Freiburg or Lubeck?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Lübeck at least has the sea. Travemünde is part of the city, with a long sandy beach, hooded wicker beach chairs and calm, shallow Baltic water that small children can paddle in. The swimming season is short, though, and the sea stays cool even in high summer.

Freiburg is far inland. Swimming there means grassy gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain, which get pleasantly warm, the cooler Black Forest lakes of Titisee and Schluchsee, or the city's busy open-air pools.

Freiburg eats better. Baden cooking has a French lightness: Flammkuchen, Schäufele, Black Forest ham, mountain trout and spring asparagus, served with dry Pinot from the Kaiserstuhl vineyards just outside town. The morning market around the Münster and the region's fine restaurants give it a depth that Lübeck lacks.

Lübeck's strengths are narrower: centuries of marzipan, North Sea and Baltic herring, fish rolls from harbour kiosks, and Rotspon wine aged in its cellars, with the old sea captains' guild house as a memorable place to eat. In both cities the international choice soon runs out.

Lübeck has the richer historic centre. Almost the whole island old town is a World Heritage site, with seven brick spires, the leaning Holstentor and the Marienkirche, the model for brick Gothic churches across the Baltic. The Hansemuseum and the Buddenbrookhaus give it more depth than you would expect for its size.

Freiburg's highlight is its red sandstone Münster, whose tower you can climb, along with the Bächle channels running beside the streets and fine medieval art in the Augustinermuseum. Much of the centre was rebuilt after the war, though, and a day or so covers it.

Freiburg's large student population gives it the livelier evening. Pubs, wine bars and beer gardens fill the lanes around the Martinstor, there are a few clubs, and in summer people stay out late along the Dreisam. Lübeck is mostly in bed by midnight. Its old town has quiet bars and the Travemünde promenade picks up on summer nights, but anyone wanting a club goes to Hamburg.

This is where the two differ most. Freiburg sits right against the Black Forest: the Schlossberg rises behind the old town, the Schauinsland ridge looks out to the Alps, gorges like the Ravenna valley make good day walks, and the Feldberg offers snow in winter. The mountain biking is excellent.

Lübeck's surroundings are gentle rather than dramatic. You can canoe on the reedy Wakenitz, walk the clay cliffs of the Brodtener Steilufer, go round the lakes of Holstein Switzerland or sail on the bay. It is pleasant cycling country, with no hills to speak of.

Freiburg's position where Germany, France and Switzerland meet gives it more variety close by. Basel's art museums are a short train ride away, the half-timbered Alsace villages and Colmar are easy by car, and Strasbourg and Baden-Baden also make a good day out. Staufen and Breisach are closer still.

Lübeck has one big trip, Hamburg, with a strong supporting cast in Wismar, Schwerin's island castle and lakeside Ratzeburg. Beyond those, the choices thin out quickly.

Freiburg gives children more to do. Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is within easy reach, the Mundenhof animal park is free, and children love racing toy boats along the Bächle and riding the Schauinsland cable car. Add swimming lakes and the suspension bridge at Steinwasen, and a week passes easily.

Lübeck is at its best for families in summer, when Travemünde's shallow beach, the bay's aquarium and Hansa-Park take over. In colder months there is little made for children, though Freiburg is also short of indoor options on rainy days.

Both centres are compact and easy to walk, but Freiburg does more beyond them. Trams reach the suburbs and the cable car, the city is made for cycling, and many hotels give guests a card for local buses and the regional trains into the Black Forest. Lübeck's old town is an island you cross on foot in minutes, with the station just across the river. Buses and a short train ride to Travemünde cover the rest, and the cobbles can be hard work with a buggy.

Shopping is modest in both, and serious shoppers leave town: for Basel from Freiburg, for Hamburg from Lübeck. The difference is in what you take home. In Freiburg it is cuckoo clocks, wood carvings and Kaiserstuhl wine from the Münster market, bought among the organic shops of the Gerberau. In Lübeck it is boxed marzipan, with galleries and craft shops tucked into the courtyard passages off Hüxstrasse.

Lübeck is the easier city on the budget. It has plenty of mid-range hotels and guesthouses in the old town and by the station, with the exception of the beach resorts in high summer.

Freiburg's problem is beds: rooms are scarce and expensive for a city its size, especially on summer weekends and during trade fairs, so some visitors stay in Black Forest villages instead. Once you are there, market snacks, wine taverns and largely free sights keep daily costs down.

Both have a good municipal theatre for opera and drama, and both have little in the way of rock or pop. The difference is in what each does best. Freiburg's Barockorchester is a leading period-instrument ensemble, and the summer Zelt-Musik-Festival puts on concerts in a tent village. Lübeck has organ music in the Marienkirche, where Buxtehude played, and big names arrive with the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

Freiburg is the better spa base. It has a thermal bath on its eastern edge, warm outdoor pools at Bad Krozingen nearby, Roman ruins beside the baths at Badenweiler, and the grand bathhouses of Baden-Baden a train ride away.

Lübeck has a seaside version instead: Travemünde's long spa-resort tradition, wellness hotels along the bay and a seawater pool complex at Scharbeutz. Its quiet courtyards are restful, but it is not the place for a dedicated spa trip.