Berlin or Dusseldorf?

Neither city has a coast, but Berlin at least has a proper summer bathing culture. Strandbad Wannsee, with its sandy shore and wicker beach chairs, and forest lakes such as Schlachtensee are a train ride from the centre, so in high summer you can easily fit an afternoon at a lake into a city stay.

Düsseldorf offers much less. The Rhine looks tempting, but strong currents and shipping rule out swimming, so you are left with Unterbacher See on the edge of the city or gravel-pit lakes in the region.

The two eat about equally well, but their strengths are different. Berlin's lies in cooking that arrived with the people who settled there, not in its own hearty classics. Turkish grill houses and bakeries fill Kreuzberg and Neukölln, Vietnamese, Levantine and Korean kitchens are spread across the city, and Markthalle Neun hosts street-food evenings.

Düsseldorf has less range but two sides that are entirely its own. In the Altstadt brewhouses, waiters keep the small glasses of Altbier coming with sauerbraten, Halve Hahn and the city's spicy brown mustard. Around Immermannstrasse, ramen counters, izakaya and Japanese bakeries cook for one of Europe's largest Japanese communities.

Berlin is far ahead here. Museum Island, the Gemäldegalerie and Charlottenburg Palace could fill a trip on their own. At the Reichstag, the Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, you stand where the history of the last century happened.

Düsseldorf is mainly an art city. The Klee works at K20, the net slung under K21's dome and the Kunstpalast make a rewarding day or two, and Benrath Palace is a fine rococo outing. But the Altstadt was largely rebuilt after the war, and there is much less to fill a long stay.

Berlin is much stronger here, and the difference is its clubs. Its techno venues in former power stations and factories have no fixed closing hours, run from Saturday into Monday and keep strict doors. Kneipen in Neukölln and beer along the canal fill the time in between.

Düsseldorf's nightlife is packed into one place rather than spread across the city. The Altstadt crams a few hundred pubs into a handful of streets, and at weekends the Altbier crowd spills outside like a street party, stag groups included. There are few clubs, and the city really lets go only at Carnival.

Berlin's outdoors is lakes and forest, while Düsseldorf's is the river. In Berlin you walk in the Grunewald, sail on the Havel and paddle on the Müggelsee. You can also cycle or skate along the old runways at Tempelhof, or follow the Berlin Wall Trail around the former West Berlin over a day or two.

Düsseldorf's green space follows the Rhine, with grassy meadows and long, flat cycle paths out to Kaiserswerth. For a change of scene, the Neandertal valley and the wooded hills of the Bergisches Land are within half an hour. Both are gentle rather than dramatic, and neither has mountains.

Düsseldorf is the better base. Cologne Cathedral is under half an hour away by train. Bonn, the Brühl palaces, Zollverein in Essen, Aachen, Münster and Maastricht are all on frequent trains, so a week could include a different city almost every day.

Berlin has one outstanding trip in Potsdam, with Sanssouci and its gardens, and good ones to Wittenberg, Leipzig and the Spreewald. Beyond those, the distances grow, and Dresden already means two hours each way.

Berlin gives children more to do. The Zoologischer Garten and the Tierpark can each fill a day, the Natural History Museum has its towering dinosaur, and the German Museum of Technology is full of trains and hands-on science.

Düsseldorf is small, orderly and easy with a buggy. The Aquazoo, the Rheinturm lift and the free Grafenberg game park make good shorter outings. Its one advantage is Phantasialand, a large theme park about an hour away, which Berlin has no equivalent for.

Both are flat cities where a car is unnecessary, but they work in different ways. Berlin is a city you cross by train: the U-Bahn, S-Bahn and trams link several separate centres, trains run all night at weekends, and the bike lanes make cycling between districts easy.

Düsseldorf is a city you walk. The Altstadt, Königsallee, the Hofgarten and the Japanese quarter are all within a short stroll of each other. Its trams belong to a regional network that runs on to Cologne and the Ruhr, though the fare zones take some learning.

The two are equally good for shopping, but for opposite reasons. Berlin is the place for independent and second-hand finds: young designers around Hackescher Markt, vinyl and vintage clothes in Kreuzberg, East German curios at the Sunday flea markets in Mauerpark and Boxhagener Platz, and the KaDeWe food hall in the west.

Düsseldorf is the place for luxury. Flagships and jewellers line one side of the Königsallee canal, with big department stores close by. Flingern's boutiques and the Japanese quarter's stationery shops add a smaller independent side.

Neither city is cheap, but your money goes a little further in Berlin. Its hotels cost less than in most big capitals, and döner stands, Vietnamese canteens and corner Kneipen keep daily spending down.

Düsseldorf's hotels are expensive for a city of its size and can cost several times more during the big trade fairs, so your dates matter even more there. Brewhouse meals and Japanese noodle lunches are fair value, but around the Königsallee the prices follow the money.

Berlin has one of the deepest stage programmes anywhere. It has three opera houses, the Berlin Philharmonic in Scharoun's Philharmonie and the Friedrichstadt-Palast revue for visitors who don't speak German, plus jazz cellars and experimental venues on any night.

Düsseldorf has a solid programme for its size, with opera and ballet at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and concerts in the domed Tonhalle. What sets it apart is its music history, as the home of Kraftwerk and early German electronic music, but there is less to choose from on any given night.

Both cities share the German habit of mixed, clothes-free saunas, and neither has thermal springs in the city. Berlin offers more within the city, with large sauna complexes and the columned halls of Stadtbad Neukölln. Long Sunday mornings in café gardens slow the pace too.

In Düsseldorf the saunas are mostly part of public pools, so for a full spa day you travel, either to the thermal complexes within an hour or to the hot springs of Aachen. At home, the Rhine meadows and the Japanese garden in Nordpark are good for an unhurried walk.