Munich or Frankfurt?

Neither city has a coast, but Munich makes far more of summer water. Its locals sunbathe on the Isar's gravel banks at the Flaucher, and the Starnberger See and Ammersee are an easy S-Bahn ride away, with jetties, lawns and clear, fresh alpine water.

Frankfurt has less to offer. The Main is for sitting beside, not swimming in, so a hot day means an outdoor pool or a trip to a gravel-pit lake such as the Langener Waldsee in the southern forest.

Munich's eating is the more memorable experience, because it is built around beer halls and chestnut-shaded beer gardens where you can bring your own picnic. Add roast pork, white sausage before noon, the Viktualienmarkt, serious afternoon cake and a tier of starred restaurants, and you have more to explore.

Frankfurt's local table is smaller: Apfelwein from stoneware jugs, Grüne Soße and Handkäs at shared tables in Sachsenhausen, and the Kleinmarkthalle for produce. Where it does better is variety, since the Bahnhofsviertel's cheap global kitchens give it more range beyond regional cooking than Munich has.

Munich has the deeper collections. The Kunstareal alone holds the Alte Pinakothek, the Glyptothek and the Lenbachhaus's Blue Rider painters, and the Residenz, Nymphenburg Palace and the Deutsches Museum add royal splendour and science on a large scale.

Frankfurt's strength is concentration: a dozen museums lining the Museumsufer, with the Städel as the highlight, plus the rebuilt Römer, the Paulskirche and Goethe's birthplace all close together. Its tower skyline is something Munich does not have, but two or three days covers it.

Evenings out are about equal in scale but feel quite different. Frankfurt has the rougher edge: the Bahnhofsviertel's cocktail bars and late kiosks, rowdy cider pubs in Alt-Sachsenhausen, and a club scene that comes from the techno and house tradition it shares with Offenbach.

Munich is tidier and more prosperous, and its nights often begin and end in a beer hall, with Glockenbachviertel's cocktail and gay bars for later. Both are quiet early in the week, but Munich has the Oktoberfest, which takes over the city for just over two weeks from late September.

Here Munich is well ahead, because the Alps are within reach. In about an hour you are in the foothills, with the Wetterstein and Zugspitze for summer hiking and winter skiing, and in town the English Garden has surfers riding the Eisbach wave.

Frankfurt's surroundings are green but mild. The Taunus beech forests rise to the Großer Feldberg at about 880m, the Stadtwald and Main cycle paths are on the doorstep, and the Rheingau vineyard trails are lovely, but nothing compares with mountain scenery.

Both are superb bases, and the difference is in what you see. From Frankfurt the trips are about rivers, wine and old towns: Heidelberg's castle, boats through the Rhine Gorge, Cologne Cathedral by fast train, Würzburg's Residenz and Riesling in the Rheingau.

From Munich they lean towards palaces and mountains, with a second country thrown in. You can reach Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee, Nuremberg and Regensburg, and across the border Salzburg and Innsbruck.

Munich is the easier city with children. The Hellabrunn zoo along the Isar meadows, the Deutsches Museum's hands-on areas, beer gardens with playgrounds and summer lake days give plenty of variety, and Legoland is within driving distance.

Frankfurt works for a few days. The Senckenberg's dinosaur hall is the highlight, backed by the central zoo, the Palmengarten glasshouses and river boat trips, but there is less to fill a longer stay.

Both run U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses as one network, and neither needs a car. Munich is the smoother of the two: its old town is largely pedestrianised, the city is flat for cycling, and the S-Bahn runs straight to the lakes, with only the central S-Bahn line prone to delays.

Frankfurt's centre is just as walkable, but the many zones take more working out. Its edge is long distance: the airport is about a quarter of an hour from the centre by train, and the main station feeds straight into the high-speed network.

Munich has more to buy and more that is its own. Maximilianstrasse's luxury houses, the centuries-old Dallmayr delicatessen, Tracht from specialist tailors and December's Christmas market stalls make shopping part of the trip.

Frankfurt is more practical: department stores and malls on the Zeil, luxury on Goethestraße, and independent shops on Berger Straße and Schweizer Straße. Its Saturday flea market on the Main bank is the kind of browsing Munich largely lacks.

Both are among Germany's most expensive cities, mostly because of hotels, but Frankfurt gives you more room to save. Its rooms are priced for business travel, so they fall noticeably at weekends and in summer, and cider taverns, Turkish grills and the Museumsufer pass keep the rest modest.

Munich's hotels stay dear all year and become very dear around the Oktoberfest and trade fairs, and restaurant meals cost what they would in a capital. Free lakes and parks, Sunday museum entry for a token fee and a picnic in a beer garden help.

Munich is one of Europe's great music cities. The Bavarian State Opera plays most of the year and adds a long-established summer festival, three orchestras of real standing perform in halls such as the Herkulessaal, and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre is a treat in itself.

Frankfurt is strong but on a smaller scale: an adventurous opera company, concerts in the Alte Oper, contemporary dance at Mousonturm and jazz in old cellar clubs. Its English-language theatre is something Munich lacks, though its season goes quiet in summer.

Munich has bathing in its own streets. The Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad sits on the Isar, Erding's huge thermal complex is about forty minutes out, and long afternoons in beer gardens and quiet Sundays slow the pace further.

In Frankfurt the city itself is all work, so relaxing means going out of town. Wiesbaden's Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme and Bad Homburg's thermal baths are close and very good, while the Palmengarten is the calm spot in town.