Heidelberg or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither town has anywhere to swim in the sea, and both are equally far from a coast. In summer, Heidelberg's choices are its outdoor pools and the flooded gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain, about half an hour away. Rothenburg has its own pool, with the grassy bathing shores of the Franconian lake district, such as the Altmühlsee, about an hour's drive away.

Heidelberg eats better, mainly thanks to its wine. The vineyards of the Badische Bergstrasse reach the edge of town and the Palatinate villages are close by, so a good Riesling is never far away. Neuenheim and the Altstadt side streets add some range, as does the white asparagus season in spring. The student population also keeps simple international food easy to find.

Rothenburg serves solid Franconian roast pork, dumplings and Silvaner in Bocksbeutel bottles, but the choice is narrow. Many kitchens around the Marktplatz cater to coach groups, so the best meals are in guesthouses off the square and in Tauber valley wine taverns.

The two are broadly level, but they offer different experiences. Heidelberg combines landmarks: the red sandstone castle ruin above a baroque old town, the Old Bridge, and Germany's oldest university with its graffiti-covered Student Prison.

Rothenburg's attraction is the whole town. Its walls, towers and gabled lanes survive almost untouched, and you can walk the covered ramparts above the rooftops. Its single great artwork is Riemenschneider's carved altar in St Jakob's. Both towns can be seen in a day or two.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Heidelberg has a real, if student-led, night out: the Untere Strasse is lined with small pubs that stay full late in term time, there are old student taverns with carved tables, and a few clubs out towards the station.

Rothenburg has almost nothing after dinner. The main evening event is the night watchman's tour, and the lanes are quiet by eleven, so a proper night out means a trip to Würzburg or Nuremberg.

Heidelberg has the better outdoors on its doorstep. The Odenwald forest starts at the edge of the old town, with the Philosophers' Walk, hours of trails from the Königstuhl and Celtic ramparts on the Heiligenberg. The Palatinate Forest's sandstone crags are about an hour away.

Rothenburg's countryside is gentler and smaller in scale. Paths drop from the walls to mills and meadows in the Tauber valley, and the valley's family cycle route runs through orchards and vineyards. It is lovely for a stroll, but there is no forest or upland as extensive as Heidelberg's.

Both towns are good bases, and Heidelberg is the easier one. Speyer's Romanesque cathedral, Schwetzingen's palace gardens, Worms, Lorsch and the Neckar castle villages are all short train rides away, and Frankfurt and Mainz take about an hour.

From Rothenburg, the outings are other Romantic Road towns that rival it, such as walled Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen in its meteorite crater, plus Würzburg's Residenz and Nuremberg. The catch is the branch-line railway, so a car makes most of these trips far easier.

Heidelberg keeps children busy for longer. The funicular is an outing in itself, with a small fairy-tale park at the top, and the zoo and boat trips are easy to add. The aircraft, space shuttle and submarine at the Technik Museum Speyer are within about half an hour.

Rothenburg captivates children for a day: the ramparts, the Rathaus tower, the lantern-lit night watchman and, for older children, the torture devices in the Crime Museum. After that there is little made for them, and the cobbles are hard work with a pushchair in both towns.

Both towns have centres you can cover on foot, with cobbles and steep climbs. Heidelberg's Altstadt is a long strip along the Hauptstrasse, with a tram ride in from the station and a funicular up to the castle. Rothenburg's walled centre is smaller still, about fifteen minutes from gate to gate.

The real difference is the wider area. Heidelberg sits in a single Rhine-Neckar fare network of trams, buses and S-Bahn trains, so you can manage without a car. Rothenburg's rail link needs a change at Steinach, and the regional buses are sparse.

Heidelberg has more ordinary shopping. Its long pedestrian Hauptstrasse has department stores and chains at one end and independent bookshops and boutiques in the side lanes. Bergstrasse wine is the best thing to take home.

Rothenburg sells almost nothing but souvenirs, though it does them memorably. Year-round Christmas shops sell baubles, nutcrackers and Erzgebirge carvings, and the December market on the Marktplatz is among Germany's most atmospheric.

Costs are much the same in both, and in both the room is the main expense. In Heidelberg, beds are scarce during congresses, graduations and summer weekends, which is why many visitors stay in Mannheim and take the train in. Student cafés and the regional travel ticket help keep other costs down.

Rothenburg charges extra for sleeping and eating inside the walls, especially in December. A guesthouse just outside the gates or in a nearby village saves a good deal, and beer, wine and the sights stay reasonably priced.

Heidelberg is far ahead here. Its municipal theatre stages opera, drama and dance through the season, its philharmonic orchestra plays regularly, and the Heidelberger Frühling festival and the summer performances in the castle courtyard add more. The larger opera house in Mannheim is twenty minutes away.

Rothenburg's stage is mostly history. There is the costumed Meistertrunk play about the Thirty Years' War, a small summer open-air theatre and church organ concerts, but on most evenings there is no show to go to.

Neither town has thermal baths of its own, and both rely on spa towns within about an hour. From Heidelberg that means the Kraichgau saline pools or Baden-Baden, while Rothenburg has the floating salt pool at Bad Windsheim and the old spa town of Bad Mergentheim.

The calm also comes at different times. In Heidelberg you find it on the Neckar meadows in Neuenheim and the forest paths above the town. In Rothenburg the whole town becomes peaceful in the early morning and after the coach groups leave.