Dijon or Freiburg?

Neither city is anywhere near the sea, but Freiburg has more choice for a summer swim. Locals cycle out to warm, grassy gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain. Titisee and Schluchsee in the Black Forest are about an hour away, and the water there stays cool.

Dijon has one main option: the supervised bathing area at Lac Kir on the western edge of town, plus the municipal pools.

Dijon is the stronger food city and the more traditionally French one. It serves boeuf bourguignon, snails and jambon persillé, along with its own mustard, pain d'épices and cassis. The iron-framed Les Halles has Bresse poultry and Époisses cheese, and wine bars pour village Burgundies that are hard to find by the glass elsewhere.

Freiburg's Baden cooking is lighter, with Flammkuchen, Schäufele, Black Forest trout and spring asparagus, served with Kaiserstuhl Pinot. Its daily market around the Münster, with grilled sausages in a roll, is a real pleasure. In both cities the choice is regional rather than international.

Dijon has the deeper history to explore. As capital of the medieval Duchy of Burgundy, it left a ducal palace, the sculpted Valois tombs in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, gargoyled Notre-Dame with its lucky owl, and the Well of Moses at Champmol. All of this is spread through a well-kept quarter of half-timbered houses and hôtels particuliers.

Freiburg's red sandstone Münster, with its lace-like tower, is a match for anything in Dijon. Around it, though, much of the old town was rebuilt after the war, and once you have seen the Augustinermuseum and the town gates there is less left to see.

Both are university towns with modest evenings, but Freiburg's lasts a bit longer. In summer people stay out late on the squares and along the Dreisam, and it has beer gardens and a handful of clubs playing techno and indie.

In Dijon, a night out usually means wine bars on Rue Berbisey and a late dinner near the market. Outside term time, the streets go quiet around midnight.

Freiburg is in a different league for the outdoors. The Schlossberg rises right behind the old town, and a cable car lifts you to the Schauinsland ridge at about 1,280m, with views to the Alps on clear days. The Feldberg adds summer hiking and winter skiing, and the mountain biking is excellent.

Dijon's countryside is gentler and flatter. Climbers and walkers use the limestone combes west of town, cyclists follow the canal towpath or the vineyard route to Beaune, and the wildest scenery is in the Morvan, about an hour and a half away.

Both are excellent bases, but the trips are of different kinds. Dijon takes you deep into one region: the grand cru villages of the Côte de Nuits, walled Beaune, Fontenay Abbey and the battlefield at Alésia. Many of them are best reached by car or bike.

Freiburg's appeal is variety across three countries. Basel is about 45 minutes away by train, and Colmar, the Alsace wine villages and Strasbourg are in France. Baden-Baden is about an hour north by fast train.

Freiburg is much the better choice with children. The Bächle channels, the Mundenhof animal park, the Schauinsland cable car and the Steinwasen suspension bridge keep a week busy, and Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about forty minutes north.

Dijon is safe and relaxed, but it has less for children. There is the natural history museum and planetarium at the Arquebuse, the play areas at Parc de la Colombière and paddling at Lac Kir, and the rest of a typical itinerary is aimed at adults.

Both centres are small and largely car-free, but Freiburg goes further without a car. Its trams are dense, its bike lanes are everywhere, and regional trains climb the Höllental into the Black Forest. Many hotels also give guests a card for local buses and trains.

Dijon is easy to walk, has two tram lines and puts Paris within two hours by TGV. Many of the wine villages, however, are off the railway and need a car, a bike or a tour.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and what is worth buying differs. In Dijon, it is mostly food and drink: flavoured mustards, cassis, pain d'épices and bottles of Burgundy from the cellars, with antiques in the lanes off Rue de la Liberté.

Freiburg adds cuckoo clocks, wood carvings, bookshops and organic stores in the Gerberau quarter. For serious retail, people go over the border to Basel.

Dijon is the easier city on the wallet. Hotel rooms are moderately priced, bistro set lunches are good value and wine by the glass costs less than in most of France. The bill climbs only if you book tastings and serious restaurants.

In Freiburg the main cost is a bed. Rooms are scarce on summer weekends and during trade fairs, so some visitors stay in the villages nearby. Once you are there, market snacks, student-quarter taverns and the free Münster keep daily spending low.

Both have a solid stage for cities of their size, but the calendars differ. Dijon's opera fills the old Grand Théâtre and the acoustically fine Auditorium during the academic year, and in summer the programme thins to outdoor events.

Freiburg's theatre plays in repertory, the Konzerthaus is home to the Freiburger Barockorchester, a leading period-instrument ensemble, and each summer the Zelt-Musik-Festival fills a tent village with concerts.

Freiburg is the clear choice for a restorative trip. There is a mineral thermal bath on the city's edge, the large warm-water complex at Bad Krozingen about twenty minutes south, and the bath at Badenweiler beside its Roman ruins. The grand bathhouses of Baden-Baden are an hour away by train.

Dijon has no bathing culture of its own, only a few hotel spas, some offering grape-based treatments. For rest, Dijon relies on long lunches and slow afternoons in the vineyards.