Bavaria or Black Forest?

Neither has a sea, but Bavaria's lakes give the better summer swimming. The Starnberger See, Ammersee, Tegernsee and Chiemsee have jetties and meadow beaches within reach of Munich, shallow lakes such as the Staffelsee warm up to the low twenties in a good summer, and the city has the Isar's gravel banks.

The Black Forest's swimming is a smaller affair: Titisee, Schluchsee, a few quiet ponds and the heated outdoor pools of the spa towns, with lake water that rarely gets above 20°C. Think of it as a cool-down after a hike.

Both eat well, but in different directions. Bavaria's table is built around beer: beer gardens under chestnut trees, Munich's beer halls, Franconia's village breweries and Bamberg's smoked beer. The food to go with it is roast pork, white sausage and pretzels, and there's Silvaner around Würzburg.

The Black Forest leans towards France and wine. Baiersbronn's cluster of top restaurants, smoked ham, trout and venison in country inns, Kaiserstuhl Pinot and small-distillery fruit brandies give it a more refined, wine-led character. Munich gives Bavaria more variety in one place.

Bavaria is far ahead for sights. Munich alone has the Pinakotheks, the Residenz and the Deutsches Museum. Beyond it are Nuremberg's imperial castle, the intact medieval centres of Bamberg and Regensburg, Tiepolo's ceiling in Würzburg and Neuschwanstein.

The Black Forest's heritage is pleasant but scattered. It includes Freiburg's Minster and its old town laced with water channels, Baden-Baden's spa quarter and the art museums along the Lichtentaler Allee, Maulbronn monastery, and half-timbered towns such as Gengenbach and Schiltach. Together they fill good afternoons rather than a whole itinerary, and the open-air farm museum at Gutach adds a local slant.

The livelier evenings belong to Bavaria, and almost all of them to Munich. The city can give you a choice of evenings, from cocktails and a dance floor to long tables in a beer hall. Bamberg, Würzburg and Regensburg add smaller student pub streets. Around Oktoberfest the city turns into one huge party, but outside it most nights stay sociable and controlled.

In the Black Forest, evenings rarely go beyond dinner and a glass of wine. Freiburg is the one place with some life, and only really on term-time weekends. Baden-Baden's casino suits a dressed-up evening rather than a late one.

Bavaria has true Alpine country: the Zugspitze above Garmisch, the Watzmann and the Königssee at Berchtesgaden, hut-to-hut routes and via ferratas in the Allgäu, and solid skiing in winter. The Bavarian Forest and Franconian Switzerland add wild woodland and climbing crags further north.

The Black Forest is lower and rounder, with fir-covered hills topping out at the Feldberg, gorges such as the Wutach and the long Westweg trail. It suits steady walking and mountain biking more than high-mountain ambition, and its winter is mostly cross-country skiing.

Both are superb bases for outings, but they point in different directions. Bavaria's day trips mostly stay inside the state: Augsburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg, the Chiemsee island and the Romantic Road towns, with Salzburg just over the border.

The Black Forest's strength is that it sits where three countries meet, so its day trips are often abroad. Strasbourg, Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Basel and the Rhine Falls are all close, with Heidelberg and Lake Constance at either end.

Both work very well with children, and each has a big theme park: Legoland at Günzburg in Bavaria and Europa-Park at Rust in the Black Forest, which is large enough for several days. Bavaria adds city outings like Munich's zoo and the Deutsches Museum's children's section. The Black Forest is more about farm stays, treetop walks and pedal boats on the Titisee, with more driving in between.

Bavaria is easier without a car. Munich's U-Bahn, S-Bahn and trams cover the city, and regional trains run to Nuremberg, Garmisch, Berchtesgaden and the lakes on a single day ticket. Away from the rail lines, buses thin out there too.

In the Black Forest, the Rhine valley line and the scenic Schwarzwaldbahn and Höllentalbahn serve a handful of towns, and hosts' guest cards make local transport free. Linking waterfalls, villages and lakes in one day, though, is far simpler by car on slow, winding hill roads.

Bavaria has much more to offer shoppers. Munich has the luxury houses of Maximilianstrasse, department stores between Marienplatz and Karlsplatz and independent shops in Glockenbach, and the region adds woodcarving in Oberammergau, violins in Mittenwald and Nuremberg's toys and gingerbread. The Black Forest's shopping comes down to cuckoo clocks around Triberg, Freiburg's old town and a small upmarket quarter in Baden-Baden.

Neither is cheap, but the Black Forest is a little easier on the budget, mainly because Bavaria includes Munich. Hotels there are costly all year and very expensive during Oktoberfest and trade fairs. Away from Munich the two are much alike, with moderate family guesthouses and filling inn meals.

In the Black Forest, the free transport cards save real money, though Baden-Baden, the famous restaurants and Europa-Park add up quickly. In Bavaria, staying in Franconia or the Bavarian Forest and bringing your own food to beer gardens are the best ways to save.

Bavaria is the far stronger choice for music lovers. Munich's State Opera, its two internationally ranked orchestras and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre give it a full season, and Bayreuth's Wagner festival is a reason to travel in its own right.

The Black Forest's offering centres on Baden-Baden's Festspielhaus, one of Germany's largest halls, and its Easter festival, with Freiburg's theatre and baroque ensemble alongside. It suits a planned concert rather than a choice of performances every night.

This is where the Black Forest leads. Baden-Baden's Friedrichsbad and Caracalla baths sit in a town of parks and promenades built for slow days. Smaller spa towns such as Badenweiler and Bad Wildbad surround it, and the forest adds quiet guesthouses with saunas and forest bathing trails.

Bavaria's spa tradition runs deep too, with Bad Kissingen's colonnades, Bad Reichenhall's brine, Bad Füssing's thermal waters and the Erding complex near Munich. Its spas are spread across a large state, though, rather than setting the pace of the whole region.