Bamberg or Wroclaw?

Neither city is a beach destination, and the sea is about a day's travel from both. They differ in what summer water means. In Bamberg you actually swim, at the old river bathing spot in the Hain park or in the gravel-pit lakes at the edge of town. Wroclaw's sandy beaches along the Oder are for deckchairs and a drink rather than a swim, and getting into the water means a pool or a lake out in the countryside.

Bamberg is the stronger place to eat and drink, mainly because of its beer. Rauchbier poured from wooden barrels in old brewery taverns, and summer evenings at the Bierkeller on the hillsides, give it a food culture people travel for. The Franconian cooking of Schäufele, dumplings and Bratwurst is hearty and well done, though there is little else on offer.

Wroclaw's pierogi, żurek in a bread bowl and milk-bar lunches are satisfying, and the bistros just off the Market Square bring a lighter touch. Its brewpubs and craft taps are good, but nothing here matches the depth of Bamberg's brewing tradition.

The two are well matched for sightseeing, but in different ways. Bamberg is a genuine medieval and baroque town whose old town survived the war largely intact and is listed by UNESCO as a whole. You get to know it by walking between the cathedral hill, the Old Town Hall on its island and Little Venice, rather than by visiting its small museums.

Wroclaw's grand Market Square is largely a careful post-war rebuild, and that layered history is part of its interest. It also has more to see indoors: the Racławice Panorama, Silesian art at the National Museum, the gilded Aula Leopoldina and the Centennial Hall of 1913. It is the better choice if you like collections as well as streets.

Wroclaw is clearly the better place for a night out. Its huge student population fills the cellar bars and the courtyard passage off Ruska Street, and at weekends people move from shot bars to cocktail bars until well after 2am.

Bamberg's evenings belong to brewery taverns and summer beer cellars. The student bars in the Sand quarter are fun during term, but most of the town is quiet early, and locals take the train to Nuremberg for a bigger night.

Both offer pleasant rather than spectacular outdoors, and the difference is in the distances. From Bamberg, the limestone valleys, rock towers and castle crags of Franconian Switzerland start less than an hour away, and cycle paths along the Main and Regnitz link village breweries through orchards.

Wroclaw is flat, green with islands and parks, and good for kayaks in summer. Its real hills are further off. Ślęża makes an easy half-day hike, and the Karkonosze and the sandstone Table Mountains, about two hours away, give proper mountain days with skiing in winter, which Bamberg cannot offer.

Bamberg makes the stronger base, mainly because of its rail connections. Nuremberg, Würzburg's Residence, Coburg and Bayreuth are each about an hour away by train, and the baroque basilica of Vierzehnheiligen is closer still.

Wroclaw's surroundings are rich too: Książ castle, the wooden Churches of Peace and Krzeszów Abbey. But these are scattered castles and abbeys rather than major cities, and you need a car to combine several in one day.

Wroclaw has much more for children. There is the dwarf-statue hunt across the centre, one of Poland's oldest and largest zoos with its Afrykarium shark tunnel, a hands-on water science centre and the fountain shows by the Centennial Hall on summer evenings.

Bamberg is safe and relaxed, with the Hain park, rowing boats and family-friendly beer gardens. Beyond those, its sights are churches and townscape, and the cobbled climbs are hard work with a pushchair.

Both centres are best explored on foot, and neither needs a car in town. Bamberg is smaller and everything is a few minutes apart, though the walks up to the cathedral and Michaelsberg are steep and cobbled. Wroclaw is flat and more spread out, so its large tram network matters more for reaching the zoo and the Centennial Hall. A car helps there for castles and mountain villages, whereas trains cover most of Bamberg's excursions.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Wroclaw has a little more depth. Its malls cover the chains, the 1930s Renoma building is worth seeing for its facade, and Bolesławiec stoneware, Baltic amber and Nadodrze's vintage shops make better souvenirs. Bamberg's pedestrian streets are pleasant for an hour. The best things to take home are market-garden produce, bottled smoked beer and pieces from the antique dealers near the cathedral.

Wroclaw is the clear winner on cost. Central hotels and apartments, milk-bar lunches, trams and museum tickets are all cheap by European Union standards, as long as you stay away from the terraces on the Market Square.

Bamberg is reasonable for Germany, with cheap local beer and good-value tavern meals. Still, its rooms cost ordinary Western European prices, and they become scarcer and dearer at weekends and in the Christmas market season.

Wroclaw offers a much fuller programme. The National Forum of Music, the opera house near the moat, a theatre tradition going back to Grotowski, and festivals such as Wratislavia Cantans and Jazz on the Oder mean there is usually something on. The drama is in Polish, though.

Bamberg's great strength is a single one: the Bamberg Symphony, an orchestra of international standing, along with organ and choral concerts in the cathedral. It has no opera of its own, so opera lovers go to Bayreuth.

Bamberg is the more restful choice. The town quietens once day visitors leave, beer gardens and river mornings set a slow pace, and the brine pools of Bad Staffelstein are an easy half-day out by train.

Wroclaw relies on hotel spas and an aquapark, and the centre gets crowded on summer weekends. Its historic spa towns, such as Szczawno-Zdrój, are charming but an hour or more away.