Baden-Baden or Freiburg?

You won't find a beach near either town, but Freiburg gives you more options for a summer swim. Its gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain warm up nicely, and Titisee and Schluchsee in the Black Forest are about an hour away for a cooler swim with a view.

In Baden-Baden, the water is warm and indoors. Apart from a few outdoor pools and the gravel pits further west, people go there to bathe, not to swim.

Both towns cook in the Baden style, with Flammkuchen, Black Forest ham and cherry gateau, but Freiburg gives you more to eat. Its daily market around the Münster, the grilled sausage stalls, mountain trout and spring asparagus, and the old taverns of the student quarter offer more variety at an everyday level.

Baden-Baden's centre mostly offers smart hotel dining and cafés serving cake and coffee. Its real strength is wine: the Riesling and Pinot Noir taverns of Neuweier and Varnhalt are just outside town.

The two are about even, but the experience is quite different. Baden-Baden itself is the sight: a nineteenth-century spa resort of colonnades, villas and the gilded Kurhaus, with modern art at the Museum Frieder Burda and Roman bath ruins beneath the old town.

Freiburg is a medieval city centred on its red sandstone Gothic Münster, with the Martinstor and Schwabentor gates and the Augustinermuseum's medieval sculpture. Much of it was rebuilt after the war. Each town fills a day or two well.

Freiburg has far more going on after dark. Students fill the pubs and wine bars around the Martinstor, people sit out on the squares and along the Dreisam on summer nights, and a few clubs cover techno and indie, though it is quieter between semesters.

Baden-Baden's evenings are early and formal. The casino with its dress code is the main event, and beyond that there are hotel bars and wine bars. The streets are quiet by late evening.

Both towns sit right on the edge of the Black Forest, but Freiburg's side is higher and more varied. You can take the cable car up the Schauinsland to about 1,280m for views to the Alps, and the Feldberg is near enough for proper hiking or reliable winter skiing. The volcanic Kaiserstuhl hills are good for gentle cycling.

Baden-Baden's hills are lower and more wooded. The Merkur funicular, the Battert cliffs and the High Road out to the Mummelsee and Hornisgrinde make good walking country, but the winter snow is modest.

Both are excellent bases, so the choice comes down to which direction you want to go. From Baden-Baden you can head north and east to Heidelberg's castle, the UNESCO-listed cathedral at Speyer, Maulbronn's monastery and the palaces at Karlsruhe and Rastatt, while Strasbourg is about an hour away.

From Freiburg, you are in the corner where three countries meet. Basel is about 45 minutes away by train, Colmar and Eguisheim are closer than they are from Baden-Baden, and Breisach and Staufen are on the doorstep.

Freiburg is clearly better with children. Its flat centre suits family cycling, children can splash in the Bächle channels, and the Mundenhof animal park, the Schauinsland cable car and Steinwasen's suspension bridge will fill several days. Europa-Park is about 40 minutes away.

Baden-Baden is safe and easy to walk round, but it is designed for adults. The Friedrichsbad does not admit young children, so families tend to stay there and spend their days elsewhere.

Baden-Baden's compact centre is fine on foot, but Freiburg is clearly the easier town to get around, especially without a car. Baden-Baden's sights are close together on hilly ground, and the town has no trams, so anything beyond walking means a bus, starting with the ride in from the station out in Oos. The Rebland villages, the Mummelsee and Alsace are really day trips for a hire car.

Freiburg's main station is within walking distance of the old town. Beyond that, the flat, mostly pedestrian centre, the trams and the city's cycling habit get you almost everywhere, including out to the Schauinsland cable car. Trains up the Höllental into the Black Forest and south to Basel mean you rarely need a car, and only the Alsace villages and a few side valleys really call for one.

Neither town is a shopping destination, but they are modest in different ways. Baden-Baden's Sophienstraße and Lange Straße are polished, with jewellers, watchmakers and boutiques for a wealthy spa crowd, but there are no department stores or markets.

Freiburg is the opposite. There is no luxury shopping, but you'll find the usual chains on Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse, independent shops in the Gerberau and the Münster market for wine, schnapps and crafts. Serious shoppers head for Strasbourg from Baden-Baden or Basel from Freiburg.

Freiburg is the more affordable of the two, though neither is cheap. Hotel rooms in Freiburg are hard to find on summer weekends, but market snacks, student-quarter restaurants and a free visit to the Münster keep everyday spending down.

Baden-Baden was built for wealthy visitors, and grand hotels still set the prices. Every visit to the baths costs extra, so a spa-focused stay adds up quickly, although the guesthouses and wine taverns are reasonable.

Baden-Baden has the stronger classical programme. The Festspielhaus, built into the old railway station, is one of Germany's largest opera and concert halls and attracts leading international performers. Add the town's philharmonic in the Kurhaus, the small nineteenth-century theatre and the legacy of Brahms and Clara Schumann.

Freiburg offers a wider mix on a smaller scale: repertory opera and dance at the municipal theatre, the respected Freiburger Barockorchester, a student jazz scene and summer concerts at the Zelt-Musik-Festival.

This is where Baden-Baden stands apart. The town grew up around hot springs the Romans used, and the domed Friedrichsbad and the Caracalla complex are right in the centre. The early evenings and walks along the Lichtentaler Allee all help you slow down.

Freiburg has a thermal bath on its eastern edge, and good spas at Bad Krozingen and Badenweiler a short trip south. It is a calm place to stay, but for the best bathing in the region, people take the train north to Baden-Baden.