Freiburg or Nuremberg?

Neither city has a beach, and swimming in both means lakes and pools. Freiburg's water is closer to hand: you can cycle to the warm gravel pits on the Rhine plain, which have grassy banks, or drive up to the cooler, more scenic Titisee and Schluchsee. Nuremberg's swimming lakes are an hour south in the Franconian Lake District, where the Brombachsee has a few small sandy strips and warm water in high summer, but it takes a planned day out.

The two cities eat equally well but taste very different. Freiburg's Baden cooking has a French lightness: Flammkuchen, Black Forest ham, trout and spring asparagus, with dry Pinot from the Kaiserstuhl in the glass. The morning market around the Münster is the local ritual, and fine dining is close by in the surrounding region.

Nuremberg is beer country. The small beechwood-grilled bratwurst, crackling Schäufele and Lebkuchen are the staples, and Franconia's small breweries supply the taverns and beer gardens along the Pegnitz with lagers and smoky Kellerbier. Choose Freiburg for wine and Nuremberg for beer.

Nuremberg has much more to see. Its medieval walls are almost complete, the Kaiserburg rises above the Gothic churches of St Sebaldus and St Lorenz, and the Germanisches Nationalmuseum alone can fill a day. The Rally Grounds documentation centre and Courtroom 600 add twentieth-century history that few German cities can match.

Freiburg is a charming but shorter visit. You climb the open-lace tower of the red sandstone Münster, follow the Bächle channels between the old city gates and see the medieval sculpture in the Augustinermuseum, and a day or two covers it.

Evenings are much the same size in both cities: relaxed, student-driven and built around bars more than clubs. In Freiburg, the night out is in the old-town lanes near the Martinstor and along the Dreisam in summer, and the city goes noticeably quieter in the semester break. Nuremberg's more distinctive scene is in Gostenhof, west of the walls, where small bars and alternative venues fill the old working-class streets.

Freiburg is far ahead here. The Black Forest begins at the edge of the city, the cable car climbs to the Schauinsland at about 1,280m with ridge trails and views of the Alps, and the Feldberg is about an hour away for hiking or winter skiing. The mountain biking is excellent, and the vineyard hills of the Kaiserstuhl offer gentler cycling.

Nuremberg's countryside is softer and further away. The Reichswald forest is good for easy walks, and the best scenery is an hour away in Franconian Switzerland, with limestone towers, caves and well-known rock climbing, but there are no mountains to match Freiburg's.

Both cities are excellent bases for day trips, but in different directions. From Freiburg you can cross borders: Basel by train, Colmar and the Alsace wine villages by car, and Strasbourg a little further. It is easy to spend a week in three countries.

Nuremberg's day trips stay inside Germany but come thick with old towns. Bamberg, Regensburg and Würzburg are each about an hour away by train, Rothenburg ob der Tauber is slightly further, and Munich is an easy run by fast train.

Freiburg is the easier city with children. Europa-Park, Germany's largest theme park, is about 40 minutes away, and the free Mundenhof animal park, the Schauinsland cable car and toy boats in the Bächle fill the days in between. The weakness is wet weather, when indoor options are few.

That is where Nuremberg is stronger. Its toy and railway museums and the zoo's dolphin house work well in the rain, though the steep cobbled climb to the castle can be hard going with small children.

Both centres are compact and easy to walk, so the difference is in the transport beyond them. Freiburg is a cycling city with a flat centre and a dense tram network, but the Alsace villages and some Black Forest valleys are easier with a car. Nuremberg's U-Bahn, trams and S-Bahn run on one ticket out to the Rally Grounds, Fürth and Erlangen, and regional trains cover the day trips, so you can manage without a car.

Nuremberg has a little more to buy, mostly because of its traditions. Lebkuchen in decorated tins, wooden toys and crafts from the Handwerkerhof workshops make good souvenirs. In Advent the Christkindlesmarkt on the Hauptmarkt, one of Germany's most famous Christmas markets, turns shopping into a reason to visit.

Freiburg's shops are modest. The Gerberau and Konviktstrasse have independent boutiques, the Münster market sells local wine, schnapps and ham, and there are cuckoo clocks everywhere, but locals go to Basel for serious shopping.

Nuremberg is the cheaper stay. Its beer is cheap, its tavern meals are filling and its transport costs little, and hotels are fairly priced outside the trade fairs and the Advent market. Freiburg's rooms are scarce and expensive for a city of its size, especially on summer weekends, although market snacks, student-quarter meals and the free Münster keep daily spending down. Trips into Switzerland cost noticeably more.

Freiburg's stage is good for an evening out, but you wouldn't plan a trip around it. Its one real strength is the Freiburger Barockorchester, one of Europe's leading period-instrument ensembles, and Nuremberg has nothing of that reputation. Beyond that, Freiburg offers repertory opera and dance at the municipal theatre, a few student jazz clubs and the Zelt-Musik-Festival's tent concerts in summer.

Nuremberg has more on through the year. Its state theatre runs a busier season of opera, ballet and drama, and with two resident orchestras you are more likely to find a concert on any given night. Its summer events are also bigger and more public: an orchestral evening in the open air, the free Bardentreffen weekend of folk and world music across the old town, and a large rock festival by the Zeppelinfeld. On a week of evenings out, Nuremberg is the safer bet. Freiburg's draw is the chance to hear one exceptional ensemble.

Freiburg is the better place to unwind. It has a thermal bath on the city's eastern edge, Bad Krozingen's large outdoor thermal pools about twenty minutes south, Badenweiler's Roman ruins and Baden-Baden's grand bathhouses within an hour by train.

Nuremberg relies on its neighbours. It has a large thermal spa in Fürth, reached by U-Bahn, and the saline pools of Bad Windsheim an hour west, where you can float in the salty water. Visitors should expect mixed, nude saunas, and many locals simply relax in a beer garden by the Pegnitz.