Dresden or Gdansk?

This is where Gdansk has a real advantage. Wide, pale Baltic sand runs from Brzeźno and Jelitkowo to Sopot, with Stogi quieter among the pines, and the shallow water suits children. The sea stays cool and the swimming season is short, but in summer a beach afternoon fits easily around sightseeing.

Dresden is far from any coast. The Elbe's sandy banks are for deckchairs, not swimming, so cooling off means outdoor pools, flooded gravel pits or the ponds at Moritzburg.

The two are broadly level, and in both cities the old centre has the weakest food and the better meals are elsewhere. Dresden's table is Saxon roasts, game and dumplings, and its best habit is afternoon coffee with Eierschecke or Stollen. The Elbe valley also supplies a dry local wine you will not find at home, and the Neustadt has the most varied cheap eating.

Gdansk leans to the sea: smoked and fried fish, herring, pierogi and żurek, with milk bars for simple canteen meals. Craft beer and Goldwasser stand in for wine, and the better tables are in Wrzeszcz, the shipyard area and Sopot rather than on Długa.

Dresden comes out ahead because of its collections. Raphael's Sistine Madonna in the Zwinger, the Green Vault's treasures and the Romantic paintings in the Albertinum are of world rank, and the Frauenkirche, the Semperoper and Brühl's Terrace form one baroque riverside set.

Gdansk is stronger on history than on art. The Hanseatic merchant houses of Długa and the Long Market, St Mary's and the medieval crane make a fine townscape, but its most powerful visits are the Museum of the Second World War, Westerplatte and the European Solidarity Centre. Both old towns were largely rebuilt after 1945, and Gdansk's reconstruction reads as the more seamless.

Neither city is a destination for nights out, but they work in different ways. Dresden's nightlife is in one place, the Äußere Neustadt, where students fill small bars and courtyard pubs, people drink on the pavements in summer, and a few clubs occupy old industrial buildings. Across the river, the old town goes quiet after dinner.

Gdansk spreads its evenings along the coast and changes with the season. There are quiet cocktail bars in the Main Town, local bars in Wrzeszcz and warehouse club nights in the shipyard, and in summer Sopot's Monte Cassino street and pier take over until the late trains. In winter it is the quieter of the two.

Dresden has the more striking landscape. Saxon Switzerland's sandstone towers and gorges start within an hour by train, with the Bastei view, the multi-day Malerweg and a historic tradition of free climbing. The Elbe cycle route, the Dresden Heath and the Ore Mountains add easier options.

Gdansk's outdoors are gentler and based on water. There are beech woods and ravines in the Tricity Landscape Park, the lakes of Kashubia for canoeing and cycling, and the Bay of Puck for kitesurfing and windsurfing. There are no mountains, and the cool wind limits the season.

Dresden has more within reach. Meissen's cathedral and porcelain, Moritzburg's lake palace and the Königstein fortress are all close by, Leipzig and Görlitz are about an hour away, and Prague is a long but doable day along the Elbe gorge.

Gdansk has one outstanding excursion, the Teutonic castle at Malbork, just over half an hour by train. Sopot and Gdynia are easy half-days, and Frombork and Pelplin are worth the trip, but Torun at two hours is the furthest you can comfortably go and back.

There is little to choose between them with children, but they suit different seasons. Dresden holds up better through the year. The trams, trains and cars of the Transport Museum and the hands-on children's section of the Hygiene Museum work in any weather. From spring to autumn the Großer Garten adds its zoo and the miniature railway run largely by children, and the paddle steamers make a slow day up the Elbe. There is no aquarium or theme park, and the cobbles and formal galleries of the old town hold little for the young.

Gdansk comes into its own in summer. It has soft sand and shallow water on the beaches, the large zoo in the forested hills at Oliwa, Gdynia's aquarium and science centre, and boat trips to Westerplatte and the Sopot pier. Out of season the cold and wind push families indoors, and the war museums are better kept for older children.

Both are easy without a car, but the cities have different shapes. Dresden's old town and the Neustadt sit either side of one bridge, the trams fill in the rest, and suburban trains and paddle steamers run along the Elbe.

Gdansk has a small, walkable Main Town and then a long coastal strip of some 30km. The SKM commuter line ties Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia together, so you will spend more time on trains here.

Neither is a shopping city, and each has one craft worth buying. In Dresden it is Meissen porcelain and the wooden Ore Mountain figures, plus the Neustadt's second-hand and design shops. In Gdansk it is Baltic amber from the workshops on Mariacka Street. The big markets fall in different seasons: Dresden's Striezelmarkt fills the Altmarkt in Advent, while Gdansk's medieval St Dominic's Fair takes over the old town in summer.

Gdansk is the cheaper trip. Transport, museum entry, meals and especially beer and coffee all cost well under Western European levels. The exception is hotel rooms in July and August, which rise to seaside rates, particularly in Sopot.

Dresden is moderate, cheaper than Munich or Frankfurt but not cheap. Hotels are fair most of the year, but each major museum charges its own entry and the cost adds up, and rooms rise at Christmas market time.

Dresden is the stronger music city by some distance. The Semperoper and its Staatskapelle, with a history that includes Wagner and Strauss premieres, are worth planning a trip around, as are the Philharmonic in the Kulturpalast and the Kreuzchor singing in the Kreuzkirche.

Gdansk has a respectable season but not one of that standing. Its distinctive venues are the Baltic Opera, the Philharmonic in an old power station and the Shakespeare Theatre with its opening roof. Organ recitals at Oliwa and Gdynia's big summer rock festival add variety.

Dresden is slightly better for unwinding. It has municipal baths with sauna areas, as is usual in Germany, a real thermal pool at Bad Schandau, and long, empty walks on the Elbe meadows.

Gdansk's spa offer is mostly the hotel spas of Sopot, an old seaside resort. Its own custom is winter sea dipping in the icy Baltic, more bracing than relaxing.