Munich or Cologne?

Neither city has a sea, but Munich does more with its water. Locals sunbathe on the Isar's gravel banks at the Flaucher, and the Starnberger See and Ammersee are a short S-Bahn ride away, with jetties and clear, fresh alpine water.

In Cologne the Rhine is too fast and too busy for swimming, so summer swims mean flooded gravel pits on the city's edge such as Fühlinger See. They are pleasant enough, but they lack the lake scenery Munich has.

Both cities eat around beer, but the rituals differ. In Cologne, Köbes keep bringing small glasses of Kölsch until you cover yours with a beer mat, and the food is Rhineland fare such as Himmel un Ääd. Ehrenfeld's Turkish and Middle Eastern cooking is the best break from it.

Munich offers more. Its beer gardens let you sit under chestnut trees with a litre of Helles and your own picnic, the Viktualienmarkt is ideal for grazing, and the city has a stronger tier of starred restaurants and a serious coffee-and-cake habit.

Cologne's draw is a handful of outstanding buildings: the cathedral with the Shrine of the Three Kings, the twelve Romanesque churches and the Roman remains, plus strong modern art at Museum Ludwig. Between them, the rebuilt streets are mostly plain.

Munich has more depth. The Kunstareal alone offers old masters, Greek sculpture and the Blue Rider painters. On top of that come the Wittelsbach Residenz, Nymphenburg Palace and the vast Deutsches Museum, all set in a more handsome old town.

Cologne is the livelier night out. Evenings move from brewhouses to the Belgian Quarter's bars, the student crowds of Zülpicher Strasse or the factory clubs of Ehrenfeld. The gay scene around Rudolfplatz is large and relaxed, and Carnival brings days of singing in the streets.

Munich is tidier and quieter. Many people simply spend the evening in a beer garden, and the Glockenbachviertel has the best bars, but weeknights end early. Its big blowout is the Oktoberfest on the Theresienwiese.

Cologne's countryside is gentle. The Drachenfels crag in the Siebengebirge and the rolling hills of the Bergisches Land are close at hand, and about an hour out the Eifel adds a national park and, separately, its crater lakes. It all makes good walking country, but none of it rises to mountains.

Munich has real mountain country on its southern skyline. The alpine foothills around Tegernsee and the upper Isar valley are about an hour away, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, below the Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak, is a longer but easy day by train. In town, the English Garden is big enough for a whole afternoon, and surfers ride the standing wave on the Eisbach.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference lies in where the trains take you. From Cologne you can reach Aachen's Charlemagne chapel, Bonn, the castle-lined Rhine Gorge and, across the border, Maastricht and Brussels, so a stay can easily take in three countries.

Munich has a slightly stronger list of classics. It offers Salzburg, Nuremberg and Regensburg, and above all the royal castles of Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee, with alpine scenery on the way to most of them.

What separates them with children is how the days run. Cologne has a few strong set pieces: the Chocolate Museum's production line, the cable car over the Rhine to the Rheinpark playgrounds, and Phantasialand, a short trip south. Carnival, with its crowds and drunken streets, is a time to avoid.

Munich is the easier city for everyday family life. It is clean and gentle to get around with a pushchair, Hellabrunn zoo stretches along the Isar meadows, the Deutsches Museum has a children's area, and beer gardens often come with playgrounds, so the days fill without much planning.

Cologne gets you off to a good start, as the main station stands beside the cathedral and the sights are clustered by the river. Beyond that, the tram and Stadtbahn map is confusing and services can be irregular.

Munich's integrated network of U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses is cleaner and simpler. It reaches Nymphenburg, the Olympic Park, the airport and even the lakes, and its pedestrianised core is easy to walk.

Munich offers more for shoppers. Maximilianstrasse has real luxury depth, and Tracht tailors sell dirndls and lederhosen you cannot really buy elsewhere. Glockenbach and Schwabing add independent boutiques.

Cologne is more a high-street city, with the long run of Schildergasse and Hohe Strasse, plus independent design in the Belgian Quarter. Its signature buy is Eau de Cologne from the historic perfume houses on Glockengasse.

Cologne is noticeably cheaper. Hotels are moderate in ordinary weeks, a brewhouse meal is good value and the cathedral is free to enter. Munich is Germany's most expensive city, and rooms there are dear all year.

Both cities get pricey at their peak times: trade fairs and Carnival in Cologne, and trade fairs and the Oktoberfest in Munich. Munich softens costs with free parks and lakes and the custom of bringing a picnic to the beer garden.

Munich is one of Europe's great music cities. The Bavarian State Opera in the National Theatre ranks among the world's leading companies, and three orchestras of real standing play there. The gilded Cuvilliés Theatre stages chamber opera.

Cologne's strengths are more varied than grand. The Philharmonie is home to the WDR ensembles, but the city's real character shows in its electronic and experimental music, the Ehrenfeld gig venues and the dialect bands of the Carnival sessions.

For bathing in Cologne, the main choice is the Rheinpark thermal bath, fed by mineral springs and looking across the water to the cathedral. Aachen's Roman-era springs are under forty minutes away by train. The busy centre and Carnival make the city itself less restful.

Munich has more places to soak and more ways to slow down. The Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad has vaulted pools and a Roman-style steam bath, and Erding's huge thermal complex is about forty minutes out. Bad Tölz and Bad Reichenhall lie towards the mountains, and quiet Sundays with the shops closed help as well.