Cesky Krumlov or Leipzig?

Neither is a beach destination, but Leipzig makes lake swimming easier. Its flooded former mines south of the centre have sandy shores and beach bars, you can reach them by tram or by bike, and the water gets slightly warmer in high summer.

In Cesky Krumlov the swimming is at the Lipno reservoir, half an hour's drive into the Bohemian Forest. The Vltava in town is for rafting, not swimming.

Both kitchens are built on roasts and dumplings, so the difference is range. Cesky Krumlov serves South Bohemian pork, duck, trout and game in vaulted cellars and on riverside terraces. The town's own beer is the highlight, but many menus are written for day-trippers.

Leipzig has more to explore: salty Gose beer, a coffee-house tradition going back to the early eighteenth century, and casual international kitchens, brunch cafés and beer gardens along the Karli and the Plagwitz canals. Neither is a city to plan a trip around eating.

Both reward a couple of days of sightseeing, but in different ways. Cesky Krumlov is one complete picture: a UNESCO-listed town of painted facades packed into a river bend below a huge castle, with the Cloak Bridge and a rare Baroque theatre. The townscape is the draw, and the museums are minor.

Leipzig's history lies in its churches and collections. There is Bach's Thomaskirche, the Nikolaikirche where the 1989 revolution began, the trade-fair arcades, the Grassi museums and the former Stasi headquarters. As a whole it is less of a picture, but it has more to learn from.

In Cesky Krumlov an evening means a beer on a riverside terrace or in a cellar bar, and outside summer the lanes empty early. Leipzig is a proper night out, with electronic clubs in old factories that run past dawn at weekends, the bar strip of the Karli, the alternative scene in Connewitz and canal-side bars in Plagwitz. Its quiet spells come outside term time rather than outside summer.

Cesky Krumlov has the better countryside on its doorstep. The classic outing is a day floating down the wooded Vltava by raft or canoe. The Bohemian Forest national park begins half an hour away, with long walking and cycling routes and cross-country skiing in winter, and Klet looks out towards the Alps.

Leipzig is flat. Its green comes from the Auwald floodplain forest that runs through the city and from the lakes made from old mines, which are good for cycling, sailing and paddling. For hills you need a two-hour train ride to Saxon Switzerland or the Harz.

Leipzig is much the stronger base. Dresden and Weimar are each a little over an hour away by train, and Erfurt and Halle are closer. Wittenberg, Naumburg, Dessau, Meissen and Berlin itself are all within reach without a car.

Cesky Krumlov has a pleasant regional circuit: the arcaded square of České Budějovice, Hluboká castle, the Baroque farmhouses of Holašovice and the fish ponds of Třeboň. These are smaller places, though, and most are far easier to reach with a hire car.

Leipzig is easier with children. It has a flat centre, trams that take a pushchair, a zoo among the best in Europe with a tropical hall for any weather, and lakes and a theme park in summer. Cesky Krumlov has the storybook castle with bears in its moat and a gentle raft trip that children love. Its steep cobbles are hard work with a pushchair, though, and the castle interior tours suit adults better.

Leipzig is the easier place to get around. Cesky Krumlov's old town takes about a quarter of an hour to cross on foot, but the cobbles and the climb to the castle make it harder going. Beyond the town, its buses and trains are thin, so most visitors who want to explore South Bohemia hire a car or join tours.

Leipzig's centre is just as quick to cross, and it is flat. Trams run out to the outer districts, an S-Bahn line heads south to the lakes, and cycle lanes make a bike the quickest option. Regional trains leave from the same main station, so you never need a car.

Cesky Krumlov sells souvenirs: Bohemian glass, garnets, marionettes, wooden toys and green moldavite, plus a few workshops selling ceramics and prints. Leipzig gives you more of an afternoon. Its covered trade-fair arcades are lined with mainstream chains, and Karl-Heine-Strasse has vintage, design and record shops near the galleries of the old Spinnerei cotton mill. Neither is worth a shopping trip on its own.

Cesky Krumlov makes a budget go further, with guesthouses in old houses and moderately priced Czech meals and beer. Castle tours are charged separately, though, and rooms with views cost more. Leipzig's rooms are cheap for Germany, but meals, drinks and taxis cost what they do elsewhere in the country, and hotel rates rise sharply in trade-fair weeks.

This is where Leipzig is in a different league. The Gewandhaus Orchestra and the opera house face each other across Augustusplatz, and the Thomanerchor sings Bach in the Thomaskirche most weekends during term. Add operetta, theatre, cabaret, jazz and the huge Wave-Gotik-Treffen at Whitsun.

Cesky Krumlov's performances belong to summer: plays and opera at the revolving open-air theatre in the castle garden, and an international classical music festival. Most people only see the Baroque castle theatre on a tour.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, and for a proper spa you go elsewhere from both. Leipzig has German sauna culture in modern pool complexes and lakeside saunas, with spa towns such as Bad Düben a short drive away. Cesky Krumlov has little beyond hotel wellness rooms and beer baths, with Třeboň's peat baths a day trip away.

Where they differ is in the kind of calm. Cesky Krumlov offers the stillness of its old town once the day visitors leave, and Leipzig offers long walks in the floodplain forest.