Cesky Krumlov or Hallstatt?

Neither town is a place for a swimming vacation, and at best both offer water of around 20°C in July and August. Cesky Krumlov's Vltava is for rafting rather than swimming, so swimmers drive half an hour to the Lipno reservoir, which has grassy and sandy shores.

Hallstatt has the slight edge because the water is right at the door. It is a clear, deep Alpine lake, with a lawn and jetty in the village and a lido at Obertraun. The water stays cold and the shores are steep, though, and for a longer lake day people head to the Wolfgangsee.

Cesky Krumlov eats better, though neither is a food destination. South Bohemian roast pork and duck, svíčková and forest game are served in vaulted cellars, and the beer brewed in the town for centuries gives meals there more character. There are also a few more ambitious kitchens.

Hallstatt's dining rooms mostly serve schnitzel and goulash. Lake char and whitefish are the one local speciality, and kitchens can close early. For proper coffee and cake you go to Bad Ischl.

This is Cesky Krumlov's strongest suit. A UNESCO-listed old town wraps around a bend of the Vltava beneath one of the largest castles in the country. You can see its state rooms, the Cloak Bridge and a Baroque theatre whose original stage machinery survives, and the Egon Schiele art centre is in the town below.

Hallstatt's history goes back further: seven thousand years of salt mining and the Iron Age finds that gave the Hallstatt culture its name. You see it through the salt mine, one small museum and the painted skulls of the Beinhaus, which make a fine half day rather than a sightseeing stay.

Neither is a place for a night out, but Cesky Krumlov at least has somewhere to go after dinner. There are a few pubs and cellar bars, some with a backpacker crowd, and in summer the riverside terraces stay busy until late. Hallstatt has nothing after dinner beyond a glass of wine by the lake and a walk in the dark.

Hallstatt wins clearly. The Dachstein rises straight from the lakeshore. Within a short trip there are cable cars to the Five Fingers platform, the giant ice caves and glacier paths up the Echerntal, along with via ferratas, hut-to-hut hiking and ski touring in winter.

Cesky Krumlov's outdoors is softer. You can spend a day floating down the Vltava by canoe, walk or cross-country ski in the Bohemian Forest, and look towards the distant Alps from the Klet on a clear day. It is green country for easy days, not mountain country.

Both make good bases, and both are easier with a car. From Cesky Krumlov the outings are to towns, castles and monasteries: the arcaded square and Budvar brewery of České Budějovice, the white castle at Hluboká, the Baroque farmhouses of Holašovice and the fish-pond spa town of Třeboň.

From Hallstatt the trips are to lake towns: imperial Bad Ischl, St Wolfgang with its altarpiece and Gmunden on the Traunsee. Hallstatt also has a major city within a day's reach in Salzburg, while Prague is too far from Cesky Krumlov for a comfortable day.

For families the two are much the same, but the highlights differ. Cesky Krumlov has bears in the castle moat, a tower to climb and a gentle raft trip, all in a small town whose cobbled hills are hard with a pushchair. Hallstatt has the salt mine with its miners' slides and underground lake, plus ice caves for older children, but its one narrow lane is packed at midday, so families often stay in Obertraun.

Both centres are tiny, largely closed to cars and walkable in minutes, though both have steep stretches. The difference is in arriving. Cesky Krumlov's bus and railway stations are within walking distance of the old town, but Hallstatt's station is on the far shore and a small boat takes you across. Beyond either town, buses are thin and a car is worth having.

Neither is a place to shop, but Cesky Krumlov has a little more to browse. Its lanes sell Bohemian glass and crystal, garnet jewellery, marionettes and moldavite from the region, and a few workshops sell ceramics and prints. Hallstatt's souvenir lane is shorter, and its one distinctive buy is salt from the local mine, sold in grinders and bath mixes.

The gap shows most when you book a bed and sit down to dinner. A room in one of Cesky Krumlov's old town houses costs far less than a lakeside room in Hallstatt, and evening meals follow the same pattern: roast duck and a beer brewed in the town, eaten in a vaulted cellar, against schnitzel at Alpine resort prices by the water. Both charge for their sights one by one, with separate tickets for each castle tour in Krumlov and for the mine, funicular and Krippenstein cable car in Hallstatt. In Krumlov, though, you can pick a single tour and enjoy the rest of the townscape free, while in Hallstatt the paid lifts are how you reach the mountains.

Saving money also costs you more in Hallstatt. In Cesky Krumlov, a guesthouse a few streets beyond the centre, or a visit outside summer, still leaves the river and the castle a short walk away. In Hallstatt, cutting costs means sleeping in another village and travelling in each day, and you give up the misty mornings and empty evenings that make a night there worthwhile.

Cesky Krumlov has a real summer season. There are plays and opera in the castle garden's open-air theatre, whose revolving auditorium turns between scenes, and an international music festival brings concerts to the castle and churches. Hallstatt has only its brass band and the odd church concert, so music lovers drive to Salzburg or catch operetta in Bad Ischl.

Hallstatt is the better place to unwind, largely because of its neighbours. Bad Ischl's brine baths and thermal complex are half an hour away, Bad Aussee and Bad Goisern are close by, and early mornings with mist on the lake are deeply restful.

Cesky Krumlov has only hotel wellness rooms and beer baths, with the peat baths of Třeboň as a day out. Its calm is the stillness of an old town once the tour buses have gone, which suits a slow evening by the river.