Bamberg or Heidelberg?

Neither town is a beach destination, and the sea is a long journey from both. The real difference is how close the water is. In Bamberg you can swim in the Regnitz at the old bathing spot in the Hain park, or at gravel-pit lakes on the edge of town. In Heidelberg the Neckar is not for swimming, the lakes on the Rhine plain are about half an hour out, and the outdoor pools are the only option in town.

Bamberg is the better place to eat and, above all, to drink. Its dense cluster of small breweries, its Rauchbier poured from wooden barrels and its summer Bierkeller on the hillsides make the beer a reason to go in itself. Schäufele, dumplings and market-garden produce from Grüner Markt back it up.

Heidelberg's strength is wine rather than beer, with Bergstrasse Riesling and white asparagus in spring. The main tourist streets are uneven, though, and the better meals take some finding in Neuenheim or the village wine taverns. Neither town has much range, but Heidelberg's students keep cheap international food more plentiful.

Bamberg has the deeper old town. The whole centre is UNESCO-listed and came through the war largely intact. The walk from the Old Town Hall on its river island up to the four-towered cathedral, the Neue Residenz and Michaelsberg feels like one continuous historic townscape.

Heidelberg has the more famous single image in its red sandstone castle ruin, along with the Old University and the graffiti-covered Student Prison. Still, its sights are a compact set that most visitors finish in a day or two. In both towns the museums are modest and the streets are the main attraction.

Heidelberg has a little more going on after dark. That is mostly down to the Untere Strasse, a lane packed with small student pubs, plus a handful of clubs and late bars out towards the station. Bamberg's evenings are slower and centred on beer, in the brewery taverns, the student bars of the Sand quarter and the summer beer cellars. Both towns go quiet early out of term, and for a proper club night you take the train, to Nuremberg from Bamberg or to Mannheim or Frankfurt from Heidelberg.

Both offer gentle walking and cycling country rather than mountains, but Heidelberg has the woods on its doorstep. The Philosophers' Walk and the funicular up the Königstuhl put you on forest trails within minutes of the old town.

Bamberg's best landscapes lie a little further out. Franconian Switzerland has limestone valleys, caves and climbing crags, the Steigerwald has its beech forests, and cycle paths run along the Main. Many hikes there end at a village brewery.

Both are excellent bases, and Heidelberg has the slightly richer spread. Speyer's cathedral, Schwetzingen's palace and Worms are within easy reach, and Mainz and Frankfurt are about an hour away. The Palatinate wine villages, Baden-Baden and, on a long day, Strasbourg are also possible.

From Bamberg the list is shorter but strong. Nuremberg, Würzburg's Residence, Coburg and Bayreuth are each about an hour by train or less. Vierzehnheiligen and Banz Abbey are closer still, and Rothenburg makes a long day out.

Heidelberg is much the easier choice with children. There is the funicular to the castle and the Königstuhl, the fairy-tale park at the top and the zoo by the Neckar. The Technik Museum Speyer has aircraft and a submarine to climb into, and a large theme park is under an hour away.

Bamberg is calm and safe but has little made for young visitors beyond the Hain playgrounds, rowing boats on the Regnitz and a leisure pool with slides. Its beer gardens, where children play among the tables, are its most family-friendly side. In both towns the cobbled, sloping lanes are hard work with a pushchair.

You need a car in neither town. Both have a station a fair way from the old town and steep cobbled climbs to their hilltop sights. Bamberg is the more compact: the island town, the cathedral hill and Little Venice sit close together and you cover them on foot in minutes.

Heidelberg's Altstadt is a long strip along the Hauptstrasse. Trams bring you in from the station, and a funicular takes you up the castle hill, so you walk less of the way yourself.

Heidelberg offers a little more, mainly because the Hauptstrasse is one of Germany's longest pedestrian streets. It has chains and department stores at the western end, souvenirs and Studentenkuss chocolates towards the market square, and a few design boutiques in the side lanes. Frankfurt and Mannheim are close for anything bigger.

Bamberg's shopping is smaller and more local. The high-street names gather around Grüner Markt, but the things worth taking home are market-garden produce, bottled Rauchbier and finds from the antique dealers near the cathedral.

Bamberg is the cheaper stay. Its hotels and guesthouses are moderately priced for most of the year, getting tighter mainly at weekends and in the Christmas market season. Beer and tavern meals cost less than in a big German city.

Heidelberg's problem is rooms. The hotel stock is small and demand from congresses, graduations and summer weekends is heavy, so prices go up and many visitors sleep in Mannheim instead. Meals stay reasonable thanks to student cafés and bakeries.

The two are close here, but they offer different evenings. Bamberg's draw is one orchestra of international standing, the Bamberg Symphony, in its concert hall on the Regnitz. Add drama at the ETA Hoffmann Theatre and organ concerts in the cathedral. For opera, people from Bamberg go to the Bayreuth Festival, an hour away.

Heidelberg's programme is broader. Its municipal theatre stages opera, drama and dance, the Heidelberger Frühling brings chamber music in spring, and the castle courtyard hosts open-air performances in summer. Mannheim's larger house is a short train ride away.

Neither town has thermal baths of its own, so in both the warm pools mean a short trip out. From Bamberg it is the brine baths of Bad Staffelstein, about half an hour away. From Heidelberg it is the Kraichgau spa towns, about as close, with Baden-Baden further south.

The calm is different in each. Bamberg empties of day visitors in the evening and slows to riverside mornings and beer-garden afternoons. In Heidelberg you find quiet on the Neuenheim meadows and the forest paths, away from the midday crowds on the Hauptstrasse.