Freiburg or Ghent?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation, but Ghent gets you closer to real sand. The Belgian coast is about an hour away by train, with wide beaches and dunes, although the North Sea is cool and often windy. In the city, the Blaarmeersen lake has a sandy shore and lifeguards in summer.

Freiburg's swimming is all fresh water. Locals cycle to gravel-pit lakes with grassy banks on the Rhine plain, which are warm in summer, and Titisee and Schluchsee are scenic but chilly.

The two eat about equally well, but in very different styles. Freiburg's Baden cooking has a French lightness: Flammkuchen, Black Forest ham, river trout and spring asparagus, with dry Pinot from the Kaiserstuhl and the morning market around the Münster. Fine dining in the countryside around it is excellent, but the choice in town soon repeats itself.

Ghent is about hearty Flemish food and, above all, beer. Expect waterzooi, beef stewed in dark beer, mussels with frites, and long Trappist and lambic lists in the brown cafés of the Patershol and the Vrijdagmarkt. Vegetarians will eat better in Ghent.

Ghent has the deeper sightseeing. Its medieval centre has survived largely intact and is still lived in: guildhalls line the Graslei and Korenlei, the Gravensteen castle stands in the middle of town, and the beguinages are UNESCO-listed. St Bavo's Cathedral holds the Ghent Altarpiece, one of the great works of European painting, and four strong museums fill out two or three days.

Freiburg is built around its red sandstone Münster, whose tower you can climb, and the Augustinermuseum's medieval sculpture. Much of its old town was rebuilt after the war, and a day or two covers it.

Students drive the evenings in both cities, but Ghent's nights go further. The Overpoort runs loud and late in term time, the old cafés around the Oudburg suit long evenings over strong beer, and the Gentse Feesten turns the centre into a ten-day street party every July.

Freiburg's evening is gentler. You have pubs and wine bars around the Martinstor, beer gardens, and summer crowds sitting out by the Dreisam, with a few small clubs and a quiet spell during the semester break.

This is Freiburg's great strength. From town you can reach the Schauinsland ridge at about 1,280m by cable car, and the Feldberg is about an hour away for summer hiking and winter snow. Add gorge walks, excellent mountain biking and gentle cycling among the volcanic vineyards of the Kaiserstuhl.

Ghent sits in flat, farmed country. The outdoors there means riverside cycling along the Leie, birdwatching in the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetlands and the dunes of the coast, with nothing to climb.

Both make excellent bases, but Ghent's day trips are closer together and easier to reach. Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp are each under an hour away by frequent train, followed by Mechelen, Leuven, the Ypres battlefields and Lille, all without a car.

Freiburg's appeal is having three countries close by. Basel is about 45 minutes away by train, and Strasbourg and Colmar are also within reach. The half-timbered Alsace wine villages, though, are much easier with a car.

Freiburg is the stronger choice with children. Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about 40 minutes away, the Mundenhof animal park is free, and the Schauinsland cable car and the Steinwasen suspension bridge give children a sense of adventure. Rainy days are the weak point.

Ghent is safe and largely free of cars, and the castle with its armour, the canal boats and the House of Alijn are good for an afternoon each. After that there is little made for children, and the cobbles are hard work with a pushchair.

Both are small, flat and easy to get around on foot or by bike, with car-free centres. Freiburg's trams also reach the cable car, and regional trains climb into the Black Forest, often covered by a guest card from your hotel.

In Ghent, the main station is a twenty-minute walk from the centre, so you will use the tram. Wet cobbles call for care, but trains to the rest of Flanders mean you never need a car.

Ghent is the better browse. Independent fashion and design shops fill the Serpentstraat and the Onderbergen, vintage shops cluster in the student quarter, and there are weekend flea and flower markets. Chocolate, cuberdons and the local mustard make good things to take home.

Freiburg has chain stores on Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse, a few boutiques in the Gerberau, and plenty of cuckoo clocks and wood carvings. For anything more, locals take the train to Basel.

Overall the two cost about the same, but the money goes in different places. In Freiburg, hotels are the expensive part, scarce on summer weekends and during trade fairs. Market food, wine taverns and the free Münster keep daily spending down.

Ghent turns that around. Small hotels and guesthouses are reasonably priced for most of the year, except during the Gentse Feesten, but sit-down dinners with a few beers add up quickly.

Ghent has the bigger stage life. It shares the Flemish national opera and ballet, NTGent is known abroad for bold productions mostly in Dutch, and De Bijloke puts on concerts in a medieval hospital. Every July the Gentse Feesten adds free stages across the centre.

Freiburg offers a solid evening out rather than a season to plan around. Theater Freiburg runs opera and drama, and the Zelt-Musik-Festival takes over a tent village in summer. Lovers of early music will be happy in either city: Ghent has De Bijloke, and Freiburg is home to the Freiburger Barockorchester.

Freiburg sits in real spa country. A thermal bath lies on the city's edge, Bad Krozingen's warm outdoor pools and saunas are about twenty minutes away, Badenweiler adds Roman ruins, and Baden-Baden is about an hour away by train.

Ghent has no bathing tradition, only a few hotel spas. Its quiet comes instead from the beguinage gardens, walks along the Coupure canal and slow Sunday mornings.