Annecy or Heidelberg?

Annecy wins easily here. Its lake is clean enough to swim in from late June to early September, with lawn beaches at Albigny and the Marquisats in town and small village beaches around the shore at Sevrier and Talloires.

Heidelberg has nothing like it. The Neckar is not for swimming, so on a hot day people go to an outdoor pool or a gravel-pit lake on the Rhine plain. Neither town has sand or surf, but only Annecy can carry a summer of swimming.

Annecy's Savoyard food has the stronger character: fondue, tartiflette and Reblochon, with féra and char from the lake. Its arcaded market mornings are a real highlight, and the acclaimed tables at Talloires and Veyrier lift the top end.

Heidelberg's strength is its wine more than its cooking, with Bergstrasse and Palatinate Riesling poured alongside Schäufele, Flammkuchen and spring asparagus. Both towns have tourist streets where quality slips, and in both the better meals are in the side streets and nearby villages.

Heidelberg has more to see. There is the red sandstone castle ruin with the Great Tun, the old town rebuilt in baroque style after 1693, the Old Bridge, and the university founded in 1386 with its graffiti-covered Student Prison. Together they fill a day or two.

Annecy's appeal is mostly in how it looks: the Palais de l'Isle on its island in the canal, the pastel arcades and the château museum above. An unhurried day covers all of it.

Neither town is a place for big nights out, but Heidelberg has more going on after dark. Annecy's evenings centre on the water and the canals: an aperitif outside, a long dinner, then perhaps one of a few wine or cocktail bars. It is at its best in summer, when people stay out along the lakefront and in the old town until late. From autumn to spring the streets empty early, and anyone who wants to dance goes to Geneva or Lyon.

In Heidelberg, going out revolves around the university rather than the scenery. The Untere Strasse packs a row of small student pubs into one Altstadt lane, and the old taverns nearby, with their carved tables, have a sense of history that Annecy's terraces lack. The town's evenings follow the academic year rather than the weather, busy in term and subdued in the breaks, and for a real club night Mannheim and Frankfurt are within reach by train.

This is Annecy's great advantage. Real mountains rise from the lake shore. There is hiking on Mont Veyrier and the Semnoz, paragliding from the Col de la Forclaz, and paddleboarding and sailing on the water, with the Aravis ski resorts and Mont Blanc within reach.

Heidelberg's countryside is gentler: forest trails on the Königstuhl and the Heiligenberg, the Philosophers' Walk, the Neckar cycle path and almond blossom on the Bergstrasse. It is pleasant green walking country, not Alpine adventure.

Heidelberg has more easy outings. Speyer's cathedral and the palace at Schwetzingen are about half an hour away, Worms, Lorsch and Maulbronn are close by, and Frankfurt, Mainz and the Palatinate wine villages are around an hour out.

Annecy has strong choices too: Geneva under an hour away, Chamonix beneath Mont Blanc, and Chambéry and Aix-les-Bains by train. Its best outings, though, are mostly about scenery and mountain towns rather than a long run of historic cities.

Both are safe, manageable towns for children, but they keep them busy in different ways. Annecy is a summer lake vacation, with beaches, pedal boats, the flat cycle path along the shore and mountain toboggan runs, but there is little for children outside the warm months.

Heidelberg has the attractions built for children that Annecy lacks: a zoo, the fairy-tale park on the Königstuhl, the Technik Museum Speyer and a theme park under an hour away. On the other hand, its cobbled, sloping old town is harder with a pushchair than Annecy's flat streets.

Both centres are easy on foot, but Heidelberg is easier beyond them. One fare system covers trams, buses and the S-Bahn across the Rhine-Neckar area, so day trips need no car, and a funicular takes you up to the castle.

In Annecy the old town, lakefront and station are close together, and bikes and summer lake boats work well along the shore. For trailheads, mountain passes and Chamonix, though, many visitors hire a car, and summer traffic around the lake can be slow.

Neither is a shopping destination, and serious shoppers go elsewhere: to Geneva from Annecy, to Mannheim or Frankfurt from Heidelberg. The difference is in what each offers. Annecy is about markets and food to take home, such as Savoyard cheese, sausage and génépi, plus kitchenware and outdoor gear around Rue Sainte-Claire. Heidelberg has the long pedestrian Hauptstrasse with chains and department stores, a few bookshops and boutiques in the side lanes, and Bergstrasse wine to bring back.

Heidelberg is the somewhat cheaper place to stay. Hotels are the main cost and get tight during congresses and graduations, but student cafés and taverns keep meals reasonable, and the regional ticket makes day trips good value.

Annecy charges resort rates in summer, and being next to wealthy Geneva keeps prices high all year. What helps is that the lake beaches, mountain trails and cycle path are free, and coming in the shoulder seasons makes it noticeably cheaper.

Heidelberg has more for an evening out. Its municipal theatre stages opera, drama and dance, and its philharmonic orchestra gives regular concerts. The Heidelberger Frühling festival and the summer shows in the castle courtyard add seasonal highlights, and Mannheim's larger house is twenty minutes away.

In Annecy, performances centre on Bonlieu by the lake, with contemporary theatre, dance and circus, plus a summer classical festival and the Fête du Lac fireworks in August. For opera you have to travel to Geneva or Lyon.

Neither town has thermal baths of its own. Both rely on hotel spas and a short trip out: to Aix-les-Bains or Saint-Gervais from Annecy, and to the Kraichgau spa towns or Baden-Baden from Heidelberg.

The difference is where you slow down. In Annecy it is a lakeside hotel spa at Talloires or Veyrier and a lazy morning by the water. In Heidelberg it is an evening on the Neckar meadows in Neuenheim or a quiet forest path above the Philosophers' Walk.