Frankfurt or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither city is a choice for the water. Both are deep inland and their swimming is the same kind: lakes and outdoor pools in high summer.

The difference is in effort. Frankfurt's gravel-pit lakes, such as the Langener Waldsee with its sandy shores, are on the city's edge, while from Rothenburg the Franconian lake district is about an hour's drive away.

Frankfurt eats better and more widely. Its apple-wine taverns, with Grüne Soße and Handkäs at shared tables, give it a real local ritual, and the city adds Turkish, Italian and Asian kitchens and serious restaurants on top.

Rothenburg's cooking is honest Franconian fare, Schäufele and dumplings with Silvaner, but the choice is narrow and many places near the Marktplatz cater to coach parties. The good meals are in family guesthouses and wine taverns off the square, and if you crave anything international you will struggle.

For sightseeing these two are about level, but they offer different things. Frankfurt's strength is its museums, more than a dozen along both banks of the Main, led by the Städel's old masters and modern painting, with the Römer, the cathedral and Goethe's birthplace close by in a largely rebuilt old centre under a skyline of towers unlike anything else in Germany.

In Rothenburg the town itself is the exhibit: a complete ring of walls, towers and gabled lanes, carefully restored where war damaged it, with hardly anything modern inside the gates. Riemenschneider's carved altar in St Jakob's and the Medieval Crime Museum are the main indoor stops. Frankfurt suits gallery-goers who want several days of collections, while Rothenburg suits those who would rather walk through a medieval townscape than look at one in a museum.

Frankfurt has genuine nightlife, Rothenburg essentially none. In Frankfurt the weekends bring techno and house clubs rooted in the city's electronic music history, cocktail bars in the Bahnhofsviertel, neighbourhood bars along Berger Straße and crowds drinking on the riverbanks in summer.

Rothenburg's evening is a glass of wine in an inn and the night watchman's tour. Anyone wanting more has to go to Würzburg or Nuremberg.

Frankfurt has more countryside within reach. The Taunus hills, with beech forest and trails up the Großer Feldberg, are under an hour by public transport, and the vast Stadtwald and long cycle paths along the Main start inside the city.

Rothenburg's outdoors is lovely but small in scale: paths drop from the walls into the Tauber valley, and the Tauber valley cycle path makes an easy family ride. Beyond that there are rolling farmland and orchards, with no hills of the Taunus's size close by.

Frankfurt is the stronger base, largely because of its trains. Heidelberg, the castles of the Rhine Gorge and Cologne cathedral are each about an hour away by rail, and Mainz, Wiesbaden and Darmstadt are closer still.

Rothenburg has a very good set of excursions too, notably Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen on the Romantic Road, Würzburg and Nuremberg. The catch is that most of them really need a car, since the rail links involve a change on a quiet branch line.

Frankfurt keeps children busy for longer. The Senckenberg's dinosaurs, the zoo, the Palmengarten and riverside playgrounds are all easy to reach with a pushchair, and the Taunus adds a wildlife park and a small fairy-tale park.

Rothenburg feels like a storybook to children for a day or two, with rampart walks, the tower climb and the lantern-lit night watchman, and its car-free centre feels safe. After that there is little aimed at them, and cobbles and steep valley paths make pushchairs and small legs work hard.

Both centres are walkable, but Frankfurt adds a full transport network around that core. U-Bahn, S-Bahn and trams cover the whole region on one system, the airport is a short ride away and the main station plugs straight into the high-speed lines.

Rothenburg's old town takes fifteen minutes to cross on foot, and that is its whole transport story. Beyond the gates, sparse buses and a branch line that usually means changing at Steinach make a car the practical choice.

Frankfurt is far better for general shopping: department stores and malls on the Zeil, luxury houses around Goethestraße, and independent boutiques on Berger Straße and Schweizer Straße.

Rothenburg's shops do one thing well, Christmas, with year-round baubles, nutcrackers and Erzgebirge carvings, and its Christmas market is among Germany's most atmospheric. Beyond those souvenirs, fashion and everyday shopping hardly exist.

Rothenburg is a little easier on the wallet, though neither is cheap. Frankfurt's hotels are priced for business travellers and soar during trade fairs, even if taverns, Turkish grills and transport stay reasonable and weekends bring rooms down.

Rothenburg has a tourist premium of its own inside the walls and around the Marktplatz, highest in December and on summer weekends. Here the simple fix is to sleep just outside the gates or in a nearby village.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Frankfurt has a nationally admired opera company, concerts at the Alte Oper, serious drama at the Schauspiel, contemporary dance and jazz cellars, with a season running from autumn to early summer.

Rothenburg's performances are occasional and historical: the costumed Meistertrunk play, summer open-air theatre and organ concerts in St Jakob's. On most nights there is simply nothing on.

Neither town has its own bathing culture, so both rely on nearby spa towns, and Frankfurt's are closer and finer. Bad Homburg sits at the foot of the Taunus, and Wiesbaden's Art Nouveau Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme, fed by hot springs, is under an hour away.

Rothenburg's own calm is its asset, with empty lanes at dawn and silent wall walks in the evening. For thermal water, though, you drive about an hour to Bad Windsheim's salt-water pool or to Bad Mergentheim.