Baden-Baden or Leipzig?

Neither city is on the coast, but Leipzig has the better swimming. The flooded mines to its south, including the Cospudener See and Markkleeberger See, have sandy shores and clear water you can reach by tram or bike. In a warm summer they make a real afternoon out.

Baden-Baden offers only outdoor pools and gravel-pit lakes out on the Rhine plain. Water there means thermal bathing, not a day on the sand.

The two are evenly matched for food, but the strengths differ. Baden-Baden has the richer regional cooking, with Flammkuchen, venison and Black Forest gateau, a French touch from across the Rhine, and Riesling and Pinot Noir from the Rebland villages. Some of Germany's most celebrated restaurants are a drive away in the Black Forest.

Leipzig eats more plainly and more casually. Saxon roasts and dumplings come with sour Gose beer and a coffee-house tradition going back three centuries. The international kitchens and beer gardens of the Südvorstadt and Plagwitz are the best places to eat.

Leipzig has more to fill a sightseeing itinerary. There is the Thomaskirche where Bach is buried and the Nikolaikirche of the 1989 revolution. The trade-fair arcades, the Stasi headquarters and the Battle of the Nations monument add more, along with solid museums such as the three Grassi collections.

In Baden-Baden the town itself is the sight. The Kurhaus, the Trinkhalle and the hillside villas recall the aristocratic spa era, and the Frieder Burda and Kunsthalle galleries are good. Even so, a day or two covers it.

This is one of the sharpest contrasts between the two. Leipzig is a student city with a loose electronic club scene in old warehouses that runs past dawn at weekends. It also has bar streets in the Karli, Connewitz and the converted mills of Plagwitz.

Baden-Baden's evenings are about dressing up for the Kurhaus casino, followed by a wine bar or hotel bar. The streets are quiet by late evening, and anyone wanting a club goes to Karlsruhe or Strasbourg.

Baden-Baden has the stronger landscape, because the northern Black Forest starts at its edge. The Merkur funicular climbs to wide views over the Rhine plain, trails run off into fir forest, and the High Road leads past the Mummelsee to the Hornisgrinde moorland, with mountain biking and some skiing in winter.

Leipzig is green but flat. Its strengths are the Auwald floodplain forest, canoeing on the canals and cycling or paddling around the mine lakes. For proper hiking you need a two-hour train ride.

Both are excellent bases for day trips, but they reach very different regions. From Baden-Baden you cross into France for Strasbourg and the Alsace wine villages, or take the train to Heidelberg and Freiburg. A car makes the Black Forest and Alsace much easier.

Leipzig sits at a rail hub, with Dresden, Weimar, Erfurt, Wittenberg and even Berlin all easy by train. These are mostly trips into German history, from the Reformation to the Bauhaus.

Leipzig is easier with children. Its zoo is among Europe's best and has the covered Gondwanaland hall for wet days, and there are sandy lake shores and a theme park nearby. Flat streets and trams make getting about with a pushchair simple.

Baden-Baden is safe and calm, with the funicular and forest walks, but the Friedrichsbad does not admit young children and the mood is adult. Families tend to drive an hour south to one of Europe's largest theme parks.

Leipzig is the easier city to get around without planning. The old town takes about fifteen minutes to cross on foot, trams and an underground S-Bahn reach the outer districts and the lakes, and the flat streets suit cycling. Day trips leave from the main station at the edge of the centre.

Baden-Baden's small centre is walkable but hilly in places. The station is a bus ride out in Oos, and the wine villages, the High Road and Alsace really call for a car.

Leipzig has the edge, mainly for its variety. The covered trade-fair arcades are good in any weather, and the west has design shops, vintage clothes, record stores and the Spinnerei mill full of galleries. The centre is otherwise mostly chain stores.

Baden-Baden is smaller but more upmarket. Jewellers, watchmakers and delicatessens line Sophienstraße and Lange Straße, but there are no department stores and no markets.

Leipzig is clearly cheaper. Its main saving is accommodation, with plenty of mid-range rooms close to the old town. Concert and opera tickets are reasonable, although meals and drinks cost about the German average.

Baden-Baden was built for the wealthy and still feels that way. Grand hotels set the level, and every visit to the baths is paid for separately. Guesthouses and wine taverns help, but a stay built around the spas soon becomes expensive.

Both towns have deep classical roots, but Leipzig's music is in another league. It has the Gewandhaus Orchestra, a full opera and ballet house across Augustusplatz, Bach's Thomanerchor singing in his own church, and the June Bachfest. Beyond classical music there are cabaret, indie clubs and the huge Whitsun goth gathering.

Baden-Baden's Festspielhaus attracts leading international orchestras and opera, and the Kurhaus and the small nineteenth-century theatre add more. Beyond classical music there is little.

Here Baden-Baden is in a class of its own. The domed Friedrichsbad takes you through a silent sequence of hot rooms and pools, Caracalla adds outdoor thermal pools and a large sauna area, and the whole town moves at the pace of a cure.

Leipzig has saunas and hotel spas but no bathing tradition. For real rest it offers walks in the floodplain forest and quiet Sundays.