Hallstatt or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither is a swimming destination, but Hallstatt at least has water at its feet. There is a bathing lawn and jetty at the north end of the village and a lido at Obertraun, on a deep, cold lake that suits a brisk dip after a hike.

Rothenburg is landlocked on its hilltop. Swimming there means the town's outdoor pool or an hour's drive to the Altmühlsee and the other artificial lakes of the Franconian lake district.

Rothenburg eats better, though not by a wide margin. Its timbered inns serve Schäufele, bratwurst and roast pork, and dry Franconian Silvaner and the Tauber valley's own wines make an evening more interesting, especially in family-run guesthouses away from the Marktplatz.

Hallstatt has a few guesthouse dining rooms and terraces serving Austrian standards. The lake char and whitefish, smoked or pan-fried, are the meal to have there, and kitchens close early. For anything more, people go to Bad Ischl's old patisseries.

For sightseeing, Rothenburg fills more of your time. It has the covered walk along the walls, the Plönlein, the view from the Rathaus tower, Riemenschneider's Holy Blood Altar and the Medieval Crime Museum, all in a town with almost nothing modern inside its walls.

Hallstatt's history goes back much further: seven thousand years of salt mining and the Iron Age culture that bears its name. But you see it in fewer places: the salt mine, the small village museum and the painted skulls of the Beinhaus. It makes a rich half day, where Rothenburg rewards a full day of wandering.

Neither has a night out in any real sense. Rothenburg's evenings at least have a regular outing, the night watchman's tour, plus wine taverns, and for bars Würzburg or Nuremberg are within reach. In Hallstatt an evening means a lakeside dinner and a walk by the dark water, and that stillness is the whole point.

This is the widest gap between the two. Hallstatt sits under the Dachstein, with the Krippenstein cable car and its Five Fingers platform, the Giant Ice Cave, the Echerntal waterfalls and the walk to the Gosausee. Add via ferratas in summer and freeride and ski touring in winter.

Rothenburg's countryside is gentle by comparison: paths dropping from the walls into the Tauber valley, the riverside cycle path through the vineyards, and orchards in blossom or autumn colour. It is lovely for an easy afternoon, but there is no high ground or wild country.

Both make good bases if you have a car, and Rothenburg has the edge for range. Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen, the town in a meteorite crater, are on the Romantic Road, Schwäbisch Hall and Weikersheim are about an hour away, and so are Würzburg and Nuremberg.

Hallstatt's outings are lake towns and imperial history: the Kaiservilla at Bad Ischl, St Wolfgang's altarpiece, Gmunden on the Traunsee, and Salzburg as a longer day. In both regions public transport works but makes every trip slower.

Both suit families for a short stay rather than a long one, in different ways. Hallstatt's draws are physical: the miners' slides and underground lake in the salt mine, the cable car and ice caves for older children, and boats on the lake. Its steep, crowded lane is hard going with a pushchair.

Rothenburg works more like a storybook, with ramparts to walk, a tower to climb, the night watchman with his lantern and, for older children, the Crime Museum. Its walled centre is small and mostly free of traffic, though the cobbles are hard on pushchairs here too.

On foot the two are much alike. Both have compact centres with little traffic and some steep walking: steps up to the church in Hallstatt, cobbles and a climb back up from the Tauber valley in Rothenburg.

The difference is in how you arrive. Hallstatt's station is across the lake and a small boat takes you over to the village, which is charming but slow. Rothenburg sits at the end of a branch line, usually with a change at Steinach. In both areas buses are sparse and a car makes the wider region far easier.

Rothenburg has a reason to shop that Hallstatt lacks. Its shops sell Christmas decorations all year, from glass baubles and nutcrackers to Erzgebirge carvings, and in Advent the Marktplatz holds one of Germany's most atmospheric Christmas markets. Hallstatt's lane of souvenir shops is worth half an hour for salt from the mine above the village, and that is about it. Neither is a place for fashion.

Rothenburg is easier on the wallet. Its prices are those of small-town Germany with a tourist premium, entry fees are modest, beer and wine in the inns are fairly priced, and rooms just outside the walls cost less.

Hallstatt has few rooms and visitors from all over the world, so rooms and meals cost well above the Austrian average, and the salt mine, funicular and cable car add up. The usual way round it is to sleep in Obertraun or Bad Ischl.

Rothenburg has a little more to plan an evening around. There is the costumed Meistertrunk play, re-enacting the town's Thirty Years' War legend, summer productions in a small open-air theatre, and organ and choral concerts in St Jakob's. In Hallstatt it comes down to a brass band and folk music on feast days and the odd church concert. For a real programme you would go to Salzburg or to Bad Ischl's summer operetta.

Both are calmest early and late in the day, once the tour groups leave, and neither has a spa tradition of its own. Hallstatt's quiet is mist on the lake under the mountains, and the old brine spas of Bad Ischl, Bad Aussee and Bad Goisern are close by.

In Rothenburg the restful hours mean an early walk on the walls or down into the Tauber valley. Thermal bathing is about an hour's drive away, at Bad Windsheim's salt-water pool or in Bad Mergentheim.