Basel or Freiburg?

Neither city has a beach, but Basel has something Freiburg cannot match. On summer afternoons locals put their clothes in waterproof bags and float down the Rhine past the old town, then climb out at wooden bathing huts and lie on the gravel banks. The current is strong, though, so this is only for confident swimmers.

Swimming in Freiburg is quieter and more spread out. People cycle to flooded gravel pits on the Rhine plain with grassy shores, the busy city pools fill in July and August, and the cooler waters of Titisee and Schluchsee are about an hour away.

Freiburg is the better place to eat, because it has a cooking tradition of its own and wine grown just outside town. Look for Schäufele with potato salad, Black Forest ham, spring asparagus and Pinot from the Kaiserstuhl. The Münster market, held every morning except Sunday, and the wood-panelled taverns make good meals easy to find at fair prices.

Basel cooks carefully but takes much of its menu from Alsace and Baden, and Läckerli and the Fasnacht flour soup are its main local dishes. It does have a small but very good fine-dining scene and the Markthalle food hall. Everyday meals cost a lot for what they are, which is why so many Baslers cross the border to eat.

Basel is far stronger for museums. The Holbeins in the Kunstmuseum, the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, the Museum Tinguely and the Vitra campus just over the German border need three or four days. Buildings by Herzog & de Meuron stand among guild houses in an old town that climbs from the Münster to the Spalentor gate.

Freiburg has its own red sandstone Münster, whose open-lace tower you can climb. It also has the Bächle water channels, the Martinstor and Schwabentor gates and the medieval sculpture of the Augustinermuseum. Much of the centre was rebuilt after wartime bombing, and a day or two covers it.

Neither city is a place to travel to for nights out, and the difference is in who goes out. Basel's best evenings are in summer on the Kleinbasel bank, drinking on the river steps. Beyond that there are bars around the Kaserne and a few clubs in old harbour buildings, all at Swiss prices. Its big event is Fasnacht, three days of drums, piccolos and lantern processions that begin at four in the morning.

Freiburg is a student town, so its pubs, wine bars and beer gardens around the Martinstor are younger and cheaper. On summer nights people gather on the squares and along the Dreisam. Go in term time, because the semester break is much quieter.

Freiburg wins easily because the Black Forest starts at the edge of town. The Schlossberg rises behind the old town and a cable car climbs the Schauinsland. The Feldberg is about an hour away for summer hiking and winter skiing, and the Ravenna gorge and the Kaiserstuhl vineyards offer walks and rides at every level.

From Basel, the Black Forest is within an hour, with the Jura to the south and the Vosges to the west, but none of it starts at the door. Closer to home, Basel's outdoors is flat: cycle paths along the Rhine into Germany and France, and running in the Lange Erlen.

Both cities sit in the same corner where three countries meet, and both reach Colmar, the Alsace wine villages and Strasbourg. Basel comes out ahead because it adds Switzerland by fast train. Lucerne, Bern and Zurich are each about an hour away, the Rhine Falls a little further, and Roman Augusta Raurica only a quarter of an hour.

Freiburg's day trips are more regional. Basel itself is under an hour by train, and there are Staufen, Breisach, the abbey of St. Peter and Baden-Baden. The Alsace villages are easier to reach by car from here.

Freiburg is the easier place to bring children. They can chase toy boats along the Bächle, ride the Schauinsland cable car and run around the free Mundenhof animal park. Europa-Park is closer, about forty minutes away, and swimming lakes and the Steinwasen park help fill a week.

Basel's highlight is the Zolli, one of Europe's best zoos, a short walk from the station. Rainy mornings are covered by the toy and natural history museums, which Freiburg has little to match. The river is too strong for small children, though, and after those few sights the list soon runs out.

Both cities have walkable centres and dense tram networks, but Basel is the more effortless. Hotel guests ride free, some tram lines continue into Germany and France, small ferries cross the Rhine, and the main station has direct trains to three countries.

You can walk across Freiburg's car-free old town in about twenty minutes, and it is the better city for cycling. Regional trains climb the Höllental and run along the Rhine plain, but some valleys and the Alsace villages are easier with a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Basel has more at the top end. Freie Strasse and Gerbergasse have Swiss watchmakers, jewellers and chocolatiers, the Spalenberg lanes have design shops, and the Christmas market around the Münster is one of Switzerland's prettiest.

Freiburg has no luxury shopping. Its appeal lies in the independent boutiques of the Gerberau and Konviktstrasse, the wine, ham and schnapps at the Münster market, and cuckoo clocks. Each city sends its shoppers to the other: Freiburgers go to Basel for serious retail, while Baslers cross into Germany for cheaper high streets.

Freiburg is the cheaper base by a wide margin, and that includes the hotel. Basel charges Swiss prices for nearly everything, from a room and dinner to a museum ticket, and beds run short during trade fairs such as Art Basel. The free tram pass and cheaper meals over the border help a little, which is why many visitors sleep in Germany or France and come in each day.

Freiburg's rooms cost more than a city of its size would suggest and are hard to find on summer weekends, but they still cost well below Basel's. Day to day the gap grows wider. Meals, a glass of Baden wine and tram fares are moderate, and most of the main sights cost little or nothing, so the big costs come on a day trip to Basel.

Basel has the bigger stage. Theater Basel's opera, ballet and drama are known well beyond Switzerland, and the Stadtcasino's fine acoustics serve the Sinfonieorchester and the Kammerorchester Basel. A long early-music tradition adds historical concerts, though the season quietens in July and August.

Freiburg has a solid municipal theatre and one standout, the Freiburger Barockorchester, a leading period-instrument ensemble that plays at the Konzerthaus. Its summer Zelt-Musik-Festival fills a tent village with concerts in the same months when Basel's halls slow down.

Both cities look to the same spa towns of southern Baden, but Freiburg is closer to them and has a mineral thermal bath with saunas on its own eastern edge. Bad Krozingen's large thermal complex is about twenty minutes south, and Badenweiler, with its Roman ruins, is a little further on.

From Basel, the nearest proper bathing is the saline baths at Rheinfelden. Otherwise there are only hotel spas and the summer river. Both cities move at an easy pace: in Basel that means quiet Sundays by the Rhine, and in Freiburg café terraces and the paths along the Dreisam.