Freiburg or Lucerne?

Neither city has a sea, but Lucerne has the better swimming. Lake Lucerne is clean and reaches a comfortable swimming temperature in high summer. It is a short walk from the Old Town to the Lido, the old wooden lake baths and the lawns at Ufschötti.

In Freiburg a swim means cycling to the gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain, going about an hour into the Black Forest for the cooler Titisee and Schluchsee, or queuing for the busy open-air pools. In both places you lie on grass, not sand.

Freiburg eats better and for less. Baden cooking leans towards France, with Flammkuchen, Schäufele and mountain trout, the Pinot comes from the Kaiserstuhl just outside town, and the daily market around the Münster is a meal in itself. The surrounding countryside has some of Germany's best fine dining.

Lucerne serves fondue, rösti, lake perch and its veal-filled Chügelipastete in guild houses and on terraces along the Reuss. It is solid food, but the choice is narrow and many places near the Chapel Bridge cater to coach tours. Neither city offers much international cooking.

Both have compact old towns that fill a day or two, but they differ in character. Freiburg is centred on one great Gothic building, the red sandstone Münster with its open-lace tower. Around it are the Bächle channels and medieval gates in a carefully rebuilt centre, and the Augustinermuseum holds fine medieval sculpture.

Lucerne's medieval Old Town is well kept and its sights are better known: the Chapel Bridge, the towers of the Musegg Wall and the Lion Monument. It also has the stronger modern art, with Picasso and Klee at the Rosengart Collection.

Freiburg has the livelier evenings. Its large student population keeps the pubs, wine bars and beer gardens around the Martinstor full, people gather along the Dreisam on summer nights, and a few clubs play techno and indie. Things quieten down during the semester break.

Lucerne winds down early. Evenings mean a drink by the river and a small bar and club scene in the Neustadt. The one exception is Fasnacht, when the whole town stays out in costume until dawn.

Both cities have mountains on the doorstep, but Lucerne's are on another scale. Pilatus rises to 2,128m above a branching lake, Rigi and the Stanserhorn are a boat ride away, and Titlis has glacier snow all year. Steamers, cogwheel trains and trails combine easily in a single day, though low cloud can hide it all for days at a time.

Freiburg's Black Forest is gentler and greener. You can take the cable car to the Schauinsland ridge, hike on the Feldberg, walk through gorges like the Ravenna valley and cycle among the Kaiserstuhl vineyards. It suits mountain bikers and walkers who prefer rolling hills to alpine drama.

The day trips are equally good, but they lead in different directions. From Freiburg the appeal is crossing borders: Basel by train, then Colmar, the Alsace wine villages and Strasbourg by car. On the German side there are Staufen, Breisach and Baden-Baden.

Lucerne's trips stay within Switzerland and go by rail or boat. Zurich, Bern and Basel are each under an hour away, and lake steamers run to Vitznau, Brunnen and the Rütli meadow of the William Tell story. A car helps for Alsace, but nothing from Lucerne needs one.

Freiburg gives children more to do. Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is under an hour north, the Mundenhof animal park is free, and paddling in the Bächle costs nothing. Swimming lakes and the suspension bridge at Steinwasen fill summer days.

Lucerne has one excellent rainy-day answer in the Swiss Museum of Transport, and the steamers and cogwheel trains thrill young children. But those trips depend on clear skies, the costs add up quickly, and a long stay can run out of ideas.

Both are easy without a car, and Lucerne slightly more so. Its station, boat piers and Old Town all sit together on the lakefront, and one integrated ticket system takes you on to the steamers, cogwheel railways and cable cars.

Freiburg is made for cycling. It has a walkable, car-free old town, trams out to the suburbs and trains up the Höllental, but the Alsace wine villages are much easier to reach by car.

Lucerne is the better city for shopping, although neither is a reason to go. Freiburg's offer is modest: chain stores and department stores on Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse, independent bookshops and organic stores in the Gerberau and Konviktstrasse lanes, and Kaiserstuhl wine and Black Forest ham to take home from the Münster market. It has nothing at the luxury end, and locals cross to Basel for serious retail.

Lucerne has a speciality that Freiburg lacks. The big watch and jewellery houses on Schwanenplatz and along the lakefront make it a natural place to buy a good Swiss watch, and chocolate and army knives are sold alongside. Fashion and design shops are scarce, but anyone shopping for something special will find more here. Cuckoo clocks are on sale in both cities.

Freiburg is far cheaper. Its hotels are scarce and cost more than you would expect for a city of its size, so many visitors stay in Black Forest villages instead. Market snacks, wine taverns and a free cathedral keep daily costs down.

In Lucerne almost everything is expensive, from a plain dinner to the mountain railways that are the reason for going. A travel pass and supermarket picnics by the lake help, but only a little. Visitors to Freiburg who cross into Switzerland meet the same high prices.

Lucerne is the stronger choice for music, thanks to the Lucerne Festival. Mainly in late summer, it brings the world's leading orchestras and soloists to Jean Nouvel's lakefront hall. The hall is famous for its acoustics and runs a programme all year round.

Freiburg's stage is good for a city of its size. The Theater Freiburg runs opera and drama in repertory, the Freiburger Barockorchester is a leading period-instrument ensemble, and the Zelt-Musik-Festival fills its tent village each summer. The student jazz clubs offer the kind of nightly live music Lucerne largely lacks.

Freiburg is in spa country. There is a thermal bath on the city's eastern edge, warm outdoor pools at Bad Krozingen about twenty minutes south, a modern thermal bath beside Roman ruins at Badenweiler, and the bathhouses of Baden-Baden an hour away by train.

Lucerne has no bathing tradition of its own. A soak means a hotel spa or Mario Botta's mineral bath high on the Rigi. The city's calm comes from steamer rides and lakeside promenades, though the Old Town gets crowded at midday.