Berlin or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither city has a coast, but Berlin at least gives you real summer bathing. Strandbad Wannsee, the Müggelsee and forest lakes such as Schlachtensee are a train ride away, and in July and August they are warm enough for a proper afternoon in the water.

Rothenburg has its outdoor pool, or an hour's drive to the grassy shores of the Altmühlsee and the other Franconian lakes. In both places a swim is an extra, but only in Berlin does it fit easily into an ordinary day.

Berlin's food is far more varied. It has Turkish grill houses and bakeries in Kreuzberg and Neukölln, Vietnamese and Levantine kitchens, market-hall street food and a serious fine-dining tier, as well as currywurst and beer gardens.

Rothenburg has one cuisine, served in timbered inns: Schäufele, bratwurst and dumplings, with Silvaner from the Tauber valley. It is satisfying for a night or two, but the choice is narrow, the places around the Marktplatz cater to coach parties, and the sugary Schneeball looks better than it tastes.

Berlin has far more to see. Museum Island with Nefertiti, the old masters in the Gemäldegalerie, and the sites of the Wall and the Nazi era add up to several days of serious sightseeing, even though war and division left its streets patchy.

Rothenburg is the reverse: the town itself is the sight. The walls, the Plönlein and the view from the Rathaus tower, along with Riemenschneider's altar in St Jakob, reward a day of slow wandering. After that you have seen most of it.

This is where the two differ most. Berlin's techno clubs in old power stations run from Saturday into Monday, and for the rest of the week Kneipen, cocktail bars and drinks by the canal fill Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg.

In Rothenburg an evening out means a glass of wine in an inn and the night watchman's tour, and the lanes go quiet around eleven. For a real night out you have to drive to Würzburg or Nuremberg.

Neither has dramatic scenery, but Berlin has more space to get outdoors. There is the Grunewald and the Havel lakes for woodland walks and sailing, the Müggelsee for paddling, and Tempelhof's open runways and the Wall Trail for cycling.

Rothenburg's outdoors is smaller and right on the doorstep. Paths drop from the walls into the Tauber valley, past mills and the Topplerschlösschen, and the valley cycle path runs gently downstream through vineyards.

Both make good bases, but in different ways. From Berlin the train does the work: Potsdam's palaces are half an hour away, with Wittenberg, Leipzig and Dresden for longer days. After those, the choice thins out.

From Rothenburg the trips are to a string of similar towns along the Romantic Road: Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen in its crater and Schwäbisch Hall, plus Würzburg's Residenz and Nuremberg, each about an hour or less away. They are close together, but you really need a car.

Berlin keeps children busy for much longer. It has two large zoos, the dinosaur skeleton at the Natural History Museum and the trains and planes of the Technology Museum, plus playgrounds, lakes and flat streets that suit a pram.

Rothenburg works as a storybook for a day or two, with ramparts to walk, a tower to climb and the night watchman with his lantern. There is little beyond that, though, and the cobbles and steep valley paths are hard on pushchairs and small legs.

Berlin is the easier city to get around overall. One ticket covers the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses, trains run all night at weekends, and the flat streets suit a bike. The catch is size, because each district is a separate centre.

Rothenburg's problem is the opposite. You can cross the old town on foot in fifteen minutes, but leaving it means a branch-line train with a change at Steinach, or sparse regional buses. So a car is worth having here, while in Berlin it is just a burden.

Berlin is the place for real shopping. There are the Kurfürstendamm and KaDeWe's food hall, young designers around Hackescher Markt, vinyl and vintage in Kreuzberg, and the Sunday flea markets at Mauerpark and Boxhagener Platz.

Rothenburg sells one thing very well, and that is Christmas: glass baubles, nutcrackers and carved smoking men all year round, plus the December market on the Marktplatz. Apart from those, cuckoo clocks and pewter, almost everything for sale is a souvenir.

Neither is cheap, and costs end up much the same, though for different reasons. Berlin's hotels are cheaper than in most capitals, and döner, Vietnamese canteens and corner Kneipen keep meals cheap, but museum tickets and fine dining add up.

In Rothenburg you pay a tourist premium for a room inside the walls and a meal near the Marktplatz, but the sights charge little and walking is the main activity. Sleeping just outside the gates is the obvious saving.

Berlin has the Philharmonie, three opera houses, the Berliner Ensemble and a circuit of jazz and experimental venues. There is a show of some kind every night, even if most theatre is in German.

In Rothenburg, performance is mostly about the town's history: the Meistertrunk play in costume, a small open-air theatre in summer and organ concerts in St Jakob. For most of the year, dinner is the evening's entertainment.

Berlin's large sauna complexes and the columned halls of Stadtbad Neukölln offer a proper German sauna, clothes-free and unhurried. Its parks and café gardens on Sunday mornings make the city calmer than its size suggests.

Rothenburg's calm comes from its empty lanes at dawn and dusk rather than from places to bathe. The hotel spas are small, and for real thermal bathing you drive to the salt-water pool at Bad Windsheim or to Bad Mergentheim.