Heidelberg or Maastricht?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both send their swimmers to flooded gravel-pit lakes on hot days. Maastricht's lie right along the Maas, some with small sandy shores and lifeguards, while Heidelberg's are about half an hour out on the Rhine plain, with the town's outdoor pools as the nearer option.

Maastricht is the better place to eat. Its Dutch reputation for good living rests on Limburg dishes such as zuurvlees and vlaai, Belgian beer and a fine-dining tier that is unusually strong for a small city, spread through the old centre and Wyck.

Heidelberg's cooking is heartier and less polished: Schäufele, Maultaschen and spring asparagus, with uneven quality on the tourist-facing Hauptstrasse. Its real strength is wine, with Bergstrasse and Palatinate Rieslings close at hand, and the student population keeps cheap international food more plentiful than in Maastricht.

Both are compact historic towns that reward a day or two, but the appeal differs. Heidelberg has the single great image, the red sandstone castle ruin above the Altstadt, along with the oldest university in Germany and its graffiti-covered Student Prison.

Maastricht has no single show-stopper but more layers of age: two Romanesque basilicas, the Helpoort and medieval walls along the Jeker, and the guided tunnels of the Sint-Pietersberg. The Bonnefanten gives it the stronger art museum, with contemporary work alongside old masters.

Evenings are modest and student-driven in both, quietening outside term. Heidelberg's going out is concentrated in the small pubs of the Untere Strasse and its historic student taverns, while Maastricht's revolves around brown cafés and terraces on the Markt and the Vrijthof with Belgian beer in hand. Maastricht's trump card is carnival, when the whole city parties in the streets for days; in both, a proper club night means a train to a bigger city.

Heidelberg's walks lead into forest, while Maastricht's lead out into open farmland and marl hills. From Heidelberg the Philosophers' Walk and the trails on the Königstuhl, at 568m, climb straight into the woods of the Odenwald, and the Neckar cycle path follows the river past castles. The sandstone crags of the Palatinate Forest are about an hour away.

Maastricht has the only real hills in the Netherlands. The marl cliffs of the Sint-Pietersberg and the green Jeker valley start at the city's edge, and the Heuvelland further out has orchards, sunken lanes and short climbs that road cyclists come for. Belgium's Hoge Kempen adds heath and pine forest.

Both are excellent bases, and the choice comes down to what you want to see. From Heidelberg the outings are cathedrals, palaces and monasteries of the Upper Rhine, Speyer, Worms, Schwetzingen and Maulbronn, plus Palatinate wine villages and riverside castles up the Neckar.

From Maastricht the draw is crossing borders: Aachen and Liège each about half an hour away, Tongeren and Valkenburg nearer still, and Cologne, Brussels and Leuven within a longer day.

Heidelberg has more for children within the town itself: the funicular ride to the castle and the Königstuhl, a fairy-tale park at the top, a compact zoo and boat trips past castles. The aircraft and submarine of the Technik Museum Speyer and a large theme park are close by, though the cobbled, sloping Altstadt is hard work with a pushchair.

Maastricht is flatter and easier with a buggy, but in the city the tunnel tour is the main children's outing. The caves, cable car and fairy-tale park of Valkenburg and the zoo at Kerkrade mean most family days involve leaving town.

Heidelberg's sights run along one long, narrow strip, while Maastricht's sit in a round, flat centre on both banks of the river. In Heidelberg most visitors take a tram in from the station, which is some way out, and reach the castle by funicular or a steep climb. One fare covers the whole region, so rail day trips are easy without a car.

In Maastricht almost everything is within a fifteen-minute walk, and the station is just over the bridge. Bikes are the usual way to get about, though the hill villages are easier to reach by car.

Maastricht is a genuine shopping destination, drawing weekend visitors from three countries. The restored houses of the Stokstraat quarter hold fashion and designer boutiques, Wyck has independent interiors and vintage shops, and the weekly market fills the Markt.

Heidelberg's shopping is essentially the Hauptstrasse, with chains at one end and cuckoo clocks, beer steins and Studentenkuss chocolates at the other. A bottle of Bergstrasse wine is the best souvenir, and serious shoppers take the train to Mannheim or Frankfurt.

Costs are much alike, at the ordinary level of western Germany and the Netherlands, with rooms the biggest expense in both. In Heidelberg the squeeze comes from congresses and graduations, and staying in Mannheim is the usual workaround; in Maastricht it is weekend demand, so arriving on a Sunday and leaving by Thursday saves the most. Heidelberg's student cafés and regional transport ticket help, while in Maastricht the walkable centre means transport costs next to nothing.

Heidelberg has the richer programme. Its municipal theatre stages opera, drama and dance with its own philharmonic, the Heidelberger Frühling brings leading soloists in spring, and the castle courtyard becomes an open-air stage in summer, with Mannheim's larger opera house twenty minutes away.

Maastricht's arts centre on the Vrijthof theatre and its regional orchestra and opera, with conservatory recitals and church concerts filling in. Its distinctive moment is the summer open-air concerts on the Vrijthof, which draw crowds from across Europe.

Neither city has its own baths, but Maastricht's are closer and more varied: the thermal spa above Valkenburg is twenty minutes away, Roman-founded Aachen half an hour, and the Belgian town of Spa within an hour. Heidelberg's nearest thermal complexes are in the Kraichgau, with Baden-Baden an hour south.

Heidelberg makes up for it with quiet forest paths and evenings on the Neckar meadows, but its castle and Hauptstrasse crowds break the calm at midday. Maastricht's long lunches and slower, slightly southern pace make it the more restful town.