Bern or Freiburg?

Neither city has a sea, but Bern's river makes summer swimming a real part of a visit. Walking upstream from the Marzili and letting the green Aare carry you back past the Federal Palace is a local ritual, the riverside lidos have lawns and pools, and Lake Thun is a short train ride away.

Freiburg's swimming is more modest: flooded gravel pits on the Rhine plain with grassy banks, open-air pools, and the cooler Black Forest lakes about an hour out. Those gravel lakes are warmer and calmer than the fast, cold Aare, though, which matters for weaker swimmers.

Freiburg eats better. Its Baden cooking has a French lightness, with Flammkuchen, Schäufele, mountain trout and spring asparagus, and the Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris come from vineyards just outside town. The Münster market runs six mornings a week, and fine dining in the surrounding region is among Germany's best.

Bern is hearty and traditional: the Berner Platte, rösti and fondue in guildhall rooms and arcade cellars, with excellent chocolate and Emmental cheese at the markets. The choice is narrower and every meal costs considerably more.

Bern has the stronger sightseeing. Its old town on the loop of the Aare survived intact and is UNESCO-listed, with the Zytglogge, painted fountains, the carved Minster portal and the domed Federal Palace. The Paul Klee centre, Switzerland's oldest art museum and the Einstein flat on Kramgasse give it real museum weight.

Freiburg's Münster, with its open-lace tower, is a match for Bern's Minster, and the Bächle channels and red Historisches Kaufhaus are charming. Much of the centre was rebuilt after wartime bombing, however, and beyond the Augustinermuseum there is less to fill the time.

Both are quiet, friendly places to go out, so the difference is who you will be drinking with. Bern's evenings centre on vaulted cellar bars under the arcades, the alternative Reitschule for late parties and Aare terraces in summer, and the city empties early midweek.

Freiburg owes its slightly busier evenings to its students, who fill pubs, wine bars and beer gardens around the Martinstor and a few clubs. Visit during term rather than the semester break.

The outdoors is equally strong in both, but the scenery differs. From Bern you see the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, and an hour's train ride brings high Alpine hiking, cable cars and serious skiing, with Lake Thun and the Gurten closer to hand.

Freiburg has wooded uplands rather than glaciers, but they start at the city's edge. The Schauinsland cable car and the Feldberg give ridge walks and winter snow, the Kaiserstuhl vineyards make gentle cycling, and the mountain biking is excellent.

Bern is the better base. As the hub of the Swiss rail network, it puts Lucerne, Basel and Zurich about an hour away, while Fribourg, Murten, Thun, Solothurn and Gruyères are closer still. Connections are frequent enough to go somewhere different every day without planning.

Freiburg's appeal is crossing borders: Basel in under an hour, Strasbourg, Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, and Baden-Baden to the north. The French villages are much easier with a car, though, while from Bern the train goes almost everywhere.

Freiburg is easier with children, mainly because of Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, about 40 minutes away. Add the flat, car-free centre, the Bächle for toy boats, the free Mundenhof animal park and the Schauinsland cable car, and a week passes easily, although there is little to do indoors when it rains.

Bern has good days to offer too, with the bear park, the wooded Dählhölzli zoo and the playground at the top of the Gurten. Steep streets up from the river and an Aare too fast for young swimmers make it harder going.

Bern is the simpler city to move around. The station stands at the top of the old town, you can walk from there to the bear park in about twenty minutes under cover, and funiculars and a public lift take the strain out of the climb from the river. Swiss trams and buses take care of the rest.

Freiburg is also walkable and has a dense tram network, and its big advantage is cycling, with bike lanes everywhere and a flat centre. Its weak point is reaching the Alsace villages and some valleys, which are awkward without a car.

Bern gives shoppers a little more. The line of Spitalgasse, Marktgasse and Kramgasse runs under cover with watch and chocolate shops, and the cellar shops down steep steps on Gerechtigkeitsgasse hide antiques, design and crafts.

Freiburg's Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse is mostly chains, with independent boutiques and organic shops in the Gerberau and Konviktstrasse quarters, plus cuckoo clocks and wood carvings. Neither city does luxury, and Freiburg's own shoppers head to Basel.

On cost, these two are very far apart. In Bern even a plain guesthouse, a simple dinner or a terrace beer is expensive, and budget travellers rely on supermarket counters, market stalls, the free tram pass and free pleasures such as the river paths and Federal Palace tours.

Freiburg's hard part is finding a room, as hotels are scarce and pricier than the city's size suggests, so some visitors stay in Black Forest villages. Once you have a bed, eating, drinking and getting about cost far less, though day trips into Switzerland bring the high prices back.

Each has the stage of a small, cultured city, and neither is worth planning a trip around. Bern has German-language opera and ballet at the Stadttheater, its symphony orchestra in the Casino, and contemporary dance at the Dampfzentrale, plus a spring jazz festival and the Gurtenfestival's rock and pop in July.

Freiburg's distinction is the Freiburger Barockorchester, a leading period-instrument ensemble, alongside repertory theatre, student jazz clubs and the summer Zelt-Musik-Festival in its tent village.

Freiburg is the better choice for spa time. Southern Baden is spa country: there is a thermal bath on the city's edge, the warm outdoor pools of Bad Krozingen twenty minutes away, Badenweiler's Roman ruins and the grand bathhouses of Baden-Baden.

Bern is just as unhurried, with quiet Sundays and long riverside lunches, but it has no bathing tradition. Beyond a thermal complex on the western edge and a few hotel spas, serious pampering means a trip into the Bernese Oberland.