Leipzig or Malmo?

Malmo has the better beach. Ribersborg's sand and dunes start about 2km from the centre, the shallow water suits children, and the finer, emptier sands at Skanör and Falsterbo are half an hour away. The sea stays cool, though, and windy days are common.

Leipzig has no coast at all. Its swimming is in flooded lignite mines such as the Cospudener See, reached by tram or bike. In a hot spell the lake water can actually be warmer than Malmo's sea. In both cities, swimming is a summer extra rather than a reason to go.

Malmo has the more interesting food. Its international population has made falafel the everyday dish, the streets around Möllevångstorget are full of Middle Eastern grocers and bakeries, and a few modern Nordic kitchens cook with Skåne produce such as smoked eel and seasonal vegetables.

Leipzig is plainer and more filling: Saxon roasts with dumplings, the marzipan Leipziger Lerche and sour, salted Gose beer. It does have centuries of coffee-house history, and for an informal meal the Karli and the canal streets of Plagwitz are the places to go.

Leipzig has much more to see. Bach is buried in the Thomaskirche, and the Nikolaikirche is where the 1989 Monday prayers began. Add the trade-fair arcades, the huge Battle of the Nations monument, the Stasi museum at the Runde Ecke and several solid art collections, and you can easily fill two or three days.

Malmo's historic centre is pleasant but small: Stortorget, the half-timbered houses of Lilla Torg, St Petri and the museums in the moated Malmöhus castle. The Turning Torso is its best-known modern landmark. Most visitors with an interest in art and history end up looking towards Lund and Copenhagen.

Leipzig's nights are clearly bigger. It's a student city where electronic music took over old factories and warehouses, weekend clubbing runs past dawn, and door policies are relaxed. The Karli, Connewitz and the converted mills of Plagwitz give you a choice of bar districts.

In Malmo, going out mostly means the relaxed bars of Möllevången or summer terraces on Lilla Torg. High drink prices and strict licensing keep things calm, and for a big night many locals simply take the train to Copenhagen.

Malmo has a slight edge outdoors, mainly because it's on the coast. There's the seafront promenade, flat cycling routes out into farmland, the cliffs and kayaking of Kullaberg, the ravine trails of Söderåsen about an hour away, and autumn birds of prey migrating over Falsterbo.

Leipzig has no sea, but it does have the Auwald floodplain forest running right through the city, canals you can paddle almost into the centre, and lakes for sailing and stand-up paddling. For real hills, though, you need a two-hour train ride to Saxon Switzerland or the Harz.

Both cities make excellent bases, and they're about level here. From Leipzig, the trips are a string of German heritage towns: Dresden and Weimar a little over an hour away, Erfurt and Halle closer, plus Wittenberg, Naumburg, the Bauhaus in Dessau and Berlin.

Malmo's trips cross a border. Copenhagen is about thirty-five minutes away, and Kronborg Castle, the Louisiana museum and Roskilde are on the Danish side. Lund, Ystad and the stones of Ales Stenar are on the Swedish side.

Both cities are easy with children, but in different ways. Leipzig has the bigger attractions: one of Europe's best zoos with the covered Gondwanaland hall for wet days, the Belantis theme park by the lakes, and the Panometer for older children.

Malmo has no zoo or theme park. Instead it offers a relaxed Swedish attitude to children in public life, a shallow city beach, and the submarine you can climb inside at the technology and maritime museum.

Both centres are compact and flat, and in both a bike is often the quickest way to get about. The difference is in public transport. Leipzig has an extensive tram network plus an underground S-Bahn running south to the lakes.

Malmo has no trams, only city buses, but its cycle lanes are excellent. Its underground rail link connects directly to Lund, Copenhagen Airport and Copenhagen city.

Neither city is worth visiting for shopping, though each has its own character. Leipzig's covered trade-fair arcades keep you dry, and the more individual shopping is out west, in the vintage and record shops of Karl-Heine-Strasse and the galleries of the Spinnerei mill.

Malmo is better for Swedish design and homeware in the lanes around Lilla Torg, and the Möllevångstorget market is good for browsing. Serious shoppers tend to head to Copenhagen instead.

Leipzig is cheaper, mainly because of the rooms. Hotels and apartments near the old town cost less than in most German cities, and concert and opera tickets are fair for the quality. The exception is trade-fair weeks, when rates climb sharply.

Malmo is at the gentler end of Scandinavian prices. Days can be cheap thanks to falafel, weekday set lunches and walking, but dinners and drinks quickly use up a budget.

Leipzig is far stronger for music. The Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the world's oldest and finest, the opera house faces it across Augustusplatz, the Thomanerchor sings Bach in his own church, and the Bachfest takes over the city's churches every June. In late spring, the Wave-Gotik-Treffen adds a very different crowd.

Malmo's opera is one of Scandinavia's largest stages, and the August festival brings free street concerts. Much of the drama and many of the musicals are in Swedish, though, so many visitors look to Copenhagen for a fuller programme.

Malmo is better for wellness, thanks to Ribersborgs Kallbadhus. This wooden bathhouse on a pier has wood-fired saunas and steps down into the sea, and locals use it all year, even in midwinter. It's a social ritual that Leipzig has nothing to match.

Leipzig's wellness is standard German sauna culture in modern pool complexes and hotel spas, with proper spa towns a separate trip away. Its quieter strengths are slow walks in the floodplain forest and calm Sundays.