Baden-Baden or Padua?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Padua at least has the sea within reach. The Adriatic at Sottomarina or the Lido of Venice is about an hour away, warm, shallow and calm enough for small children, though the shore is long rows of umbrellas rather than scenery. From Baden-Baden the coast is out of reach, and summer swimming means outdoor pools or the gravel lakes on the Rhine plain.

Padua is the better place to eat. Its food centres on the twin markets beneath the Palazzo della Ragione and on Venetian home cooking such as bigoli with duck sauce and baccalà. The early-evening spritz with small bites is a daily ritual, and the Euganean Hills supply the local wine.

Baden-Baden's strength is wine, mainly Riesling and Pinot Noir from the Rebland villages, plus Black Forest staples and cake. The town centre leans towards hotel dining and cafés, so for its best meals you drive into the forest.

Padua has the more important art. Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel alone justifies a visit, and around it are the UNESCO-listed fresco cycles, Donatello's work at the Basilica of Saint Anthony, the world's oldest permanent anatomical theatre and a botanical garden founded in 1545.

Baden-Baden is better seen as a single ensemble: a spa resort of the aristocratic age, with the Kurhaus, the Trinkhalle and the Lichtentaler Allee, plus good modern art at the Museum Frieder Burda. Both centres can be covered in a couple of days, but Padua's sights carry far more weight.

Padua's evenings are livelier by some distance. During term, students and locals fill Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori from aperitivo hour until late, and small wine bars run through the old ghetto. Clubs are few in both places.

Baden-Baden's one signature night out is the gilded casino in the Kurhaus, which has a dress code. Otherwise it is hotel bars, an older crowd and quiet streets well before midnight.

Baden-Baden has the edge because the forest starts at the town's edge. The Merkur funicular, the Battert cliffs and the Panoramaweg are all close to the centre, and the Black Forest High Road leads up to the Mummelsee and the moorland of the Hornisgrinde, with modest skiing in winter.

Padua sits on a flat plain, so getting outdoors takes a short trip. The Euganean Hills, about 15km away, offer vineyard trails and good road cycling, and the Brenta towpaths make easy bike rides. For real mountain walking, the pre-Alps are about an hour and a half by car.

Baden-Baden is a good base, but its outings take more time and planning. Strasbourg's cathedral and Petite France are about an hour away, Heidelberg and Freiburg are each roughly an hour by train, and the UNESCO sites at Speyer and Maulbronn are about an hour by car. Many of the best trips, along the Alsace wine route to Colmar or into the Black Forest towns, really need a car.

Padua is the stronger base by a wide margin. Venice is under half an hour by train, close enough to visit on several days and still sleep somewhere quieter. Vicenza's Palladian buildings are a quarter of an hour away, Verona and Bologna about an hour, and the Brenta villas and the walled towns around the Euganean Hills are closer still. Almost all of it can be done without a car.

Baden-Baden is slightly the better choice for children, mostly for what lies around it. The funicular, the forest trails and the park along the Oos are easy outings, and Europa-Park, one of Europe's largest theme parks, is about an hour away. The town is still made for adults, though, and the Friedrichsbad does not admit young children.

Padua's flat, traffic-free centre and child-friendly trattorias make everyday life easy, and Prato della Valle has room to run. Its main sights, however, are frescoes and churches, so families end up heading for Gardaland or the Adriatic.

Padua is the easier city to get around. Its centre is flat and arcaded, mostly closed to traffic, and everything from the Scrovegni Chapel to the Basilica is within a 20-minute walk. A tram runs from the station, and the main rail lines go in every direction.

Baden-Baden's centre is just as compact, but some streets are steep and the station sits a few kilometres out in Oos. Trains serve the bigger cities well, but the wine villages, the High Road and Alsace really need a car.

The two are close, but they differ in kind. Baden-Baden's Sophienstraße and Lange Straße are polished and upmarket, with jewellers, watchmakers and boutiques aimed at spa guests, but there is little beyond them.

Padua offers more variety: Italian fashion and shoe shops under the arcades, university bookshops, food markets every morning for cheese and wine to take home, and a large antiques market in Prato della Valle one Sunday a month.

Padua is noticeably cheaper. Its hotels are moderately priced for the region, which is why many people base themselves there for Venice. Market food and standing drinks cost little, and you can walk almost everywhere.

Baden-Baden still caters to the wealthy, with grand hotels setting price levels and a charge for every visit to the baths. Guesthouses and wine taverns help, but a stay built around the spas adds up quickly.

Baden-Baden is the stronger choice here, which is unusual for such a small town. The Festspielhaus, one of Germany's largest opera and concert houses, brings leading international orchestras and opera productions, and the town's own philharmonic and its small nineteenth-century theatre add to the programme. Brahms and Clara Schumann both worked here.

Padua offers a smaller local programme: theatre and some opera at Teatro Verdi, and chamber concerts in the Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica. For major opera, you take the train to La Fenice in Venice or the summer Arena in Verona.

Baden-Baden exists for its waters, and it shows. The domed Friedrichsbad takes you through a fixed, silent sequence of hot rooms and pools, Caracalla next door adds large indoor and outdoor pools and saunas, and the whole town keeps to the same unhurried pace.

Padua has a serious spa option as well, but outside the city. Abano and Montegrotto Terme, about 12km away, form one of Europe's largest thermal districts, famous for their mud treatments. A soak there is easy after a morning of sightseeing, but it is a side trip rather than the heart of the stay.