Dijon or Strasbourg?

Neither city is anywhere near the sea, so swimming means freshwater on a hot afternoon. Dijon has a single option, the supervised lawn-and-sand area at Lac Kir on the western edge of town. Strasbourg has several lifeguarded gravel-pit lakes with grassy banks, and the best known, the Baggersee, is reachable by tram.

Both are serious food cities with fine-dining tables and good markets, but the cooking differs. Dijon's is classic Burgundy: boeuf bourguignon, snails, Époisses and Bresse poultry from Les Halles. It also has its mustard and cassis, and wine bars pour village Burgundies from vineyards that begin at the city's southern edge.

Strasbourg's cooking leans German. Expect choucroute, baeckeoffe and tarte flambée, eaten in wood-panelled winstubs with a pichet of Riesling, plus plenty of local beer. Watch out for the tourist menus around the cathedral and Petite France. Neither city offers much beyond its own regional cuisine.

Strasbourg has the deeper set of sights. The pink sandstone cathedral with its astronomical clock anchors a UNESCO ensemble that runs from the timber-framed lanes of Petite France to the imperial avenues of the Neustadt. The Palais Rohan holds three museums, and there is a large modern art museum and the European institutions as well.

Dijon's highlights gather around the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy. Inside it, the Musée des Beaux-Arts keeps the Valois tombs and their sculpted mourners. Add Notre-Dame's gargoyles and lucky owl and Sluter's Well of Moses, and you have a fine two days rather than a longer stay.

Both are student towns where a night out means bars rather than clubs, but Strasbourg has more of them and stays out a little later. Its Krutenau quarter and the streets around Place Saint-Étienne are full of beer cellars and student bars, and in summer the riverside terraces stay busy.

In Dijon an evening more often means a late dinner and a glass of Burgundy. It might move on to the small bars of Rue Berbisey, and outside term time the streets go quiet by midnight.

Strasbourg has more serious outdoors within reach. Within about an hour you can be on forest trails and castle ruins in the Vosges or on the higher fir-covered ridges of the Black Forest. Closer in, the Rhine forests shelter storks, herons and beavers, and level cycle routes run into Germany.

Dijon's countryside is gentler. There are climbing cliffs and walking trails in the combes just west of town, a flat towpath along the Burgundy Canal, and the vineyard cycle route to Beaune. The granite hills of the Morvan are the wildest landscape nearby, and they are further away.

Both are excellent bases, and both have a famous wine route on their doorstep. Dijon's trips are mostly Burgundy itself: the grand cru villages down to Beaune, Fontenay Abbey, Semur-en-Auxois and the battlefield at Alésia. Most of these are easiest by car.

Strasbourg has the Alsace wine villages and Colmar, and it adds a second country. Freiburg, Baden-Baden, Heidelberg and Basel are all within a day, mostly by train, which gives a week there more variety of cities.

Strasbourg is much better set up for children. Boat trips through Petite France, the storks and rowing boats in the Orangerie, the Le Vaisseau science centre and the moving figures of the astronomical clock fill a few days. Europa-Park is the big outing across the border.

Dijon is just as safe and easy to walk, with a planetarium in the Jardin de l'Arquebuse, play areas in the Parc de la Colombière and paddling at Lac Kir. Beyond those, most of what the city offers is wine and fine art aimed at parents.

Both centres are compact and mostly pedestrian, so neither needs a car until you head for the vineyards. Strasbourg is the easier city to move around. Its tram network reaches the European quarter and runs across the Rhine to Kehl, and its separated bike lanes often make cycling the quickest option.

Dijon gets by with two tram lines and short walks. Its real strength is rail: trains run straight down the wine route to Beaune, and the TGV reaches Paris in under two hours.

Strasbourg gives a shopper more ground to cover. Chains and a department store fill the area around Place Kléber, independent shops and bookshops sit near the cathedral, and there are regional crafts such as Soufflenheim pottery and printed linens. In December the Christmas market adds stalls of decorations.

Dijon's shopping is mostly edible: mustard in dozens of flavours, cassis, pain d'épices and wine from the cellars, with Rue de la Liberté for everyday chains. Neither city has much for fashion or luxury.

Dijon is the somewhat cheaper stay. Hotel rooms are moderate, the bistro set lunches are a good-value way to eat, and wine by the glass costs less than elsewhere in France. The bill rises only if you book serious restaurants and guided cellar tours.

In Strasbourg, the free cathedral and old town and cheap trams help. But hotel rooms are the main expense and get much dearer during the Christmas market and Parliament weeks, so the dates you choose matter more there.

Strasbourg has the fuller calendar. The Opéra national du Rhin and the Philharmonic both run full seasons, and the Théâtre National de Strasbourg is among the country's leading stages. The Musica festival makes the city a centre for contemporary music each autumn, and there is a jazz festival too.

Dijon holds its own for its size. The Opéra de Dijon stages opera, concerts and dance in the old Grand Théâtre and in the Auditorium, which is known for its acoustics. In both cities the programme follows the academic year and thins out in summer.

Strasbourg is the place for a proper soak. The early twentieth-century Bains municipaux has tiled pools, a hammam and saunas, and Baden-Baden's Friedrichsbad and Caracalla baths are under an hour away. The Black Forest has more spa towns besides.

Dijon has no bathing tradition, only a few hotel spas, some offering grape-based treatments in the wine villages. Its calm comes instead from long lunches and quiet afternoons among the vines.