Leipzig or Maastricht?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Leipzig has much the better swimming. The flooded lignite mines to the south, the Cospudener See and Markkleeberger See, have proper sandy shores, clear water and beach bars, and you can get there by tram or bike. In a hot summer they make a real afternoon out.

Maastricht's version is a handful of gravel-pit lakes along the Maas, with small beaches and lifeguarded areas, fine for cooling off but nothing more.

Maastricht eats better. Its reputation for good living rests on Limburg cooking such as zuurvlees and vlaai, Belgian beer in every café, local white wines and a fine-dining tier unusually strong for a small city, all served on terraces around the Vrijthof and the Markt.

Leipzig's table is hearty and good value rather than a reason to go. The pleasures are historic ones, like Gose beer and old coffee houses, plus the casual international kitchens and beer gardens of the Karli and Plagwitz, which give it the variety Maastricht lacks.

The two are well matched, with very different stories. Leipzig's sights are about music, trade and 1989: the Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche, the arcaded trade-fair passages, the brooding Battle of the Nations monument and the Stasi museum in the Runde Ecke.

Maastricht tells an older, Roman and medieval story through its Romanesque basilicas, the Helpoort, the medieval bridge over the Maas and the tunnels of the Sint-Pietersberg. The Bonnefanten is its one major museum, where Leipzig spreads its strength across several solid collections.

Leipzig has far more going on after dark. Its electronic club scene grew up in empty factories and warehouses, weekend nights run past dawn and the doors are relaxed. Bar life spreads along the Karli, into Connewitz and among the canal-side mills of Plagwitz.

Maastricht's evenings are spent in brown cafés and on the squares over Belgian beer. The clubs are few, and people after a big night head over the border. Carnival is the one time it outdoes Leipzig, when the whole city parties in the streets for days.

Maastricht has the more varied countryside close at hand. The Sint-Pietersberg's marl cliffs and paths begin at the edge of town, the Jeker valley runs into Belgium, and the Heuvelland's sunken lanes and short climbs are a joy on foot or by road bike. Hoge Kempen and the Ardennes are within reach for longer days.

Leipzig is flat, and its outdoors is about water and woodland: the Auwald floodplain forest, canoeing the canals from Plagwitz and cycling round the mine lakes. Real hills mean a train ride of about two hours.

Both are excellent bases, in different ways. From Leipzig the trips run through German history by fast train: Dresden, Weimar, Erfurt, Wittenberg, Naumburg, the Bauhaus in Dessau and Berlin itself, most around an hour away.

Maastricht's strength is variety over shorter distances. Aachen and Liège are about half an hour away, Tongeren and Valkenburg are closer still, and Cologne, Brussels and Leuven make longer outings. In one week you can change country and language almost daily, though some of the smaller places are easier by car.

Leipzig gives children more to do in the city itself. The zoo is the highlight, and its covered Gondwanaland hall works in any weather. The lakes, the Belantis theme park and the Panometer's giant panoramas fill out the rest of a stay.

Maastricht is calm and safe for little ones to roam, but its own family outing is mostly the tunnel tour. The rest lies outside town, at Valkenburg's caves and fairy-tale park or the zoo in Kerkrade, and the city's own pleasures are aimed at adults.

Both centres are flat and can be crossed on foot in about fifteen minutes, and in both a bike is the quickest way about. Leipzig adds an extensive tram network and an S-Bahn line out to the districts and lakes, and its main station handles every day trip without a car.

Maastricht needs less transport within town, but a car or bike makes the Limburg hill villages much easier to reach than the regional buses do.

Maastricht is the better shopping trip, and weekend visitors from three countries come for it. The restored houses of the Stokstraat quarter hold fashion and designer boutiques, Wyck has independent interiors and vintage shops, and the Markt fills with produce and cheese on market day.

Leipzig's arcades are pleasant in the rain but full of familiar chains. Its individual side is in the west, among the vintage and record shops of Karl-Heine-Strasse and the galleries of the Spinnerei, plus the sheet-music and instrument shops that come with its musical tradition.

Leipzig is the cheaper stay, mainly because of the rooms. Central hotels and apartments cost noticeably less than in most German cities, except during the big trade-fair weeks. Meals and drinks cost the national average, and concerts are fairly priced.

Maastricht has Northern European prices, and its weekend rooms are in demand as a short-break favourite. Bakery lunches and café beer soften the bill, and a midweek stay helps most.

Leipzig is in a different league here. The Gewandhaus Orchestra and the opera house face each other across Augustusplatz, the Thomanerchor sings in Bach's church most weekends in term, and the Bachfest, operetta, cabaret and the vast Wave-Gotik-Treffen at Whitsun complete the year. Music lovers can plan a whole trip around it.

Maastricht's theatre on the Vrijthof, with its regional orchestra and opera company, makes a pleasant evening, but its strengths are the big open-air summer concerts on the square and the brass bands of carnival.

Maastricht is the better choice for unwinding. Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own, but Maastricht sits close to thermal baths: Valkenburg's mineral pools above the hills, Aachen's Roman-era springs and the original Spa across the Belgian border. Its unhurried squares and riverside walks suit a slow pace.

Leipzig offers modern sauna complexes and lakeside saunas, plus quiet walks in the Auwald, but its spa towns are separate trips.