Brno or Ljubljana?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation. Brno's choices are the reservoir on the Svratka, reached by tram and river boat, where algae can spoil the water in hot spells, and the Nove Mlyny lakes an hour south.

Ljubljana gives a swimmer more to work with. There is the Sava on the edge of town, Bled's lake, which gets properly warm in high summer, and the colder, clearer Bohinj. The Adriatic at Piran is about an hour and a half away, though you swim there from concrete platforms and pebbles rather than sand.

Ljubljana eats better. Its open-air Central Market under Plečnik's colonnades is a real food destination, with cheeses, pumpkin-seed oil and Alpine produce. Gostilna inns serve štruklji and jota, and a handful of kitchens cook ambitious modern Slovenian food. The orange wines of the west give the wine bars something you will not find in Moravia.

Brno's plates are heavier and plainer: svickova and roast pork in beer halls, with fine dining thin on the ground. Its real strength is the glass and the cup, with specialty coffee, serious cocktails and Moravian whites and Frankovka reds from the vineyards just to the south.

Both cities were shaped by interwar architecture, and each takes two or three days. In Brno it is functionalist modernism, led by Villa Tugendhat and backed by villas, office blocks and the exhibition grounds. Brno also has odder corners, such as the Capuchin Crypt's mummified monks, the ossuary under St James's and the abbey where Mendel founded genetics.

In Ljubljana the defining figure is Plečnik, whose bridges, colonnades and library are woven through a baroque and Secession old town under the castle hill. Its pleasure lies in the cityscape as a whole rather than in individual sights, with Metelkova's murals adding an alternative streak.

Evenings are much alike in scale, and neither city is built for an all-night party. Brno's nights happen indoors, in small cocktail bars behind unmarked doors and in student cellars around Jakubske namesti. It goes noticeably quiet in July and August, when the students leave.

Ljubljana's nights happen outside, on the terraces along both banks of the Ljubljanica, which suit a warm summer evening. For something rougher and later, the clubs at Metelkova run into the small hours at weekends.

Ljubljana wins this one. Tivoli Park runs straight into forest and locals climb Šmarna Gora before work. The Kamnik-Savinja Alps start about 40 minutes out, and the Julian Alps, Vintgar gorge and the emerald Soča bring serious hiking, rafting and winter skiing. It even matches Brno on caves, with Postojna and Škocjan in the karst to the south-west.

Brno's outdoors is gentler. The Moravian Karst and its boat ride under the Macocha Abyss is the highlight, and the Palava ridge, the Podyji valley and the wine-country cycle routes fill out the rest. There are no mountains, and winter brings grey skies rather than snow.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference is in what you go out to see. From Brno it is a dense run of UNESCO heritage: Lednice-Valtice's chateaux and parkland, Kromeriz, Trebic and Telc, plus the Austerlitz battlefield. Vienna and Bratislava are both an easy day by train.

Ljubljana's outings mix scenery with towns. There is Bled's island church, Predjama Castle in its cliff, Idrija's mining heritage, Piran on the coast and the hill villages of Goriška Brda. Brno's integrated ticket makes its trips simpler by public transport, while Ljubljana's smaller places are much easier with a car.

For families the two are about level, and they differ in kind more than in how much there is. Brno has more to keep children busy indoors: the hands-on VIDA science centre, the mammoths and cave dwellers of the Anthropos pavilion and the planetarium on Kravi hora. Half an hour north, the boat trip through the Punkva Caves gives it a stronger day out for children than anything Ljubljana lays on for them in town.

Ljubljana is the easier city to get around with small children. Its flat, largely car-free centre suits pushchairs better than Brno's cobbles and hills, and younger children remember the funicular to the castle and the dragons on the Dragon Bridge. The puppet theatre by the castle hill puts on shows they can follow without the language, though most families will have seen the city's sights for children in two or three days.

Both centres are compact and mostly pedestrianised, so walking covers the core of either. Beyond the centre, Brno has a dense tram network that reaches Villa Tugendhat, the zoo and the reservoir, on one ticket that also covers regional trains.

Ljubljana has no trams, only buses, a bike-share scheme and electric shuttles in the centre, and as a visitor you will rarely need any of them. For trips out, intercity buses beat its slow trains, and a hired car opens up the mountain valleys.

Neither is a shopping destination, and in both the best buys are local. In Brno that means Moravian wine bought straight from the cellars and produce from the Zelny trh market, with high-street chains along Ceska and Masarykova.

Ljubljana has a little more to browse for gifts. You can find honey and coastal salt at the Central Market, Idrija lace, gingerbread hearts, and a Sunday antiques market on the embankment.

Brno is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotels, pub lunch menus, beer, wine, tram tickets and museum entry all cost little, and only the cocktail and coffee bars charge more. Big trade fairs are the one thing that can push up room prices.

Ljubljana costs more, mostly because of where you sleep. Eating and sightseeing are fairly priced, but the small stock of central hotels means summer rooms in the old town cost what they would in Western Europe. Staying further out, or outside July and August, narrows the gap.

Brno has the richer stage life, thanks to Janacek. His operas anchor the programme at the Janacek Theatre, and there is a festival in his name. The Reduta, where the young Mozart played, and the Brno Philharmonic's regular season add depth, so an opera or ballet night is a real reason to visit.

Ljubljana is solid without being a draw in itself. It has a philharmonic with roots in 1701, a neo-Renaissance opera house and the summer festival in Plečnik's open-air Križanke courtyard. In both cities most drama is in the local language, so music and dance work best for visitors.

Ljubljana is the more restful choice. Several of Slovenia's thermal spa towns with mineral pools are about an hour's drive away. In town there is a large water park with a sauna complex, and the quiet, car-free centre and long riverside café afternoons make the pace easy.

Brno has no springs and no spa tradition, so wellness means public pools with sauna areas and a few hotel spas. Its calm comes from parks such as Luzanky and the Spilberk slopes. Anyone who wants to take the waters has to go a long way.