Berlin or Cesky Krumlov?

Neither has a coast, but Berlin makes lake swimming far easier. Strandbad Wannsee, with its sandy shore and wicker beach chairs, and forest lakes such as Schlachtensee are a train or bus ride from the centre.

From Cesky Krumlov, the swimming spot is the Lipno reservoir, about half an hour's drive away, because the Vltava in town is for rafting rather than swimming. In both places the water is only warm enough in July and August.

Berlin is much the better place to eat because of its range. Decades of Turkish migration shaped the bakeries and grill houses of Kreuzberg and Neukölln, Vietnamese and Korean cooking are easy to find, and there are market-hall evenings, beer gardens and a serious fine-dining scene.

Cesky Krumlov serves one cuisine, and serves it well enough. Expect roast duck with dumplings, svíčková and river trout in vaulted cellars, with the town's own beer as the highlight. Choice runs out after a few meals, and many menus on the main lanes are aimed at day-trippers.

Berlin offers far more to see, and most of it is collections and history. Museum Island, with Nefertiti and the Pergamon holdings, and the old masters of the Gemäldegalerie can fill several days. The Wall Memorial on Bernauer Strasse, the Reichstag dome and the Holocaust memorial add the twentieth century, which no small town can match.

Cesky Krumlov works the other way round: the place itself is the sight. The intact Renaissance and Baroque old town, the castle with its painted tower, the Cloak Bridge and a rare Baroque theatre with its original stage machinery are best seen early or late in the day, and a day or two covers them.

This is the widest gap between the two. Berlin is a destination in its own right for clubbing, with techno in old power stations and warehouses, strict doors and parties that run all weekend. It also has Kneipen in Neukölln and Wedding and late bars across Friedrichshain and Kreuzberg.

Cesky Krumlov has a handful of cellar pubs and, in summer, riverside terraces that stay busy after dinner. There are no clubs, and outside the peak months the lanes empty early.

Cesky Krumlov is the stronger base for the outdoors, and the river is the reason. You can canoe or raft down the Vltava's wooded meanders straight from town, the spruce forests and bogs of the Bohemian Forest begin half an hour away, and Klet hill offers views towards the Alps on clear days.

Berlin's green spaces are mostly inside the city: the Tiergarten, the old runways of Tempelhof, the Grunewald forest and the Havel lakes, with the Wall Trail as an easy bike ride. It is all flat and pleasant, good for a break from sightseeing rather than a reason to travel.

The two are fairly close, with Berlin slightly ahead because its trips are easier to make. Potsdam's palaces are half an hour away by train, and Wittenberg, Leipzig and even baroque Dresden can be reached by rail without a car.

Cesky Krumlov's trips are smaller and more rural. They include the arcaded square of České Budějovice, the white castle at Hluboká, the farmhouses of Holašovice and the monastery at Zlatá Koruna. Most are much easier with a hire car.

Children of any age can fill a week in Berlin, from toddlers in the playgrounds to older children among the trains, planes and hands-on science of the German Museum of Technology. The Zoologischer Garten with its aquarium and the vast, leafy Tierpark are each a day out, and the Natural History Museum has its towering dinosaur. Prams roll easily on the flat streets and trains.

Cesky Krumlov suits a weekend with children old enough to walk the cobbles. The bears in the castle moat, the climb up the painted tower and a gentle raft trip on the Vltava are the highlights, and Lipno's treetop walk makes a good extra day. The steep lanes are hard work with a pushchair, though, and the castle interiors hold more for adults.

Berlin's network makes it the easier place to get around overall. The U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses share one ticket, the S-Bahn Ring links most districts quickly, and trains run through the night at weekends. You will still ride between Mitte, Kreuzberg and Charlottenburg, since each is a separate centre, but the city is flat and full of bike lanes, so cycling is easy too.\n\nCesky Krumlov's old town takes a quarter of an hour to cross on foot, with a climb up to the castle. Beyond it, buses and trains into the Bohemian Forest and out to the smaller castles are thin, so seeing the region usually means hiring a car or joining a tour.

Shopping in Berlin is about browsing and digging for finds, and in Cesky Krumlov it is about choosing a souvenir. The Sunday flea markets at Mauerpark and Boxhagener Platz turn up vinyl, old furniture and East German curios. The streets around Hackescher Markt have concept stores and young designers, and the Kurfürstendamm and KaDeWe's food hall cover the big names.\n\nThe Czech town has no fashion streets or department stores, just old-town lanes of Bohemian crystal, garnet jewellery, marionettes and moldavite, the green stone found in the region. It is a place to pick up a gift to take home rather than to spend a day shopping.

Cesky Krumlov is the cheaper stay. Rooms in family guesthouses, Czech meals and local beer stay moderately priced. Views of the castle cost more, as does each separate castle tour, but staying just outside the centre keeps costs down.

Berlin is mid-priced for a capital. Döner, Vietnamese canteens and corner bars keep meals cheap, but museum entry, fine dining and trade-fair weekends push the cost of a trip up.

Berlin is one of Europe's great cities for the stage. It has three opera houses and the Berlin Philharmonic in Scharoun's Philharmonie. Its theatre is mostly in German, but there is enough opera, dance, revue and jazz to fill every evening of the year.

Cesky Krumlov has stage life mainly in summer. Its open-air theatre has a revolving auditorium that turns between scenes, and a music festival holds concerts in the castle and churches. Outside summer there is very little to attend.

Berlin offers proper German sauna culture: large complexes with infusion rituals and quiet rest rooms, and the columned halls of the Stadtbad Neukölln.

Cesky Krumlov offers little beyond hotel wellness rooms and beer baths, and for real treatments you need a day trip to the peat baths at Třeboň. What the town offers instead is calm, especially on a slow evening by the river once the day visitors have gone.