Hamburg or Malmo?

Hamburg's sand at Oevelgoenne and below Blankenese is a place to sit with a drink while container ships glide by at sunset, not a place to go in. The Elbe is a busy shipping lane with a strong pull, so unlike in Malmo, a real swim means a day out. That means the Baltic resorts of Travemuende or Timmendorfer Strand, about an hour away, with their wicker beach chairs.

Malmo is the better choice for a swim because its beach is part of the city. Ribersborg begins about 2km from the centre, with grassy dunes, shallow, calm water that suits small children, and the Öresund Bridge on the horizon. Skanör and Falsterbo have finer, emptier sand half an hour south. The sea stays cool and the season is short, but on a warm day you can simply cycle down and swim.

The two cities eat equally well, and neither is a reason to travel in itself, but the food is very different. Hamburg eats like a port, with fish rolls on the Landungsbruecken piers, Labskaus, eel soup and Franzbroetchen with coffee from a city full of roasteries, plus a serious fine-dining tier.

Malmo's food comes from immigration and farmland. You get falafel and Middle Eastern bakeries around Möllevångstorget, then Skåne goose, smoked eel and spettekaka, with fika in the cafés around Lilla Torg as the daily habit.

Hamburg has much more to see. The UNESCO-listed Speicherstadt and Kontorhaus district, the Elbphilharmonie plaza, the Rathaus, St Michael's and the Kunsthalle's collection, from old masters to Caspar David Friedrich, fill several days. War damage means you see the city through its districts and waterside walks rather than an old core.

Malmo's centre is pleasant and small. There is Stortorget, the half-timbered houses of Lilla Torg, St Petri and the museums inside the moated Malmöhus castle, with the Turning Torso as the modern landmark. A couple of days covers it, and visitors who love history usually go on to Lund and Copenhagen.

Hamburg is the place for a big night out. The Reeperbahn fills up at weekends, bars have no fixed closing time and nights can end at dawn by the harbour. The Schanzenviertel, Ottensen and the Alster each have a different mood, and clubs range from bunker basements to harbour-side venues.

Malmo is quieter and more controlled, with relaxed bars and small clubs around Möllevången, summer terraces on Lilla Torg and empty weeknights. Strict licensing and expensive drinks keep things in check, and locals who want a late night often take the train to Copenhagen.

Both sit on flat land and have about as much outdoors to offer, but of different kinds. In Hamburg it is water inside the city: sailing and paddling on the Alster, canoeing the northern canals, the Elbe path to Blankenese and cycling through the orchards of the Altes Land, with the heather of Lueneburg Heath an hour south.

Malmo looks to the coast and countryside, with seafront cycling along Ribersborg, the forested ravine of Söderåsen, the sea cliffs and kayaking at Kullaberg, and migrating birds of prey over Falsterbo in autumn.

Malmo is the better base, mostly because a whole foreign capital is thirty-five minutes away. Copenhagen's palaces, museums and canals make an easy day out, and Lund is ten minutes off. Kronborg, Louisiana and Roskilde's Viking ships are also within reach, with Ystad and Ales Stenar on the Swedish side.

Hamburg is very good too, though its trips share one theme, the brick Gothic Hanseatic towns. Luebeck is under an hour by train and Lueneburg about half an hour, and Bremen, Schwerin and Wismar fill more days.

Hamburg gives children much more to do. Miniatur Wunderland can take up a whole afternoon, Hagenbeck shows animals across moats and has an aquarium for rainy days, and a harbour day of ferries, museum ships and the old Elbe tunnel needs no planning. Heide Park and Hansa-Park are each about an hour away.

Malmo is relaxed and welcoming to children in everyday life: prams ride free on buses, nearly every park has a playground and the city beach is shallow. Climbing inside the submarine at the technology and maritime museum is the highlight, but there is no zoo or theme park, so older children may run out of things to do after a few days.

Both are easy without a car, and Hamburg covers more ground. Its U-Bahn and S-Bahn reach every district a visitor needs, the airport included, and the harbour ferries run on the same ticket, so getting around the port doubles as sightseeing.

Malmo has no metro or tram but hardly needs one. The centre is compact and flat, separate bike lanes and bike-share make cycling the natural way to the Western Harbour and the beach, and the rail tunnel under the centre runs to Lund, Copenhagen and its airport.

Hamburg is the better shopping city by some way. Luxury labels line Neuer Wall around the Jungfernstieg, covered arcades link them on wet days, the Alsterhaus anchors the area, and the Karolinenviertel and Schanzenviertel add vintage and streetwear shops.

Malmo is pleasant for shopping but not a reason to go. It has high-street chains along Södergatan, Swedish design and homeware around Lilla Torg and Gamla Väster, and a large mall at Hyllie. There are few big department stores or luxury labels, and keen shoppers usually wait for Copenhagen.

Both are expensive by European standards, but the money goes in different places. In Hamburg, hotels are the big cost, especially during trade fairs and on summer weekends. A day ticket covering trains and ferries, free sights such as the Elbphilharmonie plaza and cheap fish rolls help balance it.

In Malmo, rooms are reasonable for Scandinavia, and the weekday set lunch and falafel counters are good value, but heavily taxed alcohol makes evenings the expensive part. In short, Hamburg's budget goes on the bed, Malmo's on the bar.

This is where Hamburg pulls furthest ahead. The Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle give it a full classical season, the State Opera and Hamburg Ballet are internationally known, and the Schauspielhaus and Thalia are among Germany's leading stages. Add the long-running musicals and the St Pauli rock clubs where the Beatles started out.

Malmo does well for its size, with one of Scandinavia's biggest opera stages, the symphony orchestra at Malmö Live and free concerts at the Malmö Festival in August. Theatre is mostly in Swedish, though, and for a bigger programme many visitors go to Copenhagen.

Malmo has the one experience worth travelling for here: Ribersborgs Kallbadhus, a wooden bathhouse from the 1890s on a pier. Locals go all year to sit in its wood-fired saunas and climb down into the sea, even in winter. The slow pace and long seafront make the rest of the stay calm too.

Hamburg shares the German love of saunas, with the art nouveau Holthusenbad and the big sauna areas in its public baths. For quiet time there is the Japanese garden in Planten un Blomen or a boat on the Alster. It is a pleasant place to unwind, but it has nothing like a sauna followed by a dip in the sea.