Freiburg or Paris?

Neither city has a coast, but Freiburg gives the better summer swim. The flooded gravel pits on the Rhine plain warm up nicely and are a short cycle away, and Titisee and Schluchsee offer cooler water with a Black Forest backdrop.

Paris makes do with sand laid along the riverbanks, swimming in the Bassin de la Villette and its handsome Art Deco pools. For real sea you face a two-hour train ride to the cool Channel at Deauville.

Freiburg cooks its own region well. Flammkuchen, Schäufele, Black Forest trout and dry Kaiserstuhl Pinot are the staples, and a grilled sausage from the Münster market is the morning ritual. After a few days, though, the menus start to repeat.

Paris works on another scale altogether. It has neighbourhood markets, zinc-counter bistros, haute cuisine, natural wine bars and small neo-bistros in the eastern arrondissements. Alongside them you find couscous in Belleville and pho in the 13th, and the patisserie alone is worth the trip. A food lover could eat for weeks without repeating a meal.

Freiburg's sights fit comfortably into a day or two. There is the red sandstone Münster with its climbable tower, the Historisches Kaufhaus, the medieval gates and the Bächle running through carefully rebuilt streets, with medieval art in the Augustinermuseum to round it off.

Paris could fill a month. The Louvre, the Orsay, the Orangerie and the Cluny would each be the main draw anywhere else, Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle stand beside landmarks known worldwide, and the Haussmann boulevards and Marais townhouses turn the walks between them into sightseeing. The price is queues at the famous names, so booking ahead matters.

Freiburg's evenings belong to its students: pubs and wine bars around the Martinstor, beer gardens, summer nights on the squares and by the Dreisam, and a handful of clubs. It is friendly and easy, and it goes noticeably quieter in the semester break.

Paris has far more depth. Bars crowd Oberkampf, the Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville, Pigalle does cocktails and the Marais has a strong gay scene. After the bars close at 2am, clubs and summer barges play house and techno until dawn, though doors can be choosy and drinks dear.

This is where Freiburg is at its best. The Black Forest begins at the city edge, with ridge walks on the Schauinsland at about 1,280m, the Feldberg for summer hiking and winter skiing, day walks through the Ravenna gorge and gentle vineyard cycling on the volcanic Kaiserstuhl.

Paris answers with fine parks, the large woods of Boulogne and Vincennes, and the sandstone boulders and trails of Fontainebleau forty minutes away by train. It is pleasant, but flat and tame by comparison.

Freiburg's great strength is its corner of three countries. Basel is under an hour away by train, and Colmar and Alsace wine villages such as Riquewihr are about an hour by car. Strasbourg's cathedral is roughly an hour and a half away, and Staufen and the Kaiserstuhl are closer still.

Paris has the longer and grander list. Versailles and Fontainebleau are under an hour away, Chartres is about an hour by train, and Giverny and Provins make easy outings. Fast trains add Reims, Rouen, the Loire at Tours and Brussels, which is enough to fill a second week.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Freiburg is small, green and easy: feet in the Bächle, the free Mundenhof animal park, the Schauinsland cable car and Europa-Park forty minutes north, though rainy days are hard to fill.

Paris has the longer list, with Disneyland, the Cité des Sciences and the natural history galleries for wet weather and carousels in the Luxembourg gardens. Stair-heavy metro stations, small hotel rooms and long queues make each day more work.

Neither needs a car. Freiburg's car-free old town takes about twenty minutes to walk end to end, trams and bike lanes do the rest, and regional trains climb the Höllental, though the Alsace villages are awkward without a car.

Paris covers far more ground just as easily. A walk along the Seine links the main sights, a metro station is rarely more than a few minutes away, and the RER runs to the airports, Versailles and Disneyland. The trade-off is stairs, rush-hour crush and pickpockets on the tourist lines.

Freiburg's shopping is modest: chains on Kaiser-Joseph-Strasse, independent shops in the Gerberau, and cuckoo clocks, schnapps and ham to take home. For anything serious, locals go to Basel.

Paris is a shopping destination in its own right. It runs from the luxury houses on Avenue Montaigne and the great department stores to Marais designers, the covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes along the Seine.

Neither is cheap, but Freiburg is easier on the budget. Its hotels cost more than you would expect for a small city and fill up on summer weekends, but market snacks, student-quarter restaurants and free sights such as the Münster keep daily spending down.

Paris costs more at almost every turn: small, expensive rooms, terrace drinks that add up and full-price museum tickets. Walking, bakeries, picnics by the river and the free city museum collections soften the bill, but they do not close the gap.

Freiburg offers a good evening out: opera and drama at Theater Freiburg, the Freiburger Barockorchester at the Konzerthaus and the summer tents of the Zelt-Musik-Festival.

Paris is one of the world's great stages. Ballet at the Palais Garnier, opera at the Bastille, the Philharmonie, chamber music in the Sainte-Chapelle, jazz cellars on the rue des Lombards and cabaret in Pigalle could fill every night, though much of the theatre is in French.

Freiburg sits in spa country. A thermal bath on its eastern edge, the warm outdoor pools at Bad Krozingen, the Roman ruins at Badenweiler and the bathhouses of Baden-Baden make for a proper wellness break, and the town's slow pace helps.

Paris offers steam rooms and mint tea at the Grande Mosquée hammam, plus hotel spas. Its noise and speed mean rest comes only in snatches, on a café terrace or a chair in the Luxembourg gardens.