Brno or Prague?

Neither city has a coast, and the swimming on offer is much the same: a reservoir on the north-western edge with grassy or wooded banks. Brno's reservoir is reached by tram and river boat, with the Nove Mlyny lakes an hour south. Prague has the Dzban reservoir in the Sarka valley and the wooded shores of Slapy. Either one makes a hot afternoon, not a reason to travel.

The plates are nearly identical, svickova, goulash and roast pork with dumplings, so the difference lies in what you drink with them. Brno leans towards wine and coffee: Moravian whites and Frankovka from vineyards less than an hour away, careful specialty cafés and a cocktail habit for its size, though fine dining is thin.

Prague is the beer city, with unpasteurised tank lager, microbreweries, chlebicky and canteen buffets, plus a slightly wider modern restaurant scene in Karlin and Letna. Its catch is the centre, where the menus around Old Town Square are poor value. Brno has no such tourist trap to avoid.

Here Prague is clearly ahead. Its whole historic centre is a single UNESCO site, running from St Vitus Cathedral and Golden Lane down through the Baroque palaces of Mala Strana and across the Charles Bridge to the Old Town and the Jewish Quarter. It also has Art Nouveau and Cubist buildings found almost nowhere else, and it needs three or four days.

Brno's appeal is narrower and more modern. Villa Tugendhat and the functionalist villas and office blocks are the reason to come, with Spilberk Castle, the cathedral, the crypts and the Mendel Museum filling two or three easy days, and without Prague's crowds.

Prague gives the bigger night out. Zizkov's cheap neighbourhood pubs, the beer gardens on Letna and Riegrovy sady and a real clubbing circuit, from dawn-closing venues near Wenceslas Square to techno in Holesovice's industrial spaces, mean you can go as late as you like.

Brno is better for a long evening of drinks than for dancing. Its student bars around Jakubske namesti and its well-made cocktails behind unmarked doors are a pleasure, but there are only a few clubs and the city empties out in high summer.

The outdoors is similar in scale but different in character. From Brno the highlight is underground: the Moravian Karst, half an hour north, where boats run along the Punkva river beneath the Macocha Abyss, with vineyard cycling and the Palava ridge to the south.

Prague has more green inside the city, with Petrin, Stromovka and the gorge of Divoka Sarka. Its best hiking lies further out, among the sandstone towers of Bohemian Switzerland and the Bohemian Paradise, about two hours away.

Both cities make excellent bases, so the choice comes down to what you want to see. Brno has a dense ring of UNESCO sites within an hour or two, among them Lednice-Valtice, Kromeriz, Trebic and Telc, along with the Austerlitz battlefield and wine towns such as Mikulov. Vienna and Bratislava are each about an hour and a half by train.

Prague's outings are about castles and history: Karlstejn, Konopiste, the silver town of Kutna Hora and the sobering visit to Terezin. Dresden and Karlovy Vary are about two hours away, while Cesky Krumlov is a long day.

Both are safe with children, and neither has a great deal aimed squarely at them, so it depends on what holds your children's attention. Brno's draws are hands-on: the VIDA science centre, mammoths in the Anthropos pavilion, the planetarium and the cave boat in the Moravian Karst.

Prague has the bigger single attraction in its Troja zoo, with its chairlift and large enclosures, along with the storybook castle and the astronomical clock. The trade-off is steep stairs and summer crowds that make pushchairs harder work than in Brno's smaller centre.

Prague has the more complete network. Three metro lines carry you across the city quickly and trams run through the night, so even outer neighbourhoods are easy to reach. The one thing to watch is pickpockets on the crowded tram lines through Mala Strana.

Brno has no metro and does not need one. Its compact centre is mostly pedestrianised, the trams reach Villa Tugendhat and the reservoir, and the same ticket covers regional trains across South Moravia, which makes day trips unusually simple.

Prague offers clearly more. It has luxury labels on Parizska and real Czech buys such as Bohemian crystal, garnet jewellery and marionettes, with better design and vintage shops in Vinohrady and Holesovice. You do have to look past a great deal of souvenir clutter in the old centre.

Brno has the usual chains on Ceska and Masarykova and only a scattering of independents. What is worth carrying home is wine bought straight from a Moravian cellar.

Brno is the cheaper stay, and more evenly so. Rooms, lunch menus, wine and transport are inexpensive across the city, and the only thing that pushes rates up is a big trade fair.

Prague can be good value too, but only if you plan for it. You need to stay a few tram stops out, eat in Zizkov or Vinohrady and avoid the exchange booths, because the hotels and riverside restaurants of the historic core are priced for visitors.

Prague has the deeper calendar. It has three opera stages, including the Estates Theatre, where Don Giovanni had its premiere. The Czech Philharmonic plays at the Rudolfinum, and the Prague Spring festival is a fixture of the year. Black-light theatre and marionettes also work for visitors who speak no Czech.

Brno is smaller but has a clear identity built on Janacek. His operas are at the heart of the programme at the Janacek Theatre, the Reduta is where the young Mozart played, and the city holds a festival devoted to the composer.

Brno has no spa tradition and no thermal springs. Relaxing there means a public swimming complex with a sauna area, one of a handful of day spas, or an unhurried afternoon in Luzanky park or on the Spilberk slopes. The city's calm pace helps, but there is little in the way of treatments.

Prague has no bathing culture of its own either, but it gives you more to work with. It has hotel spas, plenty of massage studios and beer baths in hops and malt, which are more fun than restorative. Its best rest comes from the grand old coffee houses, the terraced Baroque gardens below the castle and quiet benches on Kampa island or at Vysehrad. You will rest more easily if you stay in a residential district away from the noisy core.