Paris or Strasbourg?

Neither city is a beach destination, and in summer both send swimmers to fresh water. Paris turns stretches of its riverbanks into sand beaches, has swimming spots on the Bassin de la Villette and keeps handsome Art Deco pools open the rest of the year. Strasbourg has lifeguarded gravel-pit lakes such as the Baggersee, which are grassier and quieter and reached by tram. The real difference is the sea: from Paris the Normandy coast is about two hours by train, while from Strasbourg it is out of reach.

Paris eats on a different scale. The range runs from neighbourhood boulangeries and zinc-counter bistros up to the haute cuisine tradition. In between are inventive neo-bistros in the 10th and 11th, natural wine bars, couscous in Belleville and Vietnamese pho on the Left Bank's south-eastern edge, so a week of meals need never repeat itself.

Strasbourg's strength is one regional cuisine done well: choucroute, baeckeoffe and tarte flambée in a wood-panelled winstub with a pichet of Riesling, plus foie gras and some fine dining in the nearby villages. It is excellent on its own terms, but there is little choice beyond Alsatian cooking, and the food is heavy for a summer visit.

Paris has far more to see. The Louvre, the Orsay, the Pompidou and a string of smaller museums, any one of which would be the main draw elsewhere, sit along a UNESCO-listed river setting. Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle and the Eiffel Tower are within walking distance, and the queues at the biggest sights shape any itinerary.

Strasbourg offers one superb ensemble rather than an endless list. Its highlights are the pink sandstone cathedral with its astronomical clock, the timber-framed Grande Ile and Petite France, and the German-built Neustadt, with the three museums of the Palais Rohan alongside. You can see it properly in two or three days at an easy pace.

Paris nights run later and cover more ground. Bars in Oberkampf, along the Canal Saint-Martin and in Belleville spill onto the streets on warm evenings. South Pigalle has the cocktail bars and the Marais has its gay scene, and when the bars close around 2am the clubs carry on with house and techno until dawn.

A night out in Strasbourg means student bars and beer cellars in the Krutenau and around Place Saint-Étienne, with riverside terraces in summer and only a handful of clubs. It is pleasant for a drink after dinner, but on weeknights most of the city is quiet by midnight.

Strasbourg has the better outdoors, mostly because of what lies around it. The forest trails and castle ruins of the Vosges and the higher fir-covered ridges of the Black Forest are both within about an hour. Level cycle routes run from the city along the Rhine into Germany, through riverside woods with storks and beavers.

Paris offers parks and woods rather than landscape: the cliffs and lake of the Buttes-Chaumont, the Bois de Boulogne and Vincennes, and the boulders and trails of Fontainebleau about forty minutes out. It is good for gentle walking and cycling, but there are no hills to climb.

Both cities make good bases, but Paris has the longer and grander list. Versailles, Fontainebleau and Chantilly are each under an hour away, Chartres and Giverny are close behind, and fast trains put the Champagne houses of Reims, Rouen and the Loire châteaux within an easy day.

Strasbourg's trips are more rural, and they lead into two countries. Colmar, wine villages such as Riquewihr and Eguisheim, and Haut-Koenigsbourg on its ridge lie to the south, with Baden-Baden, Freiburg and Heidelberg across the Rhine. The wine route is easiest by car or bike, whereas the Paris trips work almost entirely by train.

Paris has more to fill a family week. Disneyland Paris and Parc Astérix are each about forty minutes out, and the city has the huge Cité des Sciences, the Jardin d'Acclimatation, the Vincennes zoo and toy sailboats on the Luxembourg pond. The price is daily friction: stairs at metro stations, crowded trains and small hotel rooms.

Strasbourg is easier but has less in it. Its flat, mostly car-free centre, boat trips, the storks and rowing boats of the Orangerie and the Le Vaisseau science centre make for gentle days. Europa-Park is about an hour away across the border, but most of the city's museums are aimed at adults.

Paris is one of the great walking cities. For longer hops, its metro is dense enough that a station is never far away, and the RER runs out to the airports, Versailles and Disneyland. The catches are long corridors and stairs, packed lines at rush hour and pickpockets on the tourist routes.

Strasbourg is simpler. You can cross the centre on foot in twenty minutes, trams run to the station and the European quarter, and separated bike lanes often make cycling the quickest way about. It covers less ground, though, and reaching the wine villages and the hills is far easier with a car.

This is where the two cities differ most. Paris has the luxury flagships of Avenue Montaigne and the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, the department stores Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché, and independent designers and vintage shops in the Marais. Beyond fashion there are the covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes along the Seine.

Shopping in Strasbourg is regional and small-scale. There are chain stores around Place Kléber, and delicatessens and bookshops in the lanes near the cathedral. To take home there are Alsace wines, Soufflenheim pottery, printed linens and gingerbread. December brings the Christmas market, but there is little fashion of note.

Strasbourg is noticeably easier on the budget, though it is not a cheap city. Winstub meals and wine by the pichet are reasonably priced, trams and bike hire cost little, and the cathedral and old town are free. Hotels are the main expense, and they climb during the Christmas market and the weeks when the European Parliament sits.

Paris is expensive almost everywhere you look, from small central hotel rooms to terrace drinks and full admission at the big museums. Bakeries, lunchtime set menus, the free collections of the city's own museums and a picnic by the river all help to soften the bill.

Paris has the bigger stage. There is ballet at the Palais Garnier, opera at the Bastille, orchestral concerts at the Philharmonie and chamber music in the Sainte-Chapelle, plus jazz cellars around the rue des Lombards and cabaret in Pigalle. There is something to hear on almost any night, though most theatre is in French.

For a city of its size, Strasbourg has a serious calendar, with the Opéra national du Rhin, a full philharmonic season and the Théâtre National de Strasbourg. What sets it apart is the Musica festival of contemporary music each autumn and a respected jazz festival, so it pays to plan a visit around the season.

Strasbourg is the better place to slow down. The tiled Bains municipaux give it a bathhouse of its own, and the Friedrichsbad and Caracalla baths in Baden-Baden are under an hour away. Canal walks and long winstub lunches set an unhurried pace for most of the year, December apart.

Paris has the steam rooms and mint tea of the Grande Mosquée hammam, hotel spas and a few historic pools, but no thermal tradition. Its streets are loud and crowded, so rest comes in small pieces: an hour on a café terrace or a chair in the Luxembourg gardens.