Lyon or Stuttgart?

Neither city works for a beach trip. The difference is in how you cool off. Lyon has a supervised bathing lake in the Grand Parc de Miribel-Jonage, and the clear Alpine waters of Annecy and the Lac du Bourget make a good day out. Stuttgart offers outdoor pools, some fed by its mineral springs, and Lake Constance is more than two hours south.

Lyon is far ahead here, and food alone can justify the trip. You can eat well at every level: quenelles and andouillette in a cluttered bouchon, a fine-dining tradition that runs from the Mères lyonnaises to the city's famous chefs, and generous set lunches. Les Halles Paul Bocuse and the Sunday markets by the Saône are a pleasure to browse.

Stuttgart's Swabian cooking is satisfying and very much its own, with Maultaschen and Käsespätzle in the wine taverns. Vineyards inside the city limits and the seasonal Besen taverns add real charm. It is good eating rather than a reason to come. Neither city is strong on street food or international cooking.

Lyon has far more history to walk through, and much of it sits under a UNESCO listing. You get the Roman theatres on Fourvière, the Renaissance lanes and traboules of Vieux Lyon, the silk-weavers' Croix-Rousse and a superb fine-arts museum in a former abbey. Give it a few full days.

Stuttgart lost most of its old core to bombing, so its appeal is different. The highlights are the two car museums, the Staatsgalerie with its postmodern extension and the modernist houses of the Weissenhof Estate. Two or three days covers it, and it rewards an interest in design and engineering more than in old stones.

Lyon's evenings run later and looser. Its large student population fills the wine and cocktail bars of the Presqu'île and the pubs of Vieux Lyon. The péniches on the Rhône turn into bars and clubs, and on warm nights the crowds spill onto the riverbanks. Its electronic scene is also the bigger of the two.

Stuttgart is sociable but quieter. Theodor-Heuss-Strasse fills at weekends, and basement clubs are scattered around the centre. Its biggest nights come with the calendar: the beer tents of the Cannstatter Volksfest in autumn and the wine village in late summer.

The two are close on the outdoors, but the settings differ. In Lyon, outdoor life centres on the rivers, with car-free quays along the Rhône and boating in the Parc de la Tête d'Or. The serious hiking and climbing of Chartreuse and Vercors, and the high Alps beyond, need a car and an hour or two.

In Stuttgart, the green starts at the edge of the centre, with vineyard trails above the Neckar and deer in the Rotwildpark forests. The cliff-edge paths of the Swabian Jura and the northern Black Forest are about an hour away. This is walking and cycling country, without the mountains Lyon can reach.

Both are excellent bases, with different themes. From Lyon the draw is wine and old towns: Roman Vienne twenty minutes away by train, medieval Pérouges, the Beaujolais villages and Burgundy around Beaune, plus Annecy's lake and canals towards the Alps.

Stuttgart's list leans towards palaces, castles and university towns. Baroque Ludwigsburg and half-timbered Esslingen are short S-Bahn rides, and Tübingen, Hohenzollern Castle and Heidelberg are easy by train. Strasbourg makes a long day across the border, much as Geneva does from Lyon.

Both are easy with children, and each has one big day out in a park. In Lyon it is the Parc de la Tête d'Or, with its free zoo, pedalos and small train. The dinosaur skeletons at the Musée des Confluences and the Guignol puppet shows add more.

In Stuttgart it is Wilhelma, a zoo and botanical garden among Moorish-style pavilions, while the car museums, Killesberg's little railway and the outdoor pools fill other days. In both cities the hills make hard work of a pushchair.

Getting around is easy in both, and neither needs a car in town. Lyon's sights cluster on the flat Presqu'île between the rivers, so more of a stay can be done on foot or by bike along the quays. Funiculars climb to Fourvière, and a small metro covers the rest.

Stuttgart's centre is just as compact, but the city climbs steeply up the sides of its basin. The Stadtbahn and S-Bahn therefore do more of the work, and the public stairways called Stäffele make useful shortcuts.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the real difference is what you take home. Lyon's best finds are silk scarves from its weaving past, designer workshops on Croix-Rousse, antiques on rue Auguste Comte and, above all, pralines, sausage and cheese from the Halles.

Stuttgart suits brand shoppers better. It has the long pedestrian Königstrasse, a nineteenth-century family department store for designer fashion, and the outlet village at Metzingen half an hour away.

The two cost much the same. Neither is a budget city, and hotels in both get expensive during big trade fairs. In Lyon the saving comes at lunchtime, with generous set menus in bouchons and bistros, and rooms also get tight during the Fête des Lumières in December.

In Stuttgart the hotel market is shaped by business travel, so rooms get noticeably cheaper at weekends and in quieter months. Taverns and beer gardens give large portions for the money.

Stuttgart has the edge on stage, mainly through its ballet company, one of the most respected in Europe since John Cranko's time. It shares the grand state theatre with an opera company known for bold productions. The Liederhalle's Bach tradition and long seasons of musicals at Möhringen add depth.

Lyon is no lightweight, and dance is its specialism too, at the Maison de la Danse and during the Biennale. Its most memorable offer is the summer Nuits de Fourvière festival, with performances in the Roman theatres above the city.

A bathing afternoon in Lyon means a hammam, a day spa or a hotel spa, or lengths in the big open-air pool on the Rhône quays. The city's restfulness lies elsewhere, in long lunches, Sunday mornings beside the Saône and the lawns of the Tête d'Or. Real thermal water is a day trip to Aix-les-Bains on the Lac du Bourget.

Stuttgart is clearly the better place to unwind in water. Its springs at Bad Cannstatt and Berg are some of the most generous in Europe, and locals treat the public mineral baths as everyday pools, moving between warm, fizzy water inside and out and, at the bigger baths, the sauna. It makes a fine afternoon rather than a full spa retreat.