Hamburg or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither is a beach destination, but Hamburg at least has sand. The Elbe beaches at Oevelgoenne and below Blankenese are for watching ships rather than swimming, and for real sea bathing the Baltic resorts of Travemuende and Timmendorfer Strand are about an hour away.

Rothenburg sits deep in Franconia, far from any coast. Swimming there means the town's outdoor pool or the artificial lakes of the Franconian lake district, about an hour's drive away.

Hamburg has the wider choice of food. Its port history shows in fish rolls on the Landungsbruecken, Labskaus and eel soup, and a long coffee-roasting tradition. The modern scene runs from Portuguese and Turkish cooking near the harbour to fine dining.

Rothenburg has one regional kitchen and little else: Schäufele, bratwurst and dumplings, with Silvaner from the Bocksbeutel bottle. That can be very satisfying in a family guesthouse or a Tauber valley wine tavern, but the places around the Marktplatz cook for coach parties and international food is hard to find.

The two are equally rewarding for sightseeing, but in opposite ways. Hamburg is a city of districts and waterfronts: the UNESCO-listed Speicherstadt and Chilehaus, the Elbphilharmonie, and serious collections in the Kunsthalle and Deichtorhallen. War damage left it with little of an old core.

Rothenburg is almost nothing but old core, an intact walled town you can walk around on its covered ramparts, with Riemenschneider's Holy Blood Altar in St Jakob's. It is more compact and more picturesque, and you can see it in a day or two, while Hamburg's museums can fill several.

This is the biggest gap between the two. On weekends Hamburg's Reeperbahn, the pavement bars of the Schanzenviertel and clubs in old bunkers keep going until dawn, often ending at the harbour.

An evening in Rothenburg means a wine tavern and the night watchman's tour. For a real night out you would have to go to Würzburg or Nuremberg.

Neither has dramatic scenery, but Hamburg gives you more to do outdoors, most of it on the water. You can sail and paddle on the Alster, follow the Elbe path to the wooded slopes of Blankenese, cycle through the Altes Land orchards, and reach the heather of Lueneburg Heath in about an hour.

Rothenburg's outdoors is one gentle valley below the walls, with mills, meadows and the Tauber valley cycle path through vineyards. It is lovely for a morning walk or an easy ride, but not for several days.

Both make an excellent base, and the difference lies in how you travel. From Hamburg the trains do the work: Luebeck is under an hour away, with the brick Gothic and Hanseatic towns of Lueneburg, Bremen and Wismar not far behind.

Rothenburg's neighbours are fellow Romantic Road towns such as Dinkelsbühl and the crater-ringed Nördlingen, plus Würzburg's Residenz and Nuremberg's castle. Most of these are a drive rather than a train ride.

Hamburg is the stronger choice with children and can fill a week. There is Miniatur Wunderland, Tierpark Hagenbeck, the museum ships and the old Elbe tunnel, two theme parks about an hour away, and plenty of indoor options for rainy days.

Rothenburg delights children for a short while, with the ramparts, the Rathaus tower and the night watchman with his lantern. There is little else made for them, though, and the cobbles are hard work with a pushchair.

Hamburg is clearly the easier of the two once you go beyond the centre. The U-Bahn, S-Bahn and harbour ferries cover the city on one ticket, the airport is on the S-Bahn, and the main station has trains across northern Germany.

You can walk across Rothenburg's walled centre in fifteen minutes, and with cars kept outside the gates it is a pleasure on foot. Leaving is the awkward part: the branch line usually means changing trains at Steinach, and regional buses are sparse.

Hamburg is a proper shopping city. Neuer Wall and the covered arcades around the Jungfernstieg hold the luxury labels, and the Karolinenviertel and Schanzenviertel have vintage, streetwear and small design shops.

Rothenburg sells one thing very well: Christmas, in year-round shops full of glass baubles, nutcrackers and Erzgebirge carvings, and at one of Germany's most atmospheric Christmas markets. Beyond souvenirs, there is almost no fashion or everyday shopping.

Rothenburg is the somewhat cheaper stay, though rooms inside the walls and meals on the Marktplatz carry a tourist premium. Staying in a village outside and eating in ordinary local inns brings costs down noticeably.

Hamburg's hotels and central restaurants are priced for a wealthy city and climb during trade fairs. The day transport ticket, fish rolls and free sights such as the Elbphilharmonie plaza help keep the bill down.

Here Hamburg is in a different league. The Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle, the State Opera, the Hamburg Ballet, leading theatres and a row of big musical houses offer a choice every night. The St Pauli clubs where the Beatles started out still put on live bands.

In Rothenburg, performance mostly means history: the costumed Meistertrunk play, summer open-air theatre and organ concerts in St Jakob's, with no regular programme in between.

Neither is a spa destination, and the difference is in kind. Hamburg unwinds through its sauna culture, in bath complexes such as the art nouveau Holthusenbad, and through boat rides on the Alster or an afternoon in the Japanese garden of Planten un Blomen.

Rothenburg's calm comes from its empty lanes early in the morning and late in the evening. For real thermal bathing you drive to Bad Windsheim's salt-water pool or to Bad Mergentheim, both within about an hour.