Berlin or Gdansk?

For swimming the two are about level, but the water is very different. Berlin has no coast, so in summer people head for its lakes: the sandy lido at Wannsee with its wicker beach chairs, the Müggelsee, and forest lakes such as Schlachtensee and Krumme Lanke. In high summer these lakes are actually warmer than the Baltic.

Gdansk has real sea beaches with fine, pale sand. They run from Brzeźno and Jelitkowo to Sopot, with quieter Stogi backed by pines, and the shallow water suits small children. The sea stays cool, though, and in both cities the swimming season lasts only a few summer weeks.

Berlin eats more widely and more interestingly. Decades of Turkish migration have filled Kreuzberg and Neukölln with bakeries and grill houses, and Vietnamese, Levantine and Korean cooking are easy to find. Add street-food nights in the market halls, beer gardens and a serious fine-dining tier, and the range goes well beyond currywurst.

Gdansk is more traditional and more uneven. Pierogi, żurek, Baltic herring and smoked fish are the staples, and milk bars serve simple Polish food very cheaply. The restaurants along Długa are aimed at visitors, so the better meals are in Wrzeszcz, Sopot and Gdynia, along with craft beer and a glass of gold-flecked Goldwasser.

Berlin has far more to see. Museum Island alone, with Nefertiti and the Pergamon collections, could fill several days, and the Gemäldegalerie and Charlottenburg Palace come on top. Its twentieth-century sites, from the Reichstag dome to the Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, tell the story of dictatorship and division where it happened.

Gdansk is more compact but has the prettier historic centre. The rebuilt Hanseatic Main Town, with Długa, Artus Court, the medieval crane and the brick bulk of St Mary's, is lovely to walk through. Its modern history is told at the Museum of the Second World War, at Westerplatte where the war began, and at the European Solidarity Centre in the shipyard.

This is the widest gap between the two cities. Berlin's techno clubs in old factories and power stations have no closing time, strict doors and weekend parties that run into Monday, and the corner Kneipen of Neukölln and Wedding keep the rest of the city going late.

Gdansk offers a good night out but not one worth travelling for. Pubs in the Main Town, student bars in Wrzeszcz and warehouse nights in the shipyard make for a pleasant evening. In summer the action moves to the clubs on Sopot's Monte Cassino street, and once the warm months end the scene goes quiet.

Gdansk has the better outdoors, because it sits between the sea and wooded hills. Trails climb through beech woods and ravines in the Tricity Landscape Park, and a cycle path runs along the shore. The Kashubian lakes are about an hour away, and the dunes of the Hel Peninsula border one of the region's best kitesurfing bays.

Berlin's green space is flat and tamer. You can walk the Grunewald, sail on the Havel, cycle the runways at Tempelhof or follow the Berlin Wall Trail for a day or two.

The two are about level for day trips, but the kind of day out differs. From Berlin you mostly visit other historic cities: Potsdam's Sanssouci palaces half an hour away, Wittenberg, Leipzig, the Bauhaus in Dessau and, on a long day, baroque Dresden.

From Gdansk the highlights are a castle and the coast. Malbork, the vast Teutonic fortress, is a short train ride, Sopot and Gdynia make easy half-days, and Gothic Torun and Copernicus's Frombork reward a longer journey.

Berlin is the easier city with children, and it works in any season. It has two big zoos, an aquarium, a dinosaur skeleton at the Natural History Museum and the trains and planes of the Museum of Technology, plus playgrounds everywhere and flat streets for prams.

Gdansk is at its best for families in summer. Then there are shallow beaches, the forest zoo at Oliwa, Gdynia's aquarium, the Hevelianum and boat trips to Westerplatte. In the cold months the choice shrinks to indoor attractions, and many of the big museums deal with war.

Berlin has the stronger network. U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses share one ticket, trains run all night at weekends and the flat streets suit cycling. You will use it a lot, because Mitte, Kreuzberg and Charlottenburg are separate centres.

In Gdansk you need transport less. The Main Town and its main museums are all on foot, trams run to the beaches, and the SKM trains link Oliwa, Sopot and Gdynia along about 30km of coast.

Berlin is the better place to shop. The Sunday flea markets at Mauerpark and Boxhagener Platz are good for vinyl and East German curios, and you'll find concept stores around Hackescher Markt, vintage shops in Kreuzberg, and the Ku'damm brands and KaDeWe's food hall in the west.

Gdansk really has one thing to buy, which is Baltic amber, sold in the workshops along Mariacka Street. Beyond that it is mostly malls and chain stores, though the centuries-old St Dominic's Fair fills the old town with stalls each summer.

Gdansk is clearly easier on the wallet. Transport, museum tickets, meals and especially beer and coffee all cost well below Western European levels. The exception is rooms in July and August, when Sopot and the Main Town charge seaside rates.

Berlin is mid-priced. Cheap döner and Vietnamese canteens help, but museum entries and good restaurants soon add up on a culture-heavy trip.

Berlin is in another league for the stage. It has three opera houses, the Berlin Philharmonic in Scharoun's Philharmonie, the Berliner Ensemble and the Schaubühne, the Friedrichstadt-Palast revue and a deep circuit of jazz cellars, so there is something on every night.

Gdansk has a solid season on a smaller scale. The Baltic Opera, the Philharmonic in its converted power station on Ołowianka island and the Shakespeare Theatre with its opening roof all repay a visit, and the organ recitals in Oliwa Cathedral are a local tradition.

Berlin offers more for a restful break, thanks to German sauna culture. There are large, clothes-free sauna complexes with infusion rituals, the columned halls of the Stadtbad Neukölln, and thermal resorts in Brandenburg about an hour away.

In Gdansk, relaxation centres on Sopot, an old seaside spa whose grand shoreline hotels have treatment floors. Beyond that there are a few day spas and the hardy winter custom of dipping in the icy Baltic.