Bled or Stuttgart?

Bled has real summer swimming. Its lake reaches about 24°C in high summer, and you can swim from the grassy lidos below the castle, the shallow western end or the rocks along the shore path. Colder, wilder Bohinj is nearby.

Stuttgart has no open water you can swim in, because the Neckar is a working river with locks and barges. Summer swimming there means the outdoor pools, some of them fed by mineral springs.

Stuttgart is far better for eating. Swabian cooking gives you Maultaschen, Käsespätzle and Zwiebelrostbraten in wine taverns, Trollinger from vineyards inside the city, seasonal Besen serving onion tart and the Art Nouveau Markthalle for browsing.

Bled's food is mostly hotel dining rooms, pizzerias and inns serving trout and žlikrofi. The cream slice by the lake is worth having, but the better meals are in farm inns out in the valleys.

Stuttgart has two or three days of sights. There are the Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums, the Staatsgalerie's European painting and its postmodern wing, the Le Corbusier houses at the Weissenhof Estate and the palaces around Schlossplatz.

Bled offers one memorable day. You can visit the cliff-top castle with its small museum and printing workshop, then take a pletna boat to the baroque island church and ring its wishing bell.

Neither city is a party destination, but only Stuttgart has a night out. Bars and lounges line Theodor-Heuss-Strasse, small clubs play electronic music in basements and old industrial spaces, and the beer tents of the Cannstatter Volksfest fill in autumn.

In Bled the evening ends with a drink on a terrace and a walk along the lit shore, and the village is quiet well before midnight.

This is Bled's great strength. It sits right at the edge of the Julian Alps. Viewpoints at Ojstrica and Osojnica, the Vintgar Gorge, Lake Bohinj, the Savica waterfall and the Pokljuka pastures are all within about half an hour. Beyond them are rafting, canyoning, paragliding and the Soča valley over the Vršič pass.

Stuttgart's countryside is green and easy to reach but gentle. You get vineyard trails above the Neckar, deer in the Rotwildpark, and the cliffs and caves of the Swabian Jura about an hour away. It is good walking and cycling country, not mountains.

Both make good bases, but Stuttgart has more within easy reach by train. Ludwigsburg's palace and half-timbered Esslingen are short S-Bahn rides away. Heidelberg and Tübingen take under an hour, and Maulbronn, Hohenzollern Castle, Ulm and even Strasbourg make full days out.

From Bled, Ljubljana and medieval Radovljica are close by bus. The Postojna cave, Predjama Castle, Piran on the Adriatic and the Austrian lakes are also possible, though a car makes these easier.

For families the two are close, and Stuttgart edges ahead mainly because it copes with bad weather. Wilhelma's zoo and gardens easily fill a day, and there are also the Killesberg park railway, the rack railway and the car museums for older children.

Bled is better for outdoor fun. Children can row to the island, ring the bell, swim from shallow lidos and ride the summer toboggan on Straža. On a wet day, though, there is not much else to do.

Both centres are easy on foot, but Stuttgart's transport reaches much further. One integrated ticket covers the Stadtbahn, the S-Bahn, buses, a rack railway and a funicular, and it gets you to the museums, Wilhelma and the airport. The Stäffele stairways are handy shortcuts up the hills.

In Bled, the shore path and regional buses cover the lake, Radovljica and Bohinj. For trailheads, Pokljuka or the Soča valley, most people hire a car.

Stuttgart is a real shopping city. Königstrasse is a long pedestrian street of familiar brands, Breuninger is the place for designer fashion and the Bohnenviertel has independent shops. The outlet town of Metzingen is about half an hour away.

Bled has a few lakeside stalls selling honey, lace and painted beehive panels, and not much else.

Costs in the two are much the same, but the money goes on different things. In Bled you pay extra for a lake view in high summer, and the boat, castle and gorge all charge entry. You can save by staying in Radovljica, Bohinj or at the campsite, and the trails and viewpoints are free.

In Stuttgart, hotel prices follow the trade fairs and drop at weekends. Tavern meals and day tickets are fair value, and smart restaurants are where a budget gets stretched.

Stuttgart is a serious stage city. The Stuttgart Ballet, famous since Cranko's time, and a bold opera company share the state theatre, and the Liederhalle offers orchestras and a strong Bach tradition. Musicals in Möhringen and a well-known jazz scene add to it.

Bled has only the odd summer concert in the castle or a church, and folk evenings put on for visitors. For a real performance you go to Ljubljana.

For a soak in warm water, Stuttgart is better. The public Mineralbad Cannstatt and Mineralbad Leuze have naturally carbonated pools indoors and out, plus saunas, fed by some of Europe's most productive springs. The city around them runs at a businesslike pace, though.

Bled's spa history goes back to Arnold Rikli's air and sun cures, and warm springs supply a few hotel spas. What relaxes people most there is the slow pace: still water early in the morning and quiet evenings outside the summer peak.