Luxembourg or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither city has a coast, so in both swimming is a summer side trip, but Luxembourg has more options. It has bathing spots on the wooded shores of the Upper Sûre reservoir about an hour north, the gravel-pit lakes at Remerschen in the Moselle valley, and large indoor pools in town for wet days.

Rothenburg has its own outdoor pool, and the grassy shores of the Altmühlsee and the other Franconian lakes are roughly an hour's drive away. Neither is a place to plan beach days.

Luxembourg eats far more widely. French cooking leads at the top end, Portuguese and Italian cooks run the neighbourhood places, and an unusually serious tier of fine dining sits alongside Moselle Riesling and crémant. Lunch is the meal to aim for.

Rothenburg serves one cuisine in timbered inns: Schäufele, bratwurst and dumplings with a Silvaner or a regional beer. It satisfies for a couple of days, but much of the Marktplatz cooks for coach parties. The better meals are in family guesthouses and wine taverns.

Each city is built around one great sight, and each takes about two days. Rothenburg is the more complete scene. It is an almost wholly medieval walled town, where the wall walk, the Plönlein and Riemenschneider's altar in St Jakob's are the whole point.

Luxembourg is more varied. It has fortress remains and the Bock casemates above the gorges, the palace and cathedral, then MUDAM's contemporary art and the European quarter on Kirchberg. Choose Rothenburg for the atmosphere inside its walls, and Luxembourg for a mix of history, museums and a working capital.

Luxembourg at least offers a night out. There are bars and a couple of clubs in the old brewery at Rives de Clausen, riverside pubs in the Grund and later venues in Hollerich, with an international crowd that is busiest on Thursdays and Fridays. Rothenburg goes quiet once the day visitors leave: an evening means a wine tavern and the night watchman's tour, and the nearest clubs are in Würzburg or Nuremberg.

Luxembourg has the stronger outdoors. Wooded gorges cut through the city itself, the mossy rock passages and beech forest of the Müllerthal are half an hour away, and further north the Ardennes add steeper hills and river loops.

Rothenburg's countryside is gentler. Paths drop from the walls into the Tauber valley past mills and the Topplerschlösschen, and the Tauber valley cycle path is an easy ride through vineyards. It suits a stroll or a bike ride more than a full day's hike.

Both make good bases, and the bigger difference is how easily you get out. From Luxembourg, Trier's Roman monuments and Metz's cathedral, in two different countries, are each under an hour by train. Vianden, Echternach and the Moselle wine villages can be reached on free trains and buses.

Rothenburg's neighbours on the Romantic Road are just as appealing: Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen in its crater and Würzburg's Residenz. The slow branch line, though, makes a car almost essential. Luxembourg gives more variety with less planning.

Neither will fill a week with children, but Luxembourg copes better. Lifts and a funicular take buggies down to the river, the casemate tunnels feel like an adventure, and there is a natural history museum for younger visitors, good park playgrounds and the Parc Merveilleux at Bettembourg.

To children, Rothenburg feels like a storybook, with the ramparts, the Rathaus tower and the night watchman with his lantern, and older children relish the Crime Museum. The cobbles and steep valley paths are hard going with pushchairs and small legs.

Luxembourg is much easier to move around. Trams, buses and trains are free across the country, lifts and a funicular link the city's levels, and you can reach castles and wine villages without a car. Rothenburg's walled centre is fifteen minutes on foot from end to end and pleasantly free of cars. Leaving it is harder: rail journeys mean a change at Steinach and buses are sparse, so most visitors drive.

Luxembourg is the better all-round place to shop. Luxury and premium fashion line the Grand-Rue, the chains are on Avenue de la Gare, Villeroy & Boch porcelain comes from its own outlet, and there is crémant to carry home.

Rothenburg sells one thing well, and that is Christmas: year-round shops of glass baubles, nutcrackers and Erzgebirge carvings, plus one of Germany's most atmospheric Christmas markets. Fashion and everyday shopping are almost absent.

Rothenburg is far easier on the wallet. Inside the walls it charges more than ordinary Franconian towns, yet beer and wine in the inns are fairly priced, entry fees are modest, and staying outside the walls saves a good deal.

Luxembourg is expensive throughout, with hotels priced for business travel and restaurant meals above the Western European norm. Free transport, free museums and lunch menus help, and some visitors sleep in Trier or Metz instead.

The gap here is wide. Luxembourg has the Philharmonie on Kirchberg, with its resident orchestra and visiting soloists, the Grand Théâtre for touring opera and dance, concerts in the Rotondes, and summer open-air music at the former abbey of Neimënster.

In Rothenburg, performance mostly means re-enacting its history: the costumed Meistertrunk play, a small open-air summer theatre and organ concerts in St Jakob's. On most evenings there is no show to go to.

Luxembourg has the better spa trip close by: Mondorf-les-Bains, half an hour away, has thermal pools and saunas in a landscaped park, and the river walks in the Grund are calm. In Rothenburg, the calm comes from the empty lanes early and late in the day. For thermal bathing you drive about an hour to the salt-water pool at Bad Windsheim or to Bad Mergentheim.