Innsbruck or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither city has a coast, but Innsbruck at least has a real summer swimming habit. Locals go to the small plateau lakes such as the Lanser See, which warm up in high summer, and the clear Achensee is a beautiful outing even if most people find it too cold to swim.

In Rothenburg swimming means the town pool or an hour's drive to the man-made lakes of the Franconian lake district. For a hot afternoon in the water, Innsbruck is the better bet, though neither is worth choosing for it.

Both serve heavy southern German-speaking cooking, but Innsbruck has more variety and better settings. Gröstl and Kaiserschmarrn taste best at a mountain hut after a climb, the coffee houses do proper strudel, and the student districts add cheaper international places.

Rothenburg has Schäufele, bratwurst and Franconian Silvaner in timbered inns, and there are good wine taverns away from the Marktplatz. The choice is narrower, though, and the coach-party trade around the square is hard to avoid.

The two are broadly level, but the appeal differs. Innsbruck's heritage is Habsburg and courtly: the Golden Roof, the Hofburg, Maximilian's tomb with its bronze giants in the Hofkirche, and Ambras Castle with its cabinet of curiosities, plus modern touches such as the Bergisel jump.

Rothenburg is a whole walled medieval town, almost untouched, best seen from the covered ramparts or the Plönlein. Its standout works are Riemenschneider's altar in St Jakob's and the Medieval Crime Museum. Choose Innsbruck for palaces and collections, and Rothenburg for the town itself as one large historic scene.

Innsbruck's university gives it a real if small nightlife, with bars and little clubs in the brick arches under the railway viaduct open late at weekends, and après-ski in the resorts around it in winter.

Rothenburg hardly has one. Evenings mean a wine tavern or the night watchman's tour, and anyone wanting a late night has to go to Würzburg or Nuremberg.

This is where the two differ most. From Innsbruck a funicular and cable cars take you to a ridge at about 2,300m in under half an hour, with Austria's largest nature park behind it. There is skiing on the Stubai Glacier for most of the year, and summer brings hut-to-hut hiking, paragliding and rafting.

Rothenburg's countryside is pastoral. Paths drop from the walls into the Tauber valley past mills and orchards, and the river cycle path suits families, but there are no mountains or wild country to aim for.

Both are good bases, though for different kinds of outing. Innsbruck sits on the main Alpine rail lines, so Hall, Munich, Salzburg and South Tyrol's Bolzano and Merano are all easy by train, which gives you three countries without a car.

Rothenburg's trips are a chain of Romantic Road towns, Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen in its crater and Schwäbisch Hall, with Würzburg's Residenz and Nuremberg about an hour away. Here a car is close to essential because the branch-line trains are slow.

Innsbruck gives children more to do. The Alpenzoo with its ibex and bears is on the funicular route, and summer brings adventure trails, hut playgrounds and lake swims. In winter there are ski schools on gentle slopes nearby.

Rothenburg delights children for a day or two, with ramparts to walk, a tower to climb and the lantern-carrying night watchman to follow. After that there is little aimed at them, and the cobbles and steep valley paths are hard work with a pushchair.

Both centres are easy to walk, but Innsbruck works better beyond them. Trams and buses reach Igls and the Stubai valley, the mountain lifts start at the old town, and regional trains run along the valley from a central station.

Inside Rothenburg's walls everything is a few cobbled minutes apart, but leaving is harder. Trains need a change at Steinach and rural buses are sparse, so without a car you are largely limited to the town.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Innsbruck has more range. Maria-Theresien-Strasse has the high-street chains, the arcades sell loden, dirndls and crystal, and the outdoor and ski shops are excellent if you need kit.

Rothenburg focuses on Christmas: year-round shops of baubles, nutcrackers and Erzgebirge carvings, plus cuckoo clocks and teddy bears. It is charming but aimed at visitors, with almost nothing for everyday or fashion shopping.

Innsbruck is the more expensive of the two, an Alpine resort on top of normal Austrian city costs. Rooms are dearest in the ski season and around the Christmas markets, while spring and autumn are clearly cheaper. On an active trip the guest and city cards, which combine transport with lifts and sights, take some of the sting out of the cable car fares.

Rothenburg's costs are those of small-town Germany, with the tourist mark-up mainly in the guesthouses inside the walls and the tables around the Marktplatz. December, when the Christmas market fills the square, and summer weekends are the dear times. Go midweek outside those peaks and the bill stays below a similar stay in Innsbruck, helped by the fact that the town needs only a night or two.

Innsbruck has a working cultural calendar. The Landestheater stages opera, drama and dance, the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra performs, and the summer Festival of Early Music fills settings such as the Spanish Hall at Ambras.

Rothenburg's stage is mostly its own history: the costumed Meistertrunk play, a summer open-air theatre and organ concerts in St Jakob's. Outside those moments there is little to book.

The two are about level, and neither has thermal springs in town. Innsbruck's calm is Alpine: hotel spas with mountain views up in Igls, a sauna after a day on the trails, and the big Ötztal and Zillertal spas about an hour away.

Rothenburg's calm comes from timing. The emptied lanes at dawn and dusk are deeply peaceful, and the floating salt-water pool at Bad Windsheim's Franken-Therme or the old spa town of Bad Mergentheim is within an hour's drive.