Leipzig or Stuttgart?

Leipzig has the only real swimming of the two. Its flooded former mines, the Cospudener See and Markkleeberger See, have sandy shores, clear water and beach bars, and you can reach them by tram or bike. In a warm July or August they make a proper afternoon out.

Stuttgart has nothing comparable. The Neckar is a working river and Max-Eyth-See is not for bathing, so summer swimming means outdoor pools, some fed by mineral springs. Neither city is a beach destination.

Stuttgart is the better place to eat. Swabian dishes such as Maultaschen, Käsespätzle and Zwiebelrostbraten come with Trollinger and Riesling from vineyards inside the city, and in season the growers' Besen taverns serve wine with onion tart. There is also a serious fine-dining tier and the Art Nouveau Markthalle for browsing.

Leipzig's Saxon cooking is filling and fairly priced, with sour Gose beer and a coffee-house tradition going back three centuries. Its advantage is casual variety, with international kitchens and brunch cafés along the Karli and in Plagwitz, which Stuttgart largely lacks.

The two are about even for sightseeing, but the stories they tell are very different. Leipzig's are music and history: Bach's Thomaskirche, the Nikolaikirche where the 1989 prayers began, the Stasi museum in the Runde Ecke, and an old town threaded with trade-fair arcades.

Stuttgart's sights are about cars and modern design. The Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums, the Staatsgalerie and the Le Corbusier houses of the Weissenhof Estate lead the list, and its bombed centre keeps heritage only in pockets around Schlossplatz. Allow two or three days for either.

Leipzig is the place to go out. Its club scene grew up in empty factories and warehouses, electronic music leads, weekend nights run until after sunrise and the door policies are relaxed. The Karli, Connewitz and the canal-side bars of Plagwitz give you plenty of choice.

Stuttgart's evenings are sociable but tamer. They centre on the bars and lounges of Theodor-Heuss-Strasse, with wine bars in the Bohnenviertel, and outside the Cannstatter Volksfest and the summer wine village the city goes to bed early on weeknights.

Stuttgart has much more to offer outdoors. The city sits in a basin of wooded hills and vineyards, so a walk from the centre soon reaches wine trails or the deer forests of the Rotwildpark. The cliff paths of the Swabian Jura and the fir ridges of the northern Black Forest are each about an hour away.

Leipzig is flat. Its green side is the Auwald floodplain forest, canoeing through the canals from Plagwitz and cycling or paddling round the southern lakes. For real hills you need a two-hour train ride to Saxon Switzerland or the Harz.

Both are excellent bases for day trips by train, and the difference lies in the region around each. From Leipzig you reach the heart of German history and thought: Dresden's Frauenkirche, Goethe's Weimar, Luther's Wittenberg, the Bauhaus in Dessau, medieval Erfurt, and Berlin in little more than an hour.

Stuttgart opens up the southwest instead, with Heidelberg's castle, student Tübingen, the Ludwigsburg palace, Hohenzollern on its hilltop and the spire at Ulm. Strasbourg makes a long day across the French border.

Both cities are easy with children, and each is built around an outstanding zoo. Leipzig's has the covered Gondwanaland hall for rainy days. The Belantis theme park and shallow lake shores are close by, and the flat streets suit a pushchair.

Stuttgart's Wilhelma combines animals with botanical gardens among Moorish-style pavilions. The car museums, the Killesberg miniature railway and the rack railway please older children, though the hills mean some pushing, and there is no big theme park nearby.

Getting around is easy in both cities, but the ground is very different. Leipzig is flat from edge to edge, so a bike is often the quickest option, trams run out to every district, and the day-trip trains leave from the same vast station.

Stuttgart's centre is walkable, but the city climbs steeply up its basin. You rely more on the Stadtbahn, the rack railway, the funicular and the stepped Stäffele lanes, and a car only helps for excursions into the countryside.

Stuttgart is stronger for shopping. Königstrasse is a long pedestrian high street, Breuninger covers luxury and designer fashion, and the Metzingen outlets are about half an hour away.

Leipzig has little luxury, and its arcades mostly hold chains. It rewards browsers more, with vintage clothes, record shops and design stores on Karl-Heine-Strasse and the galleries of the Spinnerei cotton mill on its weekend open days.

Leipzig is the cheaper stay, mainly because of the rooms. There is a wide choice of mid-range hotels and apartments within walking distance of the old town, even though meals and drinks cost the usual German amount.

Stuttgart is prosperous, and its hotels are priced for business travel. Weekends and quieter months bring rates down, and tavern meals are fair, but smart restaurants and central hotels add up quickly. In both cities, check the trade-fair dates before booking.

Both are serious music cities, with different strengths. Leipzig belongs to the concert hall and the church: the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Thomanerchor singing in Bach's own church and the Bachfest each June. Every Whitsun the huge Wave-Gotik-Treffen adds something completely different.

Stuttgart is the city for the stage. The Stuttgart Ballet is one of Europe's most respected companies, the Staatsoper is known for bold productions, and long-running musicals at Möhringen and an established jazz scene round it out.

Stuttgart is far better for a restful break. Some of Europe's most productive mineral springs, at Bad Cannstatt and Berg, feed public baths such as the Mineralbad Leuze, where you can soak in naturally carbonated warm water indoors and out.

Leipzig has no bathing tradition. You get standard sauna complexes and hotel spas, and the spa towns mean a separate trip. Its calm comes instead from long walks in the floodplain forest and quiet Sundays.