Munich or Trieste?

Trieste wins easily, because the sea is part of daily life there. Locals lay towels on the stepped concrete platforms and pine-shaded lawns at Barcola and climb down ladders into clear Adriatic water. For prettier swimming there are the pebble coves at Sistiana and Duino and the bay at Grignano. Bring water shoes rather than a bucket and spade, as there is almost no sand.

Munich's version is a day out rather than a way of life. People sunbathe on the Isar's gravel banks at the Flaucher, or take the S-Bahn to the Starnberger See and the Ammersee for jetties and lawns. The water there is alpine-fed and noticeably fresher than Trieste's sea.

The two eat surprisingly alike, both leaning on meat. Munich's beer halls serve roast pork, Schweinshaxe and white sausage, and Trieste's old buffet counters carve boiled pork and sausages to eat with horseradish and sauerkraut. The real difference is what you drink. Munich revolves around Helles under the chestnut trees of its beer gardens, where you may bring your own picnic, and it has a fuller tier of starred restaurants for a special night out.

Trieste revolves around coffee, with its own way of ordering it, and around Karst wines like Vitovska and Terrano. You drink these at the osmize, farmhouses on the plateau that open for a few weeks at a time. It also adds Adriatic sardoni to the menu, which Munich cannot match.

Munich has the deeper store of sights, mainly because of its royal collections. The Kunstareal alone, with the Alte Pinakothek's old masters and the Lenbachhaus's Blue Rider painters, could fill several days. On top of that come the Residenz, Nymphenburg and the vast Deutsches Museum.

Trieste is more about townscape than museums. Its highlights are Piazza Unità opening onto the sea, the Canal Grande through the Borgo Teresiano, the cathedral mosaics and Roman theatre on San Giusto, and white Miramare on the coast. Both cities have a sobering memorial nearby, Dachau outside Munich and the Risiera di San Sabba in Trieste.

Munich gives you more choice after dark. Evenings can stay in a beer hall, or move on to the cocktail and gay bars of Glockenbach and Gärtnerplatz, and a few techno clubs run until morning at weekends. During the Oktoberfest, the whole city goes out.

Trieste's evenings are built around the aperitivo: spritz or local white wine around Piazza Unità and in Cavana, and summer nights at the Barcola kiosks. There are few clubs, and on winter weeknights the streets are quiet well before midnight.

Munich comes out ahead because of the Alps. The Zugspitze, the Wetterstein and Tegernsee are about an hour or so away by train for proper hiking and winter skiing. In town, the English Garden has surfers riding the Eisbach wave.

Trieste's outdoors is closer to home and quite different. The limestone Karst rises straight behind the city, with the Strada Napoleonica along its edge, climbing in Val Rosandra and the enormous Grotta Gigante. On the water, the gulf has serious sailing and the Miramare marine reserve is good for snorkelling, which landlocked Munich cannot offer.

Both make excellent bases, and Munich has a slight edge because so much is quick by train. Augsburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg and Salzburg are easy rail trips, and Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee are the classic castle excursions.

Trieste's appeal is the mix of three countries. Aquileia's mosaics, star-shaped Palmanova and the Collio wine villages are in Italy, Piran, Ljubljana and Postojna are in Slovenia, and Venice is a long but realistic day. The Croatian side of Istria and the wine country are easier with a car.

Munich is the easier city with children, and it has places made for them. Families can visit the Hellabrunn zoo along the Isar meadows, the hands-on Deutsches Museum and the Sea Life aquarium, and Legoland is within driving range. Beer gardens with playgrounds let parents relax too.

Trieste is safe and calm but offers less for younger children. The Grotta Gigante, the Miramare gardens and a small aquarium make good outings, but the steep stepped streets and swimming from rocks will try anyone with toddlers.

Munich's integrated U-Bahn, S-Bahn, tram and bus network reaches everything from Nymphenburg to the lakes, and the flat city is good for cycling. The main annoyance is delays on the central S-Bahn line.

Trieste has no metro, but its centre is flat and compact along the waterfront, and buses run out to Barcola, Miramare and the Karst. Boats crossing to Muggia make a pleasant change from the bus. The effort here is vertical, as the long flights of steps up to San Giusto will show.

Munich is far better for shopping. It has luxury houses on Maximilianstrasse, department stores along the Kaufingerstrasse axis, independent boutiques in Glockenbach and Schwabing, and Tracht tailors for a dirndl or lederhosen. In December, the Christmas markets fill the old town with craft stalls.

Trieste has ordinary Italian clothing shops around Corso Italia and some good antique browsing in the old town lanes. The best things to bring home are edible: roasted coffee, Karst wine and honey, and presnitz.

Trieste is the gentler city on the wallet. Coffee at the bar, a buffet plate of boiled meats and the city buses all cost little, and swimming at Barcola and walking on the Karst are free. Rooms only get tight around the Barcolana regatta and in high summer.

Munich is Germany's most expensive city, and you feel it most in hotel rooms, especially during the Oktoberfest and the trade fairs. Beer-hall meals, picnics in beer gardens, free parks and token-fee museum Sundays soften the bill without changing the overall picture.

Both have a real feel for opera, and oddly both keep operetta alive: Munich at the Gärtnerplatztheater, Trieste as a Habsburg legacy rare in Italy. Munich operates on a far bigger scale, with the Bavarian State Opera in the National Theatre, three orchestras of real standing and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre for chamber opera, plus jazz clubs and big concerts at the Olympic Park.

Trieste's Teatro Verdi runs a proper opera and ballet season, and in summer there are concerts in the castle courtyard on San Giusto. Beyond that, the live music circuit runs thin within a few nights.

Munich has the bathing tradition. The Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad has vaulted pools and a Roman-style steam bath, the public saunas follow German textile-free custom, and the large thermal complex at Erding is a short trip out, with Bad Tölz further towards the mountains.

Trieste has only hotel and day spas, and for proper thermal baths you have to leave the city. Its calm comes instead from the pace of the place: a newspaper in an old coffee house, or a sunset walk out along the Molo Audace.