Bern or Cologne?

Neither city has a coast, but Bern has a real swimming culture. On summer afternoons people walk upstream from the Marzili, jump into the green Aare and let the current carry them back past the Federal Palace. The riverside lidos have lawns and pools, and Lake Thun offers calmer water under the Alps.

In Cologne, the Rhine is off-limits for swimming because of the current and the shipping. A swim means going out to the gravel-pit lakes such as Fühlinger See, which are pleasant for an afternoon but give the city no real reason to visit for the water.

Cologne has the more rewarding table, mainly because of the Brauhaus ritual: the Köbes keeping the Kölsch coming, with Himmel un Ääd or a Halve Hahn alongside. Ehrenfeld and the Belgian Quarter add Turkish and Middle Eastern food and modern bistros, so the city has more variety beyond its own cooking.

Bern's food is heavier and more traditional, with the Berner Platte, rösti and fondue served in guildhall rooms and arcade cellars. It is at its best for chocolate and Emmental cheese from the markets, but the range is narrower and eating out costs much more.

The two are close in what they offer, but in different ways. Bern's sight is the whole place: a UNESCO-listed old town of sandstone arcades, painted fountains and the Zytglogge on its loop of the Aare. It is backed by the Zentrum Paul Klee and the Einstein connection, and two days cover the essentials.

Cologne gives you great individual buildings in a plain postwar city. They include the cathedral, the ring of Romanesque churches and the Roman remains, along with deeper museums such as Museum Ludwig, the Wallraf-Richartz and Kolumba. Come to Bern for atmosphere on foot and to Cologne for monuments and art collections.

Cologne is far better for going out. A night can start in the Altstadt brewhouses and move on to cocktail bars in the Belgian Quarter, the student crowds of Zülpicher Strasse or late clubs in Ehrenfeld's old factories. It also has one of Germany's most open gay scenes, and Carnival turns the whole city into a street party.

Bern's evenings revolve around cellar bars under the arcades, Aarbergergasse at weekends and riverside terraces in summer. The Reitschule is the one place for rough-edged late nights. Midweek, the city is mostly in bed early.

Bern has the stronger landscape by a wide margin. The Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau are visible from the old town and about an hour away by train, with high hiking in summer and skiing in winter. Lake Thun, the Gurten, the Emmental and the Jura give gentler options closer in.

Cologne is flat but green, with the Grüngürtel parks and long Rhine cycle paths. The Siebengebirge, the Bergisches Land and the Eifel all offer good day hikes, but there are no real mountains.

Both cities are excellent rail hubs, and Bern has the slight edge. Lucerne, Basel and Zurich are each about an hour away, with Fribourg, Murten, Thun, Solothurn and Neuchâtel closer still. Each one feels distinct, and Swiss connections need almost no planning.

Cologne's network reaches across more borders. Brühl's palaces, Bonn and Aachen are close by, the castle towns of the Rhine Gorge are further south, and Maastricht, Liège and Brussels are all within reach. It offers more variety, from Charlemagne's chapel to the industrial heritage of Zollverein.

Both work well with children, but the outings are different. Cologne has the bigger attractions: Phantasialand at Brühl, a large zoo with an aquarium, the Chocolate Museum and the cable car to the Rheinpark playgrounds. The one period to avoid is Carnival, when the streets are crowded and drunken.

Bern is smaller and calmer. Children enjoy the bear park, the woodland Dählhölzli zoo and the playground and meadows on the Gurten. Keep in mind that the Aare is for strong swimmers only, and families usually add a few days in the mountains.

Bern is the easier city to get around. You can walk its old town from the station to the bear park in about twenty minutes, mostly under arcades, and the trams, buses and funiculars run like clockwork. The only real effort is the steep climb up from the river.

Cologne's centre is also flat and walkable from the station beside the cathedral. For outer districts such as Ehrenfeld, though, you depend on a Stadtbahn network whose map is confusing and whose trams can be crowded and irregular.

Cologne has more to offer for shopping. Schildergasse and Hohe Strasse are among Germany's busiest high streets, Ehrenstrasse and the Belgian Quarter add independent fashion and design, and you can still buy Eau de Cologne from the historic perfume houses. The Christmas markets in Advent are a major draw.

In Bern, shopping is a pleasant walk under the arcades past watch and chocolate shops, with antiques and crafts in the cellar shops of Gerechtigkeitsgasse. It is good for gifts but limited for fashion.

The price gap is large. Cologne is moderate for Western Europe: a brewhouse evening is reasonable, transport is fairly priced and the cathedral is free. Hotels only become a problem during the trade fairs and Carnival.

Bern is very expensive for rooms, meals and drinks alike. The hotel transit pass and free pleasures such as the bear park, the river paths and Federal Palace tours help. Even so, many visitors eat lunch from supermarket counters to keep costs down.

Cologne has the much richer stage life. It has an opera and a theatre on Offenbachplatz, and the Philharmonie by the cathedral is home to two orchestras. The broadcaster's big band and choirs add more, and there are early-music concerts in Romanesque churches. Below that sits a deep scene of electronic music, jazz and small gigs in Ehrenfeld and the Südstadt, plus the Carnival sessions, which you will not find anywhere else.

Bern offers opera and drama at the Stadttheater, its symphony orchestra at the Casino and new dance at the Dampfzentrale. Its spring jazz festival and the Gurtenfestival in July are its main moments.

Neither city stands out for wellness, but each relaxes you in a different way. Bern's strength is its pace: quiet Sundays, unhurried arcades and long riverside lunches. For serious spa time, visitors head to mountain hotels in the Bernese Oberland.

Cologne is busier, but it has the German sauna habit, with large textile-free sauna landscapes. A mineral-spring thermal bath in the Rheinpark looks across to the cathedral, and the hot springs of Aachen, used since Roman times, are under forty minutes away.