Freiburg or Lille?

Neither city is a place for beach life, so the only question is what takes its place. In Freiburg it is fresh water: warm, grassy-shored gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain, within cycling distance, and the cooler, more scenic Titisee and Schluchsee in the Black Forest. Lille has real sand, but that means an hour on the train to the wide, windy North Sea beach at Malo-les-Bains, where the cold sea is better for a bracing walk than a swim.

Both cities eat well in a regional way, and the clearest difference is what you drink with it. Freiburg's Baden cooking leans towards France and is lighter: Schäufele, Black Forest ham, mountain trout and spring asparagus, with dry Pinot from the Kaiserstuhl vineyards just outside town. The daily market around the Münster is at the heart of it.

Lille is heartier and Flemish, with beer-braised carbonnade, potjevleesch and Maroilles in the estaminets of Vieux-Lille, and ales carrying the evening instead of wine. Freiburg's region has the stronger fine dining, while Lille has the more varied market in multi-ethnic Wazemmes on Sundays.

Lille gives the fuller cultural stay. The Palais des Beaux-Arts, with its Flemish masters and its hall of relief maps, has no equal in Freiburg. The Flemish baroque streets of Vieux-Lille, Vauban's citadel and the art museums in Roubaix and Villeneuve-d'Ascq easily fill two or three days.

Freiburg's appeal is concentrated in one fine set piece: the red sandstone Münster with its climbable lace tower, the market square, the medieval gates and the running Bächle. Much of the centre was rebuilt after the war, and together with the Augustinermuseum it is done in a day or two.

Both are student cities that go out more than their size suggests, but Lille has more going on. Rue Masséna and Rue Solférino fill with cheap student bars on Thursdays, Vieux-Lille adds beer cafés and cocktail bars in brick cellars, and Belgium is close for a later night.

Freiburg's evenings are gentler: pubs and wine bars around the Martinstor, beer gardens, summer crowds on the squares and by the Dreisam, and only a handful of clubs. It goes noticeably quieter in the semester break.

This is where the two cities differ most. In Freiburg the Black Forest begins at the edge of town. You have the Schlossberg behind the old town, the cable car up the Schauinsland to about 1,280m, hiking and winter snow on the Feldberg, gorge walks, and vineyard cycling in the volcanic Kaiserstuhl.

Lille sits in flat, farmed Flanders, so time outdoors means the Citadel park, level towpaths along the Deûle and short walks on low hills such as Mont des Cats. The chalk cliffs of Cap Blanc-Nez are the nearest real scenery, and getting there takes a long day.

Lille wins on day trips because its fast trains put major cities within an hour, while Freiburg's reach is regional and more rural. From Freiburg, Basel is about 45 minutes by train and Baden-Baden about an hour. With a car you can reach Colmar, Strasbourg and the half-timbered Alsace villages of Riquewihr and Eguisheim, and Staufen, Breisach and the abbey of St. Peter are closer still. It suits days of wine villages and small towns, with three countries in a small radius.

Lille is the stronger base for big cities. Brussels is about half an hour away, Ghent and Bruges around an hour, and Paris about an hour by TGV. London is close enough by Eurostar for an ambitious day. Closer to home, Amiens cathedral, the arcaded squares of Arras, the Louvre-Lens and the First World War battlefields around Ypres and the Somme make good days out.

Freiburg is the easier and richer choice with children. The car-free centre, the Bächle for toy boats, the free Mundenhof animal park and the Schauinsland cable car fill the days, and Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about 40 minutes away.

Lille manages well enough, with the zoo and playgrounds in the Citadel park and a natural history museum for wet days. But its big draws, Pairi Daiza and the Nausicaá aquarium, are further out, and the cobbles of Vieux-Lille are hard going with a pushchair. On a rainy day Lille has the edge, as Freiburg has few indoor options.

Both old towns are flat and small enough to cross on foot, so for sightseeing you will mostly walk in either, and neither needs a car. The difference is how you go further. Freiburg suits a bike more than almost anywhere in Germany. Trams run out to the suburbs and the foot of the Schauinsland cable car, regional trains climb the Höllental into the Black Forest, and the guest card many hotels give out often covers the fare. Only the Alsace wine villages and a few valleys are much easier by car.

In Lille the driverless VAL metro and the tram to Roubaix and Tourcoing do the work a bike does in Freiburg, and they take you to the museums in the outer towns. Its real edge is the main-line railway. Lille Flandres and Lille Europe stand next to each other a short walk from the old town, so you are on a fast train within minutes of leaving your hotel. Choose Freiburg if you want to cycle and ride trams into the hills, and Lille if you want to come and go easily by rail.

Lille is the better place to shop. Besides the chains on Rue Neuve and the Euralille mall, Vieux-Lille has independent fashion, design shops, delicatessens and the city's few luxury labels. Each September the Braderie turns its streets into a vast flea market.

Freiburg is pleasant but small: chains on Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse, boutiques and organic stores in the side lanes, and cuckoo clocks, wine and ham as the local buys. Serious shoppers there head over to Basel.

Neither city is cheap, and day-to-day costs are similar, from market snacks and student-quarter taverns in Freiburg to estaminet meals and beer in Lille. The real difference is the hotel bill: Lille's rooms are reasonable for most of the year, while Freiburg's are scarce and dear for a city of its size. Trade fairs push prices up in both, as do the Braderie in Lille and summer weekends in Freiburg.

Lille has the broader programme. It has the grand Opéra de Lille, the Orchestre National de Lille, the Théâtre du Nord as one of France's national theatres, and contemporary dance in Roubaix and Tourcoing, while the Zénith and the Aéronef bring touring rock and pop. Freiburg's stage is smaller but has one standout, the Freiburger Barockorchester, a leading period-instrument ensemble, alongside repertory at Theater Freiburg and the Zelt-Musik-Festival's summer tents.

For rest, Freiburg is clearly the better pick, because southern Baden is spa country. There is a thermal bath on the city's eastern edge, Bad Krozingen's warm outdoor pools are about twenty minutes south, Badenweiler has its Roman ruins, and Baden-Baden is an hour away by train. The riverside paths along the Dreisam and the nearby wine villages add to the calm.

Lille has no bathing tradition of its own. Relaxing there means hotel spas, tea rooms in Vieux-Lille, or a train out to the small thermal town of Saint-Amand-les-Eaux.