Freiburg or Lyon?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both cool off in fresh water. Freiburg has a little more choice close to town. The warm gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain are within cycling distance, and Titisee and Schluchsee in the Black Forest are about an hour away for a cooler, scenic swim.

Lyon's main option is the supervised bathing lake at Miribel-Jonage on the north-eastern edge, and the Rhône quays are for sunbathing only. Its best water, in the clear Alpine lakes of Annecy and Bourget, takes a full day out to reach.

This is where Lyon pulls furthest ahead. Its bouchons serve quenelles, andouillette and praline tart in cluttered little dining rooms, while Les Halles Paul Bocuse and the Saône markets are serious places to shop for oysters, Bresse poultry and cheese. Beaujolais and the northern Rhône supply the wine.

Freiburg eats well in a lighter Baden style, with Flammkuchen, Black Forest ham, mountain trout and Kaiserstuhl Pinot, and the Münster market is a pleasure every morning. The range is narrower, though, and after a few days the taverns start to look alike. Lyon can keep a week of long lunches interesting.

Freiburg's sights fit into a day or two. The main ones are the red sandstone Münster with its climbable tower, the Historisches Kaufhaus, the medieval gates and the Bächle running through carefully rebuilt streets, plus the medieval art in the Augustinermuseum.

Lyon has far more layers and needs several days. The Roman theatres on Fourvière, the Renaissance courtyards and traboules of Vieux Lyon, the Musée des Beaux-Arts and the silk-weavers' hill of Croix-Rousse add up to a much deeper visit, even without a single headline monument.

Both are student cities, so evenings are informal in each, but Lyon offers much more. In Freiburg a night out means pubs, wine bars and beer gardens around the Martinstor and summer evenings along the Dreisam, with only a handful of clubs.

Lyon has more places and more variety: cocktail bars on the Presqu'île, barges on the Rhône that work as bars and clubs, and a real electronic scene with warehouse venues and the Nuits Sonores festival. In both cities, things go quieter outside term time.

Freiburg has the mountains on its doorstep. You can walk up the Schlossberg from the old town or take the cable car to Schauinsland at about 1,280m. The Feldberg, for hiking and winter skiing, is about an hour away, and there is excellent mountain biking, with the Kaiserstuhl vineyards for gentler rides.

Lyon's outdoor life is mostly urban: the car-free Rhône quays, the large Parc de la Tête d'Or and the stairways up its hills. The Monts d'Or and Beaujolais are pleasant countryside, but the real high country of the Vercors, Chartreuse and the Alps needs a car and a long day.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference is in character. Freiburg's strength is three countries within a small radius. Basel is under an hour by train, Colmar and the Alsace wine villages are about an hour by car, Strasbourg is a little further, and Baden-Baden lies to the north.

Lyon's day trips stay in France and centre on wine and old towns. There is Roman Vienne a short train ride away, medieval Pérouges, the Beaujolais villages, and Cluny and Beaune in Burgundy, with Annecy and the Alpine lakes for a longer day. Freiburg's destinations are packed closer together, while Lyon's are spread further apart.

Freiburg is the easier family base. It is small and flat in the centre, children love the Bächle, and the Mundenhof animal park is free. Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about forty minutes away. Its weak spot is rainy days, with few indoor options.

Lyon also does well, with the free zoo, pedalos and pony rides in the Parc de la Tête d'Or, dinosaurs at the Musée des Confluences and Guignol puppet shows. But it is a bigger city to manage, and the stepped lanes of Fourvière and Croix-Rousse are hard work with a pushchair.

Both are easy without a car, but they work differently. Freiburg is a city for walking and cycling: you can cross the car-free old town in about twenty minutes, trams cover the rest, and regional trains climb the Höllental valley into the Black Forest.

Lyon has a big-city network, with metro, trams, funiculars up Fourvière and a rack line up Croix-Rousse, all on one ticket. The flat Presqu'île is pleasant on foot, but the hills often mean a climb or a change.

Lyon gives shoppers far more to do. The main chains line the rue de la République, luxury labels cluster around Place des Jacobins, Part-Dieu has a very large mall, and Croix-Rousse adds silk scarves and designer workshops.

Freiburg is pleasant but modest. Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse has the chains, the Gerberau and Konviktstrasse lanes have independent shops, cuckoo clocks and wood carvings are everywhere, and there is no luxury shopping. In both cities food makes the best souvenir, from Lyon's pralines and sausage to Freiburg's schnapps and Black Forest ham.

The overall cost is much the same, and so is the pattern: rooms are the expensive part and everyday spending is gentler. Freiburg's hotels are scarce for a city of its size and fill up on summer weekends and during trade fairs, so a Black Forest village can be the better base. The Münster and most sights cost little or nothing.

Lyon's rooms are reasonable for a large city, except during trade fairs and the Fête des Lumières. Its generous bouchon set lunches are the best food bargain in either city. From Freiburg, side trips into Switzerland are where the budget suffers.

Lyon has the larger and more varied stage. The glass-vaulted Opéra is home to opera and ballet, the Orchestre National plays at the Auditorium, and the Célestins and the Théâtre National Populaire lead the theatre. Dance is the city's speciality, from the Maison de la Danse to the Biennale, and in summer the Nuits de Fourvière fills the Roman theatres.

Freiburg's programme is solid for a small city: repertory at Theater Freiburg, the Freiburger Barockorchester at the Konzerthaus, student jazz clubs and the summer Zelt-Musik-Festival. It will fill an evening, while Lyon's stage can shape a whole trip.

Freiburg sits in spa country and makes much more of it. There is a thermal bath with saunas on the city's eastern edge and the large warm pools of Bad Krozingen about twenty minutes south. Badenweiler has a modern thermal bath beside the ruins of a Roman one, and Baden-Baden is an hour away by train.

Lyon has no bathing tradition, just day spas, hammams and a big open-air pool on the Rhône quays. The nearest real spa, Aix-les-Bains, is about an hour and a half away. In Lyon, rest comes from long lunches and quiet Sundays by the Saône rather than from thermal water.