Paris or Munich?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Munich makes the better summer swimming trip. The Starnberger See and the Ammersee are under an hour away by S-Bahn, with lawns and jetties on clear alpine water. In town, the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher make an easy afternoon out.

Paris has riverbanks dressed up as beaches, the Bassin de la Villette and some handsome Art Deco pools. They are fine for cooling off and little more, and the nearest real coast, at Deauville on the cool Channel, is about two hours away.

Munich eats well within a narrow range. Its table is the beer hall and the beer garden: roast pork, white sausage and pretzels, snacks from the Viktualienmarkt and afternoon cake taken seriously. There is good Italian and Turkish cooking, but little depth beyond it.

Paris is in another league for a trip planned around food. It runs from the zinc-counter bistro and the small inventive neo-bistros in the east of the city to natural wine bars, patisserie and haute cuisine, with couscous in Belleville and Vietnamese pho in the south-east. Just walk a few streets away from the set menus near the big sights.

Munich's royal collections are excellent. The Alte Pinakothek and the rest of the Kunstareal, the Residenz, Nymphenburg and the Deutsches Museum would anchor any city trip, though much of the old town was rebuilt after the war.

Paris goes further on every count. The Louvre, the Orsay, the Pompidou and the Sainte-Chapelle sit in a centre of Haussmann boulevards and Marais townhouses that is worth seeing for itself, and the main museums are worth booking ahead.

Munich's evenings revolve around the beer hall and the beer garden. There are cocktail and gay bars around Gärtnerplatz and a few techno clubs at weekends, but many districts are quiet by midnight. The exception is Oktoberfest, which takes over the city for just over two weeks.

Paris has much more going on most nights, from the crowded bars of Oberkampf, Belleville and the Canal Saint-Martin to cocktails in South Pigalle and clubs that run until dawn. Doors can be selective and drinks are dear, so many locals start with a bottle on the canal.

Munich wins clearly outdoors. The Alps rise about an hour to the south, with hiking around Garmisch and the Zugspitze in summer and skiing in winter, and the Five Lakes are good for cycling and sailing. The English Garden, with surfers riding the Eisbach wave, brings some of that into town.

Paris has fine parks, the large woods of Boulogne and Vincennes, and the boulders and trails of Fontainebleau within a short train ride. It has no mountains, though, so it suits gentle walking rather than big landscapes.

Both are superb bases, and they differ most in what you go out to see. From Munich the list mixes medieval towns such as Nuremberg and Regensburg, a hop across the border to Salzburg or Innsbruck, and the castle of Neuschwanstein, often with mountain scenery on the way.

Paris has a slight edge with its châteaux, cathedrals and painters' villages: Versailles, Chartres, Giverny, Champagne at Reims and the Loire by way of Tours. These can fill as many days as the city itself.

Munich is the easier city to live in day to day with children, and Paris has the bigger outings. Munich is clean and calm, with a large zoo along the Isar meadows, hands-on rooms at the Deutsches Museum and beer gardens with their own playgrounds.

Paris has Disneyland and Parc Astérix close by, the Cité des Sciences in town and carousels and toy boats in the Luxembourg gardens. Metro stairs, small hotel rooms and long queues make the days in between harder work.

Getting about is easy in both. Munich is the smoother system. Its flat, pedestrianised core and integrated U-Bahn, S-Bahn and tram network are calm and easy with a pushchair, and regional trains handle the lake and mountain trips. Delays on the central S-Bahn line are the usual complaint.

Paris is more of a walking city, with the river linking the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, and its metro is dense enough that a station is always close. Expect stairs, rush-hour crowds and pickpockets on the tourist lines.

Munich's shopping is solid and prosperous. The luxury houses are on Maximilianstrasse and the chains along Kaufingerstrasse, and the distinctive buy is tailored Tracht, dirndls and lederhosen, with Christmas market stalls in December.

For a shopping trip, Paris is far ahead. Avenue Montaigne, Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché sit alongside Marais designers, the covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes by the Seine. Its chocolate and cheese shops supply the best things to take home.

Both are expensive, and in each the hotel is the main cost. Munich comes out a little cheaper over a stay. Beer-hall food is fair value, you can bring a picnic to a beer garden, the parks and lakes are free and some museums charge only a token fee on Sundays. Rooms become very dear during Oktoberfest and the trade fairs, though.

In Paris, rooms are dear and small, and full admission at the major museums adds up. Bakeries, lunchtime set menus, the free city museums and a picnic by the river all help.

Munich's strength lies in the quality of its opera and orchestras: the Bavarian State Opera, three orchestras of real standing and chamber opera in the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre.

Paris has a wider spread, from the Paris Opera Ballet at the Palais Garnier and the Philharmonie to church concerts in the Sainte-Chapelle, jazz cellars and cabaret in Pigalle. In both cities, spoken theatre is mostly in the local language.

Munich is the more restful city. It has a real bathing culture, from the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad to textile-free saunas and the huge thermal baths at Erding, with spa towns towards the mountains. Beer gardens and quiet Sundays slow the pace further.

Paris offers the hammam of the Grande Mosquée and hotel spas, but its streets are fast and loud, and rest comes in short breaks on a terrace or on a chair in the Luxembourg gardens.