Freiburg or Karlovy Vary?

Neither town is near the sea, but Freiburg has more places to swim outdoors. Warm gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain are a short bike ride away, and Titisee and Schluchsee offer cooler mountain swims about an hour out.

Karlovy Vary has fewer options. There is Lake Medard, a flooded mine near Sokolov, and a few small reservoirs, and otherwise the outdoor pools fed by the springs. That warm water is the town's real swimming asset, but this is not a place for a summer swimming trip.

Freiburg eats noticeably better. Baden cooking has a French lightness, and the daily market around the Münster is a meal in itself. The Kaiserstuhl and Markgräflerland supply Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris to go with Schäufele, mountain trout or spring asparagus, and there is serious fine dining in the countryside around.

Karlovy Vary serves hearty Czech plates of roast pork, dumplings and svíčková with good beer. Its two edible souvenirs are warm spa wafers and Becherovka. Beyond the cafés on the promenade and the international menus aimed at hotel guests, there is little street food, no market and only a few ambitious kitchens.

Both make a compact day or two of sightseeing, but of very different kinds. Freiburg's appeal is Gothic and medieval: the red sandstone Münster with its climbable tower, the old city gates, the Bächle channels and the medieval art in the Augustinermuseum. Much of the centre was carefully rebuilt after the war.

Karlovy Vary is a nineteenth-century ensemble, a valley of pastel Belle Époque hotels and colonnades listed by UNESCO among the Great Spa Towns of Europe, with the Vřídlo geyser at its heart. Its museums are small and specialised, so what you come for is the architecture rather than the collections.

Freiburg has the livelier evenings because of its large student population. There are pubs and wine bars around the Martinstor, beer gardens, summer crowds along the Dreisam and a few clubs, and it is busiest during term time.

Karlovy Vary goes to bed early. Outside the film festival week, a night out means a hotel bar, a quiet cocktail or a casino.

For walking, skiing and riding, the country around Freiburg is higher and more varied, with the Black Forest beginning at the edge of town. The Schauinsland cable car climbs to about 1,280m, with views to the Alps on clear days. The Feldberg, the Ravenna gorge and the Kaiserstuhl vineyards add hiking, skiing, mountain biking and easy cycling, all within about an hour.

Forest rises straight out of Karlovy Vary's valley too, but its spa paths to the Diana tower and the stag-leap rock are gentle, graded walks laid out for convalescents. Further out, the moors of the Slavkov Forest, the ski slopes at Klínovec and canoeing on the Ohře offer green, rolling country rather than mountain terrain.

Freiburg sits where Germany, France and Switzerland meet, which gives it the wider choice. Basel is a short train ride away. Colmar and the Alsace wine villages, Strasbourg and Baden-Baden are all comfortable day trips, and Staufen and Breisach are closer still, so one week can take in three countries.

Karlovy Vary's outings are rewarding but more alike. Loket's castle is close by, the sister spa towns of Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně are about an hour away, and Bečov's St Maurus reliquary and Plzeň's breweries are within reach. Prague is possible, but only as a long day with two hours on the coach each way.

With children, Freiburg is the clear choice. Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about 40 minutes away. The free Mundenhof animal park, the Schauinsland cable car, the swimming lakes and the toy boats on the Bächle fill the days in between.

Karlovy Vary is safe and clean, but it is made for adults taking cures. The geyser, the funicular up to the Diana lookout and the outdoor thermal pool will keep children happy for an afternoon or two. The steep valley sides make pushchairs hard work.

Freiburg is the easier of the two to get around. Its car-free old town is compact, trams reach the suburbs and the cable car, and cycling on the flat is a pleasure. Regional trains run straight into the Black Forest and along the Rhine to Basel, often covered by a guest card.

In Karlovy Vary, the spa quarter is a pleasant walk along the Teplá, but many hotels and viewpoints sit up steep slopes, so buses and the funicular are well used. The regional trains are slow, and Prague is a coach ride away.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference lies in what they sell. Freiburg has chain stores on Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse, and independent boutiques and bookshops in the Gerberau and Konviktstrasse quarters. Cuckoo clocks and market wine are the souvenirs, and Basel is close by for serious retail.

Karlovy Vary is more upmarket within a small range. Jewellers and fur boutiques for spa guests line Stará louka. The genuine local crafts are Moser crystal, porcelain from nearby factories and Bohemian garnets.

Karlovy Vary is easier on the budget. The grand hotels and the restaurants along the colonnades charge for the setting. One street back, though, Czech pubs and canteens charge local prices, and rooms are cheapest outside summer and the festival week.

In Freiburg, accommodation is the problem, as rooms are scarce and dear, especially on summer weekends and during trade fairs. Day-to-day spending is kinder, with market snacks, restaurants in the student quarter and sights that cost little or nothing, though trips into Switzerland add up.

Freiburg gives an evening out more depth. Its municipal theatre keeps opera, drama and dance in rotation through the season, so most weeks something serious is on. The Freiburger Barockorchester, a period-instrument orchestra known across Europe, plays at home in the Konzerthaus. Students keep jazz and small live gigs going, and summer brings the Zelt-Musik-Festival's concerts in tents outside town.

Karlovy Vary's programme is lighter and narrower. Its symphony orchestra still plays in the manner of the old spa bands, favouring easy classics and sometimes performing on the colonnades in summer. The ornate Fellner and Helmer theatre depends on visiting companies for its drama and operetta. A Dvořák festival brightens the autumn, but if you want opera or early music on period instruments, Freiburg is the better choice.

Karlovy Vary is the place for a true spa trip. Thirteen springs feed the colonnades for the drinking cure. Spa hotels and sanatoria offer medical stays with carbonated baths, peat wraps and doctors' consultations, and booking one is the way to get the full experience.

Freiburg makes a calm base rather than a cure in itself. It has a thermal bath on the city's edge, with the larger complexes of Bad Krozingen and Badenweiler a short trip south and Baden-Baden an hour away by train. Its café terraces and riverside paths set an easy pace, but the spas are outings rather than the point of the place.