Munich or San Marino?

Munich has lakes instead of sea. The Starnberger See and the Ammersee are a short S-Bahn ride away, with lawns and jetties, and on warm days people sunbathe on the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher. The water is alpine-fed and fresh, so a swim there is a break from sightseeing rather than a beach day.

San Marino has a real beach within reach, about half an hour's drive away. The Romagna shore at Rimini and Riccione has long sandy beaches with numbered umbrellas, beach clubs and shallow, warmer water that suits children. You still have to go down the mountain to reach it.

For eating well, Munich is clearly the stronger of the two. Its cooking revolves around the breweries and their beer halls and chestnut-shaded gardens, with roast pork with crackling, white sausage and pretzels before noon, and the Viktualienmarkt for cheese and snacks. A respectable tier of starred restaurants covers a special night. Beyond Bavarian fare there is good Italian, Turkish and Balkan cooking, but other cuisines have little depth.

San Marino offers honest Romagna and Montefeltro cooking: piadina, passatelli in broth and hand-rolled pasta, with the republic's own Sangiovese to drink. The summit terraces sell the view more than the food, so the better meals mean going down to family trattorias in Borgo Maggiore or across the border. It is pleasant eating, but not a reason to go.

Munich is a museum city on a large scale. It has the old masters of the Alte Pinakothek and the Blue Rider painters at the Lenbachhaus, the Residenz and Nymphenburg palaces and the huge Deutsches Museum, enough for a week.

In San Marino the town itself is the sight: a medieval crest with the Guaita and Cesta towers joined by a cliffside path, and the Palazzo Pubblico, which tells the story of one of the world's oldest republics. It is dramatic, but you will have seen it well within half a day.

Munich has a real, if well-behaved, night out. Evenings often start in a beer hall, and there are cocktail and gay bars around Gärtnerplatz and the Glockenbachviertel, student pubs in Schwabing and a few techno clubs that stay open until morning at weekends.

San Marino has almost nothing after dark: once the coaches leave, it is dinner and a glass of wine above the lights of the coast. For clubs, people drive down to Rimini.

From Munich the Alps are about an hour away. There is hiking around Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the Zugspitze in summer, skiing in winter, and cycling and sailing in the Five Lakes region. In the city itself you have the English Garden, surfers on the Eisbach wave and cycle paths along the Isar.

San Marino's outdoors is gentler: footpaths around a limestone ridge about 740m high, woods leading down to Borgo Maggiore, and quiet roads through the Montefeltro hills. It is good for a morning walk with views to the Adriatic, but it has no mountains to compare with Munich's.

Both cities make good bases, but Munich's trips are easier to make and cover more. Augsburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Salzburg and Innsbruck are all reachable by train, and so are the royal castles of Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee.

San Marino's list is strong: the rock fortress of San Leo, Renaissance Urbino, Ravenna's Byzantine mosaics and the castle at Gradara. The only regular public transport is the bus to Rimini, though, so most of these trips need a car.

Munich is the easier city with children. It is flat and clean, the transport takes pushchairs, the Hellabrunn zoo stretches along the Isar meadows, the Deutsches Museum has hands-on sections, and many beer gardens have playgrounds.

In San Marino, children enjoy the towers, the battlements and the cable car, but the steep steps and summer crowds are hard work with a pushchair. The family attractions, such as Italia in Miniatura, Fiabilandia and the shallow beaches, are all down on the coast, so the stay works best with a car.

Munich runs on a single integrated network of U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses. The old town is flat and walkable, there are long cycle routes, and the lakes and most day trips can be reached without a car.

San Marino's centre is small, but nearly every street climbs, often by steps, and a cable car drops down to Borgo Maggiore. Apart from the bus from Rimini, public transport is thin, so for anything beyond the summit you need a car.

Munich has serious shopping. The luxury houses line Maximilianstrasse, department stores fill the pedestrian Neuhauser Strasse and Kaufingerstrasse, and Glockenbach and Schwabing have independent boutiques. Dirndls and lederhosen made by specialist Tracht tailors are the local thing to buy.

San Marino's streets sell mostly souvenirs: ceramics, decorative crossbows, and stamps and coins for collectors. Lower taxes make perfume, watches and spirits cheaper than in Italy, and there is an outlet centre on the valley floor. Beyond that there is little depth.

San Marino is the easier place to stay on a budget. Munich is Germany's most expensive city: hotels are dear all year and very dear during the Oktoberfest and trade fairs, and restaurant meals cost what they do in a capital. Beer-garden picnics, free parks and fairly priced transport soften the bill.

San Marino follows the prices of provincial central Italy, with moderate hotels outside August, fair trattorias in the lower villages and cheap sights. The summit costs more than the villages, but overall a stay here is noticeably cheaper than in Munich.

For an evening at the opera or a concert, Munich is in another league. The Bavarian State Opera plays in the National Theatre, and the city has three orchestras of real standing. The gilded Cuvilliés Theatre stages chamber opera, the Gärtnerplatztheater does operetta, and there is a respected jazz scene.

San Marino has a small theatre, occasional local concerts and summer music in the squares. Its best-known event is the Medieval Days festival, with costumed musicians and crossbow contests. For opera, visitors go to Bologna or Pesaro.

If a spa day matters to you, the gap between the two is wide. Munich bathes in the German style, from the vaulted Art Nouveau pools and Roman-style steam bath of the Müller'sches Volksbad to public saunas with infusion rituals, and the huge thermal complex at Erding is about forty minutes away. Long beer-garden afternoons and quiet Sundays make the city easy to slow down in.

San Marino has only a few hotel spas. What it offers instead is calm in the evening, walking the walls once the day visitors have gone, though summer days around the towers are crowded. Thermal spas mean a separate trip down to the coast or into the Apennines.