Dijon or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither is a place to swim, as both are far inland. Dijon at least has Lac Kir on the western edge of town, with a lawn-and-sand bathing area supervised in summer. In Rothenburg you have the town's outdoor pool, or an hour's drive to the bathing lawns of the Franconian lakes such as the Altmühlsee.

Food is the biggest difference between the two. Dijon is one of France's great food cities, with boeuf bourguignon, jambon persillé, Époisses and Bresse poultry from the stalls at Les Halles, plus its own mustard and cassis. The wine country starts at the edge of town, and there is serious fine dining for a special meal.

Rothenburg eats more simply, with roast pork, Schäufele and dumplings, washed down with Silvaner or local beer. Many kitchens around the Marktplatz cook for the coach parties, so the better meals are in family-run guesthouses and wine taverns away from the square. The Schneeball pastry is more fun to look at than to eat.

The two are about level, but what you see is quite different. Dijon is a former ducal capital with real institutions. The Palace of the Dukes houses one of France's oldest fine art museums, and there are the mourners around the Valois tombs, the Romanesque crypt of Saint-Bénigne and Sluter's Well of Moses at Champmol.

In Rothenburg, the town itself is the sight. You walk the covered wall, stand at the Plönlein and take in a medieval town with almost nothing modern inside it. Riemenschneider's Holy Blood Altar and the Medieval Crime Museum are the highlights, and the town takes less time to see than Dijon's two or three days.

Dijon has a large university, so it has a modest night out to offer: small bars along Rue Berbisey, terraces on Place Émile Zola and a few clubs, though it goes quiet outside term time. Rothenburg has almost nothing after dark beyond wine taverns and the night watchman's lantern tour. For anything livelier you would have to go to Würzburg or Nuremberg.

Both sit in gentle country, but Dijon has more variety close by. The wooded combes just west of town have trails and climbing cliffs, the Burgundy Canal towpath is flat and easy for cycling, and the Morvan's granite hills and lakes are about an hour and a half away.

From Rothenburg, paths drop straight from the walls into the Tauber valley, past mills and meadows to the Topplerschlösschen. The Tauber valley cycle path is a classic family ride, and the scenery is at its best in spring blossom and autumn colour.

Dijon has the edge, and wine is the reason. The Route des Grands Crus leads through Gevrey-Chambertin and Vougeot to Beaune, which is also a short train ride away. Fontenay Abbey, Semur-en-Auxois and Vézelay fill longer days, and Besançon's citadel is about an hour by train.

Rothenburg sits on the Romantic Road, so the trips are mostly to other historic towns. Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen, ringed by its crater, are the closest matches, with Würzburg's Residenz and Nuremberg's castle about an hour away by car.

For children, the two work out about the same. Dijon has the planetarium and natural history museum at the Jardin de l'Arquebuse, play areas in the Parc de la Colombière and paddling at Lac Kir. Rothenburg feels like a storybook. Children can walk the ramparts, follow the night watchman, and older ones tend to love the torture devices in the Crime Museum. The cobbles and steep valley paths, though, are hard going with a pushchair.

Both centres are easy to walk, but Dijon is better connected. The station, market and palace are a few minutes apart, two tram lines reach the outskirts, and the TGV gets to Paris in under two hours.

Rothenburg's walled town is just as walkable, though the cobbles and the climb back up from the valley take some effort. The trouble starts when you leave. The town is at the end of a branch line, most journeys need a change at Steinach, and regional buses are sparse, so a car makes things much easier.

Shopping in Dijon is mostly about food and drink to take home: mustard in dozens of flavours, cassis, cheese from around Les Halles and Burgundy from the wine merchants. Rue de la Liberté adds a department store and French chains. Rothenburg's shops are dominated by Christmas, with baubles, nutcrackers and Erzgebirge carvings all year and a Christmas market on the Marktplatz. Beyond that there are mostly souvenirs, and very little fashion or everyday shopping.

Dijon is a little easier on the budget. Bistro set lunches are a good-value way to eat well and wine by the glass is cheap, though tastings, wine tours and good bottles add up quickly. Rothenburg charges a tourist premium for rooms and meals inside the walls, especially in December and on summer weekends. Sleeping outside the gates or in a nearby village saves a good deal.

Dijon has a proper cultural season. The Opéra de Dijon stages opera, concerts and dance at the Grand Théâtre and the Auditorium, which is known for its acoustics, and there is also a national drama centre. Things quieten down in summer. In Rothenburg, performance mostly means the costumed Meistertrunk play, summer open-air theatre and organ and choral concerts in St Jakob's.

Rothenburg is the better place to unwind. Its emptied lanes at dawn and dusk are very quiet, and real thermal bathing is about an hour away: you can float in the salt-water pool of the Franken-Therme at Bad Windsheim or visit the old spa town of Bad Mergentheim. Dijon offers long lunches and slow afternoons in the vineyards, but for spas there are only a few hotels, some with grape-based treatments.