Freiburg or La Spezia?

On swimming the two could hardly be more different. Freiburg has no sea at all. Swimming there means the warm gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain, the cooler Black Forest lakes of Titisee and Schluchsee, and outdoor pools that fill up in high summer.

La Spezia's own waterfront is a port, but a short ride takes you to the sheltered sand at San Terenzo and Lerici, the clear rocky water off Portovenere and Palmaria, and Monterosso's long beach. The sea is warm from June into October. The beaches are small, though, often pebbly and largely taken up by paid bathing establishments.

Both cities eat well in their regional style, and neither has much international food. Freiburg cooks in the Baden style with a French accent: Flammkuchen, Schäufele, Black Forest ham and trout, with Kaiserstuhl Pinot to drink. It has a market by the Münster every day except Sunday and serious fine dining in the countryside around it.

La Spezia's food is Ligurian and coastal: farinata, pesto, focaccia and mussels grown on ropes in the gulf, with Cinque Terre whites and sweet Sciacchetrà. It is simpler and easier on the budget from day to day, but it has little of the fine dining found around Freiburg.

Freiburg has more to see in town. The red sandstone Münster, whose lace-like tower you can climb, the medieval gates, the Historisches Kaufhaus and the Bächle make a complete old centre. It was rebuilt after the war but still feels historic, and the Augustinermuseum adds strong medieval art.

La Spezia is a nineteenth-century naval town of arcaded streets and Liberty facades, with no medieval core. The Museo Amedeo Lia is a real find for early Italian painting, and the stele statues in the Castello San Giorgio are unusual. Most of the region's history, though, lies out along the coast.

Neither city is a place you would visit for the nightlife, but Freiburg has more going on after dark. Its students fill the pubs, wine bars and beer gardens around the Martinstor and keep a few clubs going, especially during term.

In La Spezia the evening means an aperitivo on Via del Prione or the seafront, or by the water in Lerici and San Terenzo in summer. After that the town goes quiet early.

Both cities have superb landscape close by, but of very different kinds. Freiburg has mountain forest: the Schlossberg behind the old town, the Schauinsland cable car and the Feldberg for hiking and winter skiing. The Kaiserstuhl vineyards and the Rhine plain add cycling and mountain biking.

La Spezia has sea cliffs: the terraced Cinque Terre paths, the loop walk on Palmaria and the Montemarcello promontory, with kayaking and diving in the gulf and the marble peaks of the Apuan Alps inland. Freiburg's outdoors works in every season, with snow in winter, while La Spezia's is best in spring and autumn.

Both are excellent bases, but from La Spezia you see more for less travel. The Cinque Terre villages are minutes away by train and Portovenere and Lerici a short boat or bus ride. Sarzana, Luni, Carrara, Pisa and Lucca are all within about an hour.

Freiburg's strength is variety rather than how close things are. Basel is across the Swiss border, Colmar and the Alsace wine villages are in France, and Strasbourg and Baden-Baden are further off. Staufen and Breisach are near the city, but most of the big outings take closer to an hour each way.

Freiburg is the better choice with children. Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about forty minutes away. Closer to home there is the free Mundenhof animal park, the cable car ride, the swimming lakes and the Bächle for sailing toy boats.

La Spezia is relaxed and safe, with shallow, sheltered beaches and boat trips around the islands. It has no zoo, aquarium or theme park, though, and its steep villages and long walks suit older children far better than toddlers.

Freiburg is the easier place to get around. The old town is car-free, trams reach most of the city, cycling is easy on the flat streets, and regional trains run into the Black Forest and to Basel. Many hotels also give guests a card for local buses and trains.

La Spezia also works well without a car. The centre is walkable, trains run along the coast, buses go around the gulf and ferries run in the warmer months. Its weak point is summer, when the Cinque Terre trains and village platforms get crowded.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and serious shoppers go elsewhere from both. Freiburg has more independent boutiques and bookshops in the Gerberau and Konviktstrasse lanes, as well as cuckoo clocks and wood carvings, and Basel is close for bigger shops. La Spezia's best buys are things to eat and drink, such as pesto, olive oil, anchovies and Sciacchetrà, along with Carrara marble pieces from nearby towns.

La Spezia is easier on the wallet. Rooms cost less than in the Cinque Terre villages, everyday food like farinata and focaccia is fair value, and local trains are inexpensive. In summer, though, trail passes, boat trips and bathing establishments add up.

In Freiburg hotel rooms are scarce and cost more than you would expect for a city of its size, especially on summer weekends and during trade fairs. Daily spending is kinder, with cheap market snacks and free sights such as the Münster, but trips into Switzerland cost noticeably more.

Freiburg has the fuller programme. Theater Freiburg stages opera, drama and dance in repertory, the Konzerthaus is home to the much-admired Freiburger Barockorchester, and the summer Zelt-Musik-Festival fills a tent village with concerts.

La Spezia's Teatro Civico puts on a modest season, and summer brings a jazz festival and open-air concerts in piazzas and castle courtyards. For opera, though, you have to go to Genoa or Pisa.

This is one of Freiburg's clearest advantages. It sits in spa country, with a thermal bath on the city's edge and the large complex at Bad Krozingen about twenty minutes away. Badenweiler, with the ruins of a Roman bath, and the grand bathhouses of Baden-Baden are within easy reach.

La Spezia has no bathing tradition, so wellness means a hotel spa or the small baths at Equi Terme inland. Rest there comes from quiet days on Palmaria or a long lunch in Tellaro, best outside the summer.