Bratislava or Dresden?

Neither city is a place to swim, and both rivers are off limits because of currents and shipping. The difference is in what replaces them. Bratislava has a proper sandy lakeshore at Zlate piesky, reachable by tram, plus the bigger Senec lakes half an hour out. Dresden relies on outdoor pools, flooded gravel pits and the Moritzburg ponds, with deckchairs on the Elbe's sandy banks for lounging rather than bathing.

The two kitchens are close in standard but differ in emphasis. Bratislava is about hearty plates and drink: sheep's cheese dumplings, duck with lokse, brewpubs pouring their own lager and wine bars stocked with Small Carpathian Veltliner and Frankovka that you rarely find abroad.

Dresden's strength is the coffee table, with Christstollen, Eierschecke and a serious afternoon cake habit, along with dry Elbe valley wines from Radebeul and Meissen. It also has the wider casual range, as the Neustadt mixes Vietnamese and Middle Eastern food with beer gardens. In both, the streets nearest the main sights lean towards tourist menus.

This is where the two part company most. Dresden's riverfront is a treasury: Raphael in the Zwinger, the jewelled Green Vault in the Residenzschloss, Caspar David Friedrich in the Albertinum and the rebuilt Frauenkirche, enough for three or four absorbing days. The post-war reconstruction and nearby concrete blocks give it a layered feel rather than a seamless one.

Bratislava offers a pleasant, compact Old Town with real history, from the coronation cathedral of St Martin to the Blue Church and the cliff-top ruins of Devin. It is charming to stroll through, but it has nothing of Dresden's museum weight, and a day or two covers it.

Dresden has the more rewarding night out, concentrated in the Äußere Neustadt, where students fill courtyard pubs and beer kiosks, people drink on the pavements in summer and a few clubs occupy old industrial buildings. The old town across the river goes quiet after dinner.

Bratislava's scene is all in a few Old Town streets of pubs, wine bars and cocktail bars. It gets loud and crowded on Fridays and Saturdays, partly because cheap drinks draw stag groups, but it is a pub crawl rather than a club scene, and weeknights are subdued.

Dresden has real landscape on its doorstep. Saxon Switzerland's sandstone towers and gorges begin under an hour upriver, with the Bastei view, multi-day walking on the Malerweg and a historic free-climbing tradition, and the Ore Mountains add summer hiking and light cross-country skiing.

Bratislava's countryside is gentler. Beech-wood trails climb from Koliba to Kamzik, Devinska Kobyla looks over the Morava confluence and the Danube floodplain forests suit cyclists, while Cunovo adds whitewater rafting. These are pleasant hills rather than a destination in their own right.

Both are excellent bases, so the choice comes down to the destinations. Bratislava's trump card is Vienna an hour away, and its border position puts Carnuntum, Lake Neusiedl, Lednice-Valtice and Pannonhalma within reach alongside the wine villages of Modra and Pezinok.

Dresden's excursions stay mostly within Saxony: porcelain and cathedral at Meissen, Moritzburg on its lake, the Königstein fortress, and Leipzig, Bautzen or Görlitz by train. Prague is possible, but it makes a long day.

Dresden gives children more to do. The Großer Garten has its zoo and a miniature railway run by children, the Transport Museum is full of trams and trains, the Hygiene Museum has a hands-on section and paddle steamers lead to Moritzburg and the rock country. Art galleries and cobbles test young patience, though.

Bratislava is safe and calm, and spotting the bronze statues, riding the Kamzik chairlift and a day at the Senec water park are good fun. After two or three days, however, it runs out of child-friendly ideas.

Both centres are walkable, but Dresden is easier to get around beyond them. Its dense tram network and suburban trains along the Elbe reach Meissen and Saxon Switzerland, so even the day trips need no car.

Bratislava's sights are all within a twenty-minute walk and its trams and trolleybuses run to Devin and Kamzik. With no metro, though, longer journeys across the river are slow, and the wine villages and castles off the rail lines are easier to reach by car.

Dresden has a little more to browse. The Neustadt's second-hand clothes, small design shops and the Kunsthofpassage courtyards make a good afternoon, the Meissen porcelain showrooms and Ore Mountain wooden toys are distinctive, and in Advent the Striezelmarkt is a real draw.

In Bratislava, the state folk-craft centre with its majolica, lace and blue-print cloth is the highlight, and Small Carpathian wine is the best thing to bring home. For serious fashion, most shoppers head to Vienna.

Bratislava is the cheaper of the two day to day. Beer, wine, transport and museum entry cost little and pub lunch menus are generous, so you only pay Western prices on the main squares and along the Danube complexes.

Dresden is moderate and cheaper than western German cities, with good-value eating in the Neustadt and a day ticket that covers trams and suburban trains. Separate entry to each major museum adds up, though, and old town rooms climb during the Christmas market.

Dresden is one of Europe's great music cities. The Semperoper, with the centuries-old Staatskapelle and its Wagner and Strauss premieres, sits at the heart of a calendar that also includes the Dresden Philharmonic in the Kulturpalast and the Kreuzchor boys' choir, plus Bach at the Frauenkirche.

Bratislava's Slovak National Theatre and Philharmonic in the Reduta are solid and easy to get tickets for, which makes them a relaxed evening out. For a programme on a truly international level, however, locals take the train to Vienna.

Neither city has thermal springs of its own, so unwinding here depends more on the pace of the city than on spas. In Bratislava that means hotel spas, slow café afternoons and forest paths that are quiet on weekdays. For proper bathing you go out of town, to the Senec water park or to the mud and sulphur cures at Piestany.

Dresden offers a little more close by. Saunas with cold plunges in the municipal baths are an ordinary local habit, Bad Schandau's thermal pool is under an hour away, and the wide Elbe meadows and coffee and cake on a terrace above the river do the rest.