Freiburg or Monaco?

This is Monaco's clear advantage. Larvotto is small and groomed, but the sea is the Mediterranean, warm and clear in summer. Beach clubs, rocky platforms and the coves at Cap d'Ail add more options, and the longer beaches of Menton and Nice are easily reached by train.

Freiburg is landlocked. A swim there means a flooded gravel pit on the Rhine plain, a crowded open-air pool in July, or a cool lake such as Titisee about an hour into the hills. These are pleasant on a hot day, but no substitute for the sea.

The two eat about equally well, but in very different registers. Freiburg's is a hearty, wine-country table: Schäufele, Flammkuchen, Black Forest ham and asparagus. It is eaten in wood-panelled taverns or at the Münster market, with Pinot from the Kaiserstuhl, and it is relaxed and good value.

Monaco tilts towards starred dining rooms and harbour terraces cooking Riviera and Ligurian food, where you dress for dinner. Its everyday tastes are barbagiuan and socca from the Condamine market. Freiburg is the better place for casual eating. Monaco is the place for a celebratory meal, though in neither city does the range of cuisines stretch far.

There is about as much to see in each, and both can be done in a day or two. Freiburg is a Gothic university town, with the red sandstone Münster and its climbable tower, the medieval gates, the Bächle and medieval art in the Augustinermuseum. Much of it was carefully rebuilt after the war.

Monaco offers a princely state's set pieces instead. On the Rock are the palace guard ceremony, the cathedral with Grace Kelly's tomb and the Oceanographic Museum, and across the harbour stand the Belle Époque Casino and hotels. It has more spectacle and Freiburg more everyday old-town atmosphere.

Freiburg's evenings are a student affair, modest in scale but varied. You can move from a wine bar to a pub to a beer garden in the old-town lanes near the Martinstor, sit out by the Dreisam on a warm night, or finish at one of a few clubs. Nobody dresses up. It is liveliest in term-time and thins out noticeably when the university breaks.

Monaco has the bigger night out, but in a single style. Everything centres on smart clothes, the hotel bars around the Casino and a few polished clubs by the port and Larvotto, with yachts in view. Freiburg spreads the evening across many small, easy places, while Monaco puts it all into one glamorous scene. That scene is at its best in summer and on Grand Prix weekend, when the quayside stays crowded late into the night. The rest of the year is quiet, and you won't find a scruffy corner bar or an offbeat late club.

Freiburg wins for anyone who wants to be outside. The Black Forest starts at the edge of town, the Schauinsland cable car lifts you onto ridge trails with views to the Alps, and the Feldberg offers summer hiking and winter snow. The Kaiserstuhl vineyards and the bike paths of the Rhine plain make gentle cycling.

Monaco's scenery is dramatic but mostly beyond its borders. There are limestone cliffs at Tête de Chien, the old mule path up to Èze and the coastal walks around Cap Martin. Its real strength is the sea, which is clear enough for snorkelling, diving and paddleboarding.

Monaco has the edge, with almost the whole Riviera strung along one railway line. Nice and Villefranche are under half an hour away and Menton is just as close. Èze, Antibes, Saint-Paul-de-Vence and Grasse lie within an hour and a half, and Italy's Sanremo and Dolceacqua are across the border.

Freiburg's three-country corner is almost as rich in variety. Basel's museums are 45 minutes away by train, Colmar and the Alsace wine villages about an hour by car, and there is Strasbourg, Staufen and Baden-Baden too. The main difference is that some of it is easier with a car.

Freiburg is the more rewarding family base. Children can sail toy boats down the Bächle, see the animals at the free Mundenhof park and ride the cable car up the Schauinsland, and Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about 40 minutes away. Add swimming lakes and easy forest walks, and a week fills itself, though rainy days are harder.

Monaco is safe and spotless, and the aquarium, the palace guards and the calm water at Larvotto please young children. Beyond that, formal restaurants, steep streets and a very adult atmosphere mean families usually move along the coast after a day or two.

Both are easy without a car, for different reasons. Freiburg is flat in the centre, largely car-free and laced with trams and bike lanes, and regional trains climb into the Black Forest and run down to Basel.

In Monaco, distance is no issue at only about 3km across, but the slopes are, and you learn to use the free lifts, escalators and the little harbour ferry. A car is useless inside Monaco, whereas around Freiburg it helps for reaching the Alsace villages.

Monaco offers more, but only for luxury buyers. The Carré d'Or around the Casino gardens packs the big fashion houses, jewellers and watchmakers into a short stroll, and window-shopping is part of the evening. Beyond that, there is a small mall and souvenir shops on the Rock.

Freiburg has no luxury shopping at all. It has chain stores on Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse, independent bookshops and organic stores in the Gerberau quarter, and cuckoo clocks, schnapps and ham to take home. It is more ordinary and more affordable, and Basel is close for anything bigger.

The gap here is enormous. Monaco is priced for the very wealthy, from hotel rooms to a café coffee, and cheap casual options barely exist. Only walking the Rock and the harbour, the free lifts and the buses cost little, which is why many visitors stay in Nice, Menton or Beausoleil.

Freiburg is not cheap either, as rooms are scarce and dear on summer weekends and during trade fairs. Once you are there, though, market snacks, taverns, trams and the free Münster keep daily spending modest.

Monaco plays on a bigger stage. The opera performs in the gilded Salle Garnier of 1879, and the Philharmonic and Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo both have international reputations. The Printemps des Arts and summer shows by the sea fill out a calendar that peaks from winter to spring.

Freiburg is a good evening out rather than a draw. Theater Freiburg runs opera, drama and dance in repertory, the Freiburger Barockorchester is a world-class period ensemble and there are student jazz clubs and the summer Zelt-Musik-Festival. These small venues are what Monaco lacks.

Freiburg is the better choice for real bathing culture. A thermal bath lies on the city's edge, Bad Krozingen's warm outdoor pools and saunas are twenty minutes south, and Badenweiler and Baden-Baden are close by. The unhurried pace of the town and the riverside paths add to the calm.

Monaco's version is polished and private: a thalassotherapy centre with heated seawater pools beside the Casino, grand hotel spas and quiet mornings in the Japanese Garden. It suits a treatment day, but not a slow round of public baths.