Freiburg or Heidelberg?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Freiburg offers better swimming. The gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain warm up nicely and have grassy shores, and Titisee and Schluchsee in the Black Forest make a scenic, if cool, swim about an hour away.

Heidelberg's Neckar isn't for swimming at all, so a hot day there means the town's outdoor pools or a trip of about half an hour to similar gravel lakes.

Freiburg eats better. Its Baden cooking has a French lightness, and the morning market around the Münster, with its long grilled sausages in a bread roll, is a daily ritual. Dry Pinots from the Kaiserstuhl are on hand, and the surrounding region has some of Germany's best fine dining.

Heidelberg's wine is just as good, with Riesling from the Bergstrasse. Its cooking is heavier, though, and the restaurants along the Hauptstrasse are aimed at day-trippers and uneven in quality. The better meals are in Neuenheim and the side streets. Its large student population does give it more cheap kebab, pizza and Asian food than Freiburg, where the range soon repeats itself.

These two are close, and both can be seen in a day or two, but the feel is different. Freiburg is built around one great monument, the Gothic Münster, whose tower you can climb, plus the little Bächle water channels and the medieval sculpture in the Augustinermuseum. Much of its centre was rebuilt after wartime bombing.

Heidelberg feels older and more theatrical. The half-ruined castle looks down on one of Germany's best-preserved old towns, and the university, founded in 1386, adds the Old University's hall and the graffiti-covered Student Prison. It's the more photogenic of the two.

Both cities go out the student way, with pubs and wine bars that are livelier in term time and a handful of clubs. In Freiburg the evening spreads out of doors. In summer people stay late on the squares and along the Dreisam, and a few clubs play techno and indie.

Heidelberg's nights are concentrated in the bars of the narrow Untere Strasse and in old student taverns with carved tables. The town goes quiet early out of term, and for a big club night people take the train to Mannheim or Frankfurt.

Freiburg has the real mountains. A cable car climbs to the Schauinsland ridge at about 1,280m, with views to the Alps on clear days. The Feldberg offers summer hiking and winter skiing, and there are gorge walks such as the Ravenna valley and excellent mountain biking.

Heidelberg's outdoors is gentler. The classic walk is the Philosophers' Walk, a funicular runs up the Königstuhl at 568m, and the Heiligenberg has Celtic ramparts among the trees. Beyond that there are Neckar valley cycling and the Bergstrasse's almond blossom. It makes for green, easy walking, but there is nothing on Freiburg's scale.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is in where you go. From Freiburg the trips cross borders: Basel's museums by train, Colmar and the half-timbered Alsace villages such as Riquewihr by car, and Strasbourg within an hour and a half.

From Heidelberg you head into German history. The imperial cathedrals of Speyer and Worms, Lorsch Abbey and the monastery at Maulbronn are all easy outings, and there are castle-lined villages up the Neckar and Frankfurt about an hour away by train. Baden-Baden is within reach of both.

Freiburg is the easier family base. The flat, car-free centre suits bikes and pushchairs, children love the Bächle channels, and the Mundenhof animal park is free. Its trump card is Europa-Park, Germany's biggest theme park, about 40 minutes away.

Heidelberg works well enough, with the funicular, a small fairy-tale park on the Königstuhl and a compact zoo. The Technik Museum at Speyer, where children can climb into a space shuttle, is a rainy-day option that Freiburg lacks. But the cobbled, sloping Altstadt is hard work with a pushchair.

Freiburg is the simpler city to move around. Almost everything lies within a twenty-minute walk of the largely car-free old town, the centre is flat and laced with bike lanes, and trams reach the Schauinsland cable car.

Heidelberg's Altstadt is easy to walk along the Hauptstrasse, but the station is well to the west, so most visitors arrive by tram, and the cobbles and steep castle approach slow you down. Its strong point is a single fare system across the Rhine-Neckar area that makes day trips simple.

Neither is a shopping destination. Freiburg's better finds are the independent boutiques and organic stores in the Gerberau and Konviktstrasse quarters, plus wine, ham and schnapps from the Münster market. For serious retail people go to Basel.

Heidelberg's shopping lines one very long pedestrian street, with chain stores at one end and souvenirs, beer steins and Studentenkuss chocolates at the other. Mannheim and Frankfurt fill the gap for fashion.

Costs are much the same, and in both the expensive part is the hotel, since rooms are scarce on summer weekends. Freiburg visitors often stay in nearby Black Forest villages and get the Münster for free, though trips into Switzerland cost more.

In Heidelberg the usual workaround is to stay in Mannheim and come in by train. The regional ticket keeps day trips cheap, and the castle charges a modest entry fee.

Both have a municipal theatre with opera, drama and dance, so the difference is in the highlights. Freiburg is home to the Freiburger Barockorchester, a leading period-instrument ensemble, and holds the summer Zelt-Musik-Festival in a tent village.

Heidelberg has the more atmospheric setting. There is chamber music during the Heidelberger Frühling in spring, plays and concerts in the castle courtyard in summer, and frequent church concerts. Mannheim's larger opera house is twenty minutes away by train.

Freiburg is clearly better for spa time. There is a mineral thermal bath on the city's eastern edge, Bad Krozingen's warm outdoor pools are twenty minutes south, and Badenweiler has a modern bath next to the remains of a Roman one.

Heidelberg has no baths of its own beyond hotel spas, so a proper soak means a trip to the Kraichgau or Baden-Baden. Its calm comes from evenings on the Neckar meadows and forest paths rather than warm water.