its arcaded market mornings are a highlight. Still, many canal-side terraces turn out the same cheese menu for visitors, and the better cooking is out in Talloires and Veyrier.

Freiburg offers more to see and more depth behind it. The red sandstone Münster has a tower you can climb. The Augustinermuseum holds medieval sculpture and painting, and between the medieval gates and the Kaufhaus you can easily fill a day or two, even though much of the centre was rebuilt after the war.

Annecy's heritage is the setting itself, with canals, pastel arcades and the island prison of the Palais de l'Isle. The château museum and a couple of churches are lovely, but an unhurried day covers them all.

Freiburg has more of an evening. Its student population fills the pubs, wine bars and beer gardens around the Martinstor, and a few clubs play techno and indie, with term-time busier than the break. Annecy is mostly a terrace glass by the canals or the lake. It stays up late only in summer, and outside the season it is quiet by midnight, with Geneva or Lyon the answer for a real night out.

Both towns sit right against the mountains, but Annecy has the grander outdoors. Peaks rise straight out of the lake to the Tournette and the Parmelan. The Col de la Forclaz is one of Europe's great paragliding launches, the water is made for paddleboarding and sailing, and the Aravis ski resorts and Mont Blanc are close.

Freiburg's Black Forest is gentler but still excellent. The Schauinsland cable car takes you up to ridge trails with Alpine views, the Feldberg offers hiking and reliable winter snow, and the forested hills make for very good mountain biking. Lower down, the volcanic Kaiserstuhl vineyards and the flat Rhine plain are made for easy cycling.

Freiburg's corner where three countries meet gives it the wider spread of outings, though Annecy is well placed too. From Annecy, Geneva is under an hour away, Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains are short train rides, and Chamonix makes a fine mountain day. Most of the outings are lakes and peaks, and Lyon is a long day out.

From Freiburg, Basel is about 45 minutes by train, and you can reach Colmar, the half-timbered Alsace villages of Riquewihr and Eguisheim, and Strasbourg. Staufen and Breisach are closer still, and the bathhouses of Baden-Baden are about an hour north by fast train.

Freiburg is the easier and fuller family base. Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about forty minutes away. The Mundenhof animal park is free, and children love racing toy boats along the Bächle and riding the Schauinsland cable car. The one weak spot is rainy days.

Annecy is safe and pleasant with pedal boats, lake cruises, summer toboggan runs and the lakeside parks. It has no zoo, aquarium or theme park, though, and away from summer the lake loses its pull for children.

Freiburg is far simpler without a car. The centre is largely car-free, trams run out to the suburbs and the cable car, and bike lanes cover the city. Regional trains climb the Höllental into the Black Forest, and many hotels hand guests a card for local transport.

Annecy is walkable and good for cycling along its shore path, and lake boats link the villages in summer. Trailheads, passes and Chamonix are far easier to reach with a hire car, and that means sitting in summer traffic round the lake.

Neither is a shopping destination. In both, the best things to take home are edible, and serious shoppers go over the border, to Geneva from Annecy and to Basel from Freiburg. The differences are in the souvenirs. Annecy has Savoyard cheese, génépi and cutlery shops along Rue Sainte-Claire. Freiburg has Kaiserstuhl wine, Black Forest ham, cuckoo clocks and the bookshops and organic stores of the Gerberau.

Freiburg is somewhat kinder on the wallet. Its rooms are scarce and pricey on summer weekends, but market snacks, student-quarter restaurants and tram fares keep day-to-day spending moderate.

Annecy is costly all year because Geneva is so close, and in summer the lakeside hotels charge resort rates. The lake beaches, trails and cycle path are free, and coming outside high summer or renting an apartment helps more there than in Freiburg.

Freiburg has the more serious stage. The municipal theatre stages opera, drama and dance in repertory. The Konzerthaus is home to the Freiburger Barockorchester, a leading period-instrument ensemble, and the Zelt-Musik-Festival fills a tent village each summer.

Annecy relies on Bonlieu by the lake for contemporary theatre, dance and circus, plus a summer classical festival and the Fête du Lac fireworks. For opera you have to go to Geneva or Lyon.

Freiburg is the better choice for spa days. A thermal bath with saunas sits on the city's edge, and Bad Krozingen's warm outdoor pools are twenty minutes away. Badenweiler's Roman ruins and the grand bathhouses of Baden-Baden are close as well.

Annecy relaxes you through its pace and its views of the lake, with hotel spas around Talloires and Veyrier. For proper thermal bathing you travel to Aix-les-Bains or Saint-Gervais, and July and August crowds take the edge off the calm.