Padua or Rothenburg ob der Tauber?

Neither is a beach destination, but Padua at least has the Adriatic within about an hour, at Sottomarina or on the Lido of Venice. The water there is shallow, calm and warm in summer, though the long rows of umbrellas are practical rather than pretty.

Rothenburg is about as far from salt water as Germany gets. A swim means the town's outdoor pool or a drive to the grassy shores of the Franconian lakes such as the Altmühlsee.

Padua eats far better. Its cooking is Venetian home food, from bigoli with duck sauce to baccalà and spring risotto, and the daily markets under the Palazzo della Ragione make shopping for cheese, cured meats and fish part of the day. The early-evening spritz, the Euganean wines and Caffè Pedrocchi add a drinking culture worth planning around.

Rothenburg offers a narrow, filling repertoire of roast pork, Schäufele and bratwurst with Silvaner from the Bocksbeutel, plus the much-photographed Schneeball. Many places around the Marktplatz cook for coach groups, so the better meals are in family guesthouses and wine taverns away from the square.

Padua has the more important art. Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel changed European painting, and it sits within a UNESCO-listed group of fourteenth-century fresco cycles. Add Donatello's work at the Basilica of Saint Anthony, the world's oldest permanent anatomical theatre at Palazzo Bo and the Orto Botanico of 1545, and it is a serious cultural stop.

In Rothenburg the main attraction is the whole townscape: gabled houses, the covered wall walk, the Plönlein and the view from the Rathaus tower. Riemenschneider's Holy Blood Altar in St Jakob's is its one masterpiece, and the Medieval Crime Museum its main collection. Both centres are covered quickly, Rothenburg the quicker.

Padua has an actual evening life. The aperitivo fills Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori, and in term time students keep wine bars and small pubs busy around the Bo and the old ghetto, though clubs are few and summer is quiet.

Rothenburg's evening highlight is the night watchman's tour, followed by a glass in a wine tavern. For anything livelier you would have to drive to Würzburg or Nuremberg.

Of the two, Padua gives an active traveller more room, though its outdoors begins out of town. The Euganean Hills, old volcanic cones about 15km to the south-west, rise straight from the plain with marked trails, chestnut woods, vineyards and roads popular with cyclists, while the Brenta towpaths make level rides through villa country. For proper mountain walking, Monte Grappa and the Asiago plateau are about an hour and a half away by car.

Rothenburg's outdoors is gentler but right at the gate. Paths drop from the walls into the Tauber valley, past mills and the little Topplerschlösschen, and the Tauber valley cycle path runs downstream through vineyards and villages at an easy family pace. Beyond the orchards and the rolling Frankenhöhe there are no mountains or wild country.

This is where Padua pulls furthest ahead. Venice is under half an hour by train, close enough for several separate visits, and Vicenza, Verona, Treviso, Bologna and Ferrara are all easy rail trips. Closer still are the Brenta villas and the walled towns of Este, Monselice and Montagnana.

Rothenburg's surroundings are excellent in their own right. Dinkelsbühl and the crater town of Nördlingen rival it, and Würzburg's Residenz and Nuremberg are about an hour away. But the branch-line train makes a car almost essential.

The two are about equal for families, but for different reasons. Padua is easy rather than exciting: flat, largely pedestrianised and pushchair-friendly, with Prato della Valle for running about. Gardaland, Lake Garda and the Adriatic are close enough to fill the gaps.

Rothenburg has more of a sense of adventure, with ramparts to walk, a tower to climb and a night watchman to follow, but the cobbles and steep valley paths are tiring for small children and a day or two covers it.

Padua is easier on foot and far easier beyond. The centre is flat, arcaded against sun and rain, and served by a tram, and its station sits on main lines in every direction, so a car is needed only for the hills.

Rothenburg's walled centre takes about fifteen minutes to cross, but the lanes are cobbled and the climb back from the valley is steep. Leaving town by train usually means changing at Steinach, and buses are sparse, so drivers have the advantage.

Padua offers more ordinary, useful shopping: Italian fashion and shoes under the arcades, university bookshops, food delicatessens beneath the Palazzo della Ragione, and a monthly antiques market on Prato della Valle.

Rothenburg's shops are almost entirely for visitors, and dominated by year-round Christmas decorations, nutcrackers, cuckoo clocks and pewter. That narrow theme does give it one of Germany's most atmospheric Christmas markets.

Padua is somewhat kinder on the budget. Its hotels cost what you would expect in northern Italy and make an economical base for Venice. The standing spritz and market produce are cheap, and walking covers most transport.

Rothenburg adds a tourist premium inside the walls, especially in December and on summer weekends. Sleeping outside the gates or in a nearby village brings costs down noticeably.

Neither town is somewhere to plan a trip around shows, but Padua's programme runs through the year, while Rothenburg's comes as a few set pieces. Teatro Verdi stages prose theatre and some opera, the chamber orchestra plays in the frescoed Sala dei Giganti and the Basilica, and students keep small live-music venues going, with the Fenice and Verona's Arena close by for major opera.

In Rothenburg, performance means history: the costumed Meistertrunk play, a small open-air theatre in summer, and organ and choral concerts in St Jakob's. Outside those, evenings end at the dinner table.

Padua has a major spa asset on its doorstep. Abano Terme and Montegrotto Terme, about 12km away, have used hot mineral water and therapeutic mud since Roman times, and many spa hotels take day visitors after a morning of sightseeing.

Rothenburg's calm comes from emptiness rather than water: quiet lanes at dawn and after the day visitors leave. For thermal bathing you need to drive to Bad Windsheim or Bad Mergentheim.