I will be applying for a study tour (2 week exchange-esque program) with my university and am able to choose between Brest, France or Cologne, Germany.

I'm struggling to decide on which place I would want to visit as each of them have their appeals. If you were in my position, which would you choose and why?

Are you more interested in French and speaking French or German - do you have any experience in either language - if so that would be my tipping point.

All said you can't go wrong otherwise. Brest is in a beautiful seaside location - Cologne a huge modern city. There is a lot more things within a few hours of Cologne to see say on weekends - Amsterdam only a few hours away, Berlin, all of Germany - Brest is relatively isolated in the rather remote Brittany.

I agree with Pal in terms of the geography/location of Cologne. However, you only have two weeks but I assume you will have time either before or after.

Unfortunately, you do not say what those "appeals" of each place are. Knowing more of your interests/intentions would foster more specific recommendations.

Brest as a city is not very interesting - it was destroyed almost completely in WW2. Brest has two attractions: the marine museum in the old fort and the aquarium. However, the landscape around Brest is special - with a rough coast and several historic villages.

Cologne is a bustling metropolis - with a charming old town (the brewpubs are special), a beautiful riverfront, the magnificent gothic cathedral, not less than 12 romanesque churches, a plethora of museums, among them several world-class museums (especially the Roman-Germanic Museum, the Museum Ludwig for modern art and the Wallraff-Richartz-Museum for medieval art), Roman ruins, shopping etc. Besides, Cologne is a major train hub and has excellent connections to other attractive places like Aachen, the Middle Rhine Valley etc.

You will hardly find another place with so many UNESCO World Heritages site in close reach.

Cologne too was destroyed almost completely in WW2. There is a vest-pocket Old Town (Altstadt) but do not expect any dreamy old looking town.

that said I agree completely with traveller1959 - Cologne is a fascinating city if not the nicest looking and well located for short hops to place he/she mentions. I'vbe spent weeks in Cologne on and off on business and for a student I'd much rather be here than in remote Brest - but again to me the key is do you want to be in a French-speaking area or German?

wine or cider

or beer?

a key difference between the two cities!