Baden-Baden or Karlovy Vary?

Neither has a beach worth travelling for. Baden-Baden has outdoor pools for a hot afternoon, and its locals drive out to the flooded gravel pits of the Rhine plain. Karlovy Vary's warm, spring-fed outdoor pools have the edge on a cool day, and for open water there is Lake Medard, a flooded mine near Sokolov about half an hour away.

Baden-Baden eats better, mostly because of where it sits. Flammkuchen, venison and Black Forest ham come with a French touch from across the Rhine. The Rebland villages just outside town pour their own Riesling and Pinot Noir in wine taverns, and some of Germany's most celebrated kitchens are a drive away in the northern Black Forest.

Karlovy Vary's food is narrower: roast pork, dumplings and svíčková with Pilsner-style beer, spa wafers sold warm from the colonnade stalls, and Becherovka distilled in town. Ambitious cooking is scarce, and the promenade restaurants cater to hotel guests.

Both are Great Spa Towns of Europe and both are best seen on foot over a day or two, but the emphasis differs. Baden-Baden has the stronger art, with the Museum Frieder Burda and the Staatliche Kunsthalle side by side. It also has the Kurhaus casino rooms, the Brahms house and Roman bath ruins under the old town.

Karlovy Vary's appeal is more about architecture and setting: hotels stacked in pastel tiers up the Teplá valley, colonnades framing the springs, and the Vřídlo geyser shooting hot water several metres into the air. Its museums, on Moser glass and Becherovka, are small and specialised.

Evenings in both end early and quietly. Baden-Baden's one big night out is the gilded casino in the Kurhaus, with a dress code to match, and Karlsruhe or Strasbourg are close enough for anything later. Karlovy Vary is just as quiet for most of the year, with Czech pubs and hotel bars ending the day, but during the film festival week in early summer the valley fills with parties and outdoor bars.

Baden-Baden has more outdoors on its doorstep and more variety within a short drive. The Merkur funicular and the Battert cliffs, which climbers favour, lead straight from the edge of town into fir forest, and the Panoramaweg loops round through woods and vineyards. Along the Black Forest High Road come the dark Mummelsee, the open moorland of the Hornisgrinde, waterfalls and mountain biking, all within easy reach of town.

Karlovy Vary's own paths up to the Diana tower and the stag-leap rock were laid out for convalescents, so they are gentle on purpose, and the Ohře just below town is good for easy canoeing. If you want moorland walking, you head into the Slavkov Forest. For proper hill cycling or winter skiing, Klínovec in the Ore Mountains is about forty minutes away.

Baden-Baden is the better base for excursions by some way. Within roughly an hour you can reach Strasbourg's cathedral and Petite France, the Alsace wine villages towards Colmar, Heidelberg, Freiburg, and the UNESCO sites at Speyer and Maulbronn, so one stay covers sights in two countries.

Karlovy Vary's outings are closer to home: the castle town of Loket twenty minutes away, the sister spas of Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně, and the medieval reliquary at Bečov. Plzeň and Cheb take an hour or more, and Prague needs a long day, with about two hours on the coach each way.

Baden-Baden comes out ahead mainly because of what is nearby. Europa-Park, one of Europe's largest theme parks, is about an hour south, and Karlsruhe's zoo is closer. In town, the funicular and forest trails help, though the Friedrichsbad does not admit young children.

Karlovy Vary has charming small pleasures: the erupting geyser, sipping spring water from spouted cups and the animal enclosure at the Diana lookout. They fill a couple of afternoons, and the steep valley is hard work with a pushchair.

Both centres are walkable and both are hilly. Baden-Baden's sights sit close together, but the station is out in Oos, a bus ride from the centre, though from there trains run easily to Karlsruhe and Freiburg.

Karlovy Vary stretches along the Teplá, with buses and a funicular for the slopes and only slow regional trains, so Prague is reached by coach. In both towns, a car is what opens up the countryside.

Both promenades sell to the same well-off spa guest, so jewellers and fashion boutiques set the tone in each. The difference is in what is made locally. Baden-Baden's Sophienstraße and Lange Straße add watchmakers and delicatessens, with cuckoo clocks and Rebland wine as souvenirs and Strasbourg for anything more.

Karlovy Vary has the stronger crafts: Moser crystal sold from its own showroom, porcelain from nearby factories and Bohemian garnet jewellery, alongside spa cups, wafers and Becherovka.

Karlovy Vary costs noticeably less. Its grand hotels and colonnade restaurants charge for the view, but one street back the Czech pubs and canteens keep to local prices, and rooms are cheaper outside summer and the festival week.

Baden-Baden was built for the rich and still prices itself that way. Every bath visit is paid for, so a stay built around the Friedrichsbad and Caracalla adds up quickly. Wine taverns, bakeries and simple guesthouses help only a little.

Baden-Baden is far stronger for music. The Festspielhaus, one of Germany's largest opera and concert houses, brings in international orchestras and productions, the town's philharmonic plays in the Kurhaus, and the memory of Brahms and Clara Schumann runs through the place.

Karlovy Vary's symphony orchestra grew out of the old spa bands and plays lighter classical programmes, some of them outdoors on the colonnades in summer. The Fellner and Helmer theatre hosts touring operetta and drama. It makes for a pleasant evening rather than a reason to come.

In Baden-Baden you bathe in the springs, and in Karlovy Vary you mostly drink them. Baden-Baden's water is something you lie in: the Friedrichsbad's silent, unclothed circuit of hot rooms and scrubs, then Caracalla's indoor and outdoor pools and saunas, all open to anyone who walks in for the day.

In Karlovy Vary you sip from thirteen springs as you walk along the colonnades. The medical side, with peat wraps and carbonated baths, is offered through spa hotels and sanatoria, and there are few public bathhouses. To get the full experience you have to book a spa stay, which makes Baden-Baden easier for a casual visitor.