Cologne or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither place is for swimming, but Cologne makes a summer dip easier. Flooded gravel pits such as Fühlinger See and Otto-Maigler-See lie on the edge of the city, with grassy banks and small patches of sand. The Rhine itself is for sitting beside, not swimming in.

In Rothenburg, swimming means the town's outdoor pool or a drive of about an hour to lakes such as the Altmühlsee. In both, a swim is something for a hot afternoon, not a reason to go.

Cologne eats better and more widely. Its brewhouses have a ritual worth the trip: the Köbes keeps topping up your Kölsch until the beer mat goes on top. Beyond the Rhineland classics, Ehrenfeld's Venloer Strasse has good Turkish and Middle Eastern food, and the Belgian Quarter has modern bistros.

Rothenburg offers Franconian roast pork, Schäufele and dry Silvaner, but the choice is narrow. Many kitchens around the Marktplatz cook for coach parties. The better meals are in family guesthouses and Tauber valley wine taverns away from the square, and international food is hard to find.

The two are broadly level, but the kind of sightseeing is very different. In Cologne the highlights are individual buildings and collections: the cathedral with the Shrine of the Three Kings, the ring of Romanesque churches, Museum Ludwig, the Wallraf-Richartz and Kolumba. They stand in a townscape that was mostly rebuilt plainly after the war.

In Rothenburg the town itself is the sight. You walk the covered wall, stand at the Plönlein and look down from the Rathaus tower. St Jakob's carved Holy Blood Altar and the Medieval Crime Museum add depth, but a day covers most of it, while Cologne's museums can fill several.

This is where the two differ most. Cologne goes out readily: brewhouses first, then the Belgian Quarter's bars, the Zülpicher Strasse student strip or Ehrenfeld's clubs in old factories. It also has one of Germany's most open gay scenes around Rudolfplatz, and the street carnival before Rosenmontag turns the whole city into a party.

Rothenburg has no real nightlife. After the day visitors leave, the evening means a wine tavern and the night watchman's tour. For a night out you would have to go to Würzburg or Nuremberg.

Cologne has the wider outdoors within reach. The Grüngürtel parks and the Rhine cycle paths are on the doorstep. The Siebengebirge's wooded hills and the Drachenfels are about forty minutes away, and the Eifel's national park and crater lakes about an hour.

Rothenburg's countryside starts right below the walls. Paths drop into the Tauber valley past mills and meadows, and the Tauber valley cycle path runs downstream through vineyards. It is lovely in blossom or autumn colour, but it is gentle and limited in scope.

Both make good bases, but Cologne's fast trains give it the edge. Brühl's palaces, Bonn, Düsseldorf and Aachen's Charlemagne chapel are all within forty minutes. The castle towns of the Rhine Gorge and even Brussels make easy day trips without a car.

Rothenburg's outings are rewarding too: Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen along the Romantic Road, Würzburg's Residenz and Nuremberg's castle. But slow branch-line trains mean you really need to drive.

Cologne holds children's attention for a whole week. The zoo with its elephant park, the Chocolate Museum's chocolate fountain, the cable car to the Rheinpark playgrounds and Phantasialand at Brühl fill the days easily. The one time to avoid is Carnival.

Rothenburg is a storybook for an afternoon or two. Children can climb the Rathaus tower, walk the ramparts and follow the lantern-carrying night watchman. After that there is little made for them, and the cobbles and steep valley paths are hard work with a pushchair.

Both centres are easy on foot, but only Cologne is easy beyond that. Trains arrive right beside the cathedral, and the Stadtbahn and S-Bahn reach Ehrenfeld, the zoo and the suburbs, even if the network map takes some working out.

Rothenburg's walled centre takes fifteen minutes to cross, and cars are kept outside the gates. The climb back from the Tauber is steep, though. Leaving town by rail usually means changing at Steinach, and buses are sparse, so a car is close to essential.

Cologne is a real shopping city. Schildergasse and Hohe Strasse are lined with chains and department stores, and Ehrenstrasse and the Belgian Quarter have independent fashion and design. Eau de Cologne from the historic perfume houses on Glockengasse makes a local souvenir.

Rothenburg sells almost only to visitors: glass baubles, nutcrackers, Erzgebirge carvings, cuckoo clocks and Schneeballen along Herrngasse and Schmiedgasse. Its Christmas market is among Germany's most atmospheric, but you will find no fashion or everyday shopping there.

Costs are much the same in both, but they rise at different times. In Cologne, hotels are the expense to watch: brewhouse meals and transport are fair, and the cathedral is free, but rooms jump during Messe trade fairs and Carnival.

In Rothenburg the premium comes from staying and eating inside the walls, and it peaks in December and on summer weekends. A room just outside the gates or in a nearby village brings costs down noticeably.

Cologne has a full cultural calendar. There is opera and drama on Offenbachplatz, the Gürzenich and WDR orchestras play in the Philharmonie beside the cathedral, and Ehrenfeld and the Südstadt have jazz, electronic music and gigs most nights. The Carnival sessions with their dialect bands are a local tradition you will find nowhere else.

Rothenburg's performances are occasional and historical. The costumed Meistertrunk play, a small summer open-air theatre and organ and choral concerts in St Jakob make up most of it.

Cologne has more for proper unwinding. Its large sauna complexes are an everyday local habit, a mineral-spring thermal bath in the Rheinpark looks across to the cathedral, and Aachen's ancient hot springs are a short train ride away.

Rothenburg's restfulness is of a different kind: empty lanes at dawn and dusk, and silent walks on the wall. For thermal baths you have to drive to Bad Windsheim's salt-water pool or Bad Mergentheim.