Cologne or Paris?

Neither city is a place to come for the water, and the difference between them is what replaces a beach. Cologne's locals drive or cycle out to flooded gravel pits such as Fühlinger See and Otto-Maigler-See, with grassy banks, small sandy patches and proper open-water swimming on warm days.

Paris keeps its swimming in town: sand and deckchairs laid out along the riverbanks in summer, bathing spots on the Bassin de la Villette and the Seine, and handsome Art Deco public pools. The Normandy coast is within a day's reach by train, which Cologne cannot match, though the Channel is cool.

The gap between the two is one of the widest on this page. In Cologne, eating is built around the Brauhaus ritual: the Köbes keeps your small glass of Kölsch topped up, and plates of Himmel un Ääd or sauerbraten come with it. Beyond that there are good Turkish and Middle Eastern places along Venloer Strasse and some modern bistros in the Belgian Quarter. It all makes for pleasant eating, but it is not a reason to travel.

In Paris, the food is the trip. Morning markets such as the Marché d'Aligre, zinc-counter bistros, haute cuisine, small inventive neo-bistros in the east of the city, couscous in Belleville and Vietnamese pho in the Asian quarter are all within a metro ride of each other. The boulangeries and patisseries make even breakfast worth planning.

Cologne has one world-class landmark and a strong supporting cast: the cathedral with its Shrine of the Three Kings, twelve Romanesque churches, Roman remains, and Museum Ludwig's Pop Art. But the post-war rebuilding left a plain townscape, so you go from one highlight to the next rather than wandering through a historic whole.

Paris works the other way round, with the city itself as the attraction. The Louvre, the Orsay, the Orangerie and the Sainte-Chapelle would each be enough to justify a trip, and the walk between them along Haussmann's boulevards, the Marais townhouses and the UNESCO-listed Seine quays is part of the experience. Plan on queues and booked time slots.

Paris has more going on and stays up later. Bars fill the east around Oberkampf, Belleville and the Canal Saint-Martin, Pigalle does cocktails, and the clubs and summer barges carry on with house and techno until dawn. It is chic, can be choosy at the door and costs a lot.

Cologne's nights are cheaper and friendlier. You drift from a brewhouse to the Belgian Quarter or the student crowd on Zülpicher Strasse, with Ehrenfeld's factory clubs for later and a large, open gay scene around Rudolfplatz. Weeknights are quiet, but Carnival, when the whole city sings in costume for days, has no Parisian equivalent.

The two are broadly level, but their green space is shaped differently. Cologne is ringed by the Grüngürtel, a continuous belt of parks that joins up with the Stadtwald and the Rhine meadows, so a long walk or run can start almost anywhere. The real hills begin close to town, with the wooded volcanic Siebengebirge and the Drachenfels about forty minutes away and the Eifel's crater lakes and the Ahr vineyards about an hour.

Paris has separate pieces of greenery rather than a single belt. There are the formal Luxembourg and Tuileries gardens, the cliffs and lake of the Buttes-Chaumont, and the big woods at Boulogne and Vincennes on the city's edges. Its best outing is the forest of Fontainebleau, whose sandstone boulders draw climbers.

Both are excellent bases, but Paris has the richer list. Versailles, Chartres, Giverny and Fontainebleau are all within about an hour, and fast trains put Reims and its Champagne houses, Rouen and the Loire châteaux within easy reach for a day.

Cologne's strength is the density of its rail links. Brühl's palaces, Bonn and Düsseldorf are minutes away, Aachen's Charlemagne chapel is under forty, and the castle-lined Rhine Gorge is an easy day out. Maastricht, Liège and Brussels add a cross-border day that feels like a different trip.

Paris has more for children to do. Disneyland and Parc Astérix are both close by, and in town there are the Cité des Sciences, the menagerie and skeleton galleries at the Jardin des Plantes, and carousels and toy sailboats in the Luxembourg. The cost is effort: metro stairs, cramped trains for pushchairs and small hotel rooms.

Cologne is the easier city to manage day to day. Its flat, compact centre is home to the Chocolate Museum, the zoo with its elephant park and the cable car over the Rhine, and Phantasialand lies a short trip south. Just avoid Carnival week with small children.

Paris does this better. Its centre is a pleasure to cross on foot, and where walking runs out, the metro is so dense that a station is almost always a few minutes away. The drawbacks are long corridors without lifts, rush-hour crush and pickpockets on the tourist lines.

Cologne is simpler but less polished. You arrive at the station beside the cathedral and can walk most of the sights on flat ground. Further afield, the Stadtbahn trams that run to Ehrenfeld and the zoo can be crowded and irregular, and the network map takes some reading. Cycling along the Rhine fills the gaps nicely.

Paris is one of the world's great shopping cities, and Cologne is a practical one. Schildergasse and Hohe Strasse are busy chain-store streets, Ehrenstrasse and the Belgian Quarter have the independents, and the luxury end is thin. The two things to take home are Eau de Cologne from the old perfume houses on Glockengasse and finds from the Advent Christmas markets.

Paris has the flagship fashion houses on Avenue Montaigne and the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché, the vintage and designer shops of the Marais, the covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes along the Seine, plus chocolate and cheese from long-established specialists.

Cologne is the noticeably cheaper stay. Brewhouse meals and beer cost less than in most capitals, the cathedral and many churches are free, and hotels are moderate, except during the big Messe trade fairs and Carnival, when it pays to check dates before booking.

Paris is expensive across the board, from small hotel rooms to terrace drinks and full-price admission at the major monuments. Savings come from walking, the free permanent collections in the city's own museums, bakery lunches and riverside picnics, and from staying in the outer arrondissements.

Cologne's stage life is better than its reputation, but Paris has more of it. Paris has the Palais Garnier with the Opera Ballet, the Opéra Bastille, the Philharmonie at La Villette and the Radio France orchestras, along with jazz cellars on the rue des Lombards and cabaret in Pigalle. Theatre is excellent but mostly in French.

Cologne answers with its own Philharmonie, set beneath the square by the cathedral, the WDR broadcast orchestras and big band, early music in the Romanesque churches, and a long electronic and experimental tradition in the Ehrenfeld clubs. Its Carnival sessions, with dialect bands and songs, are a kind of performance found only here.

Cologne is the better place to unwind, thanks to German bathing culture. Large textile-free sauna landscapes with cold plunges and quiet rooms are an everyday local habit, the mineral-spring thermal bath in the Rheinpark looks across the river to the cathedral, and Aachen's Roman-era hot springs are close by.

Paris has no springs of its own. Its version is the tiled hammam of the Grande Mosquée with mint tea afterwards, plus hotel spas. Otherwise, rest in Paris means an hour on a café terrace or a chair in the Luxembourg gardens.