Cesky Krumlov or Munich?

Neither is a beach destination, and both send swimmers to inland water for a short summer season. From Cesky Krumlov that means driving about half an hour to the grassy and sandy shores of the Lipno reservoir, since the Vltava in town belongs to the rafts.

Munich makes summer swimming a little easier. The Isar's gravel banks at the Flaucher are right in the city, and the clear Starnberger See and Ammersee are under an hour away by S-Bahn, so a lake afternoon fits into a city day without a car.

The two eat in a similar way: roast pork, dumplings and beer, in both cases brewed locally for centuries. In Cesky Krumlov the meal comes in a vaulted cellar or on a river terrace, often with trout or forest game, but the choice is narrow and many menus are aimed at day-trippers.

Munich turns the same tradition into a real reason to visit. Its brewery beer halls and chestnut-shaded beer gardens, the Viktualienmarkt for snacks and cheese, serious coffee-and-cake afternoons and a group of starred restaurants give you far more variety across a week.

Munich has the greater depth. The Kunstareal alone holds old masters at the Alte Pinakothek, Greek and Roman sculpture at the Glyptothek and the Blue Rider painters at the Lenbachhaus, and the Residenz, Nymphenburg and the Deutsches Museum add days more. Its old town is handsome, but much of it was rebuilt after the war.

Cesky Krumlov offers what Munich cannot: an intact Renaissance and Baroque town, its painted houses and huge castle untouched as a whole. The Cloak Bridge, the Baroque theatre with its original stage machinery and the Schiele centre are well worth seeing, but a day or two covers it all.

After dinner Cesky Krumlov winds down to a few pubs and backpacker cellar bars, with summer terraces by the Vltava the liveliest it gets. There are no clubs, and out of season the lanes are empty early.

Munich offers a proper night out. Beer halls are the classic start, Glockenbachviertel and Gärtnerplatz have cocktail and gay bars, Schwabing has student pubs, and a few serious techno clubs run until morning at weekends. During Oktoberfest the whole city becomes one large party.

Cesky Krumlov's outdoors starts at the door. You can canoe the wooded meanders of the Vltava straight into town, and Klet, the spruce woods of the Bohemian Forest and the cycle path around Lipno are all close by. The landscape is soft rather than dramatic.

Munich has the bigger range. The Alps rise an hour south, with the Zugspitze, the Wetterstein and Tegernsee reachable by train for real mountain hiking and downhill skiing. Back in town, the English Garden, the Eisbach surfers and the Isar cycle paths add green space that a small town has no need for.

Munich is the far stronger base. Salzburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg and Innsbruck are all within about two hours by train, and Neuschwanstein, Herrenchiemsee and painted villages such as Oberammergau make classic outings without a car.

Cesky Krumlov has a good South Bohemian circuit: the arcaded square of České Budějovice, the white castle at Hluboká, the farmhouses of Holašovice and the monastery at Zlatá Koruna just along the river. The list is shorter, and most of it needs a car.

Munich is much the easier choice with children. The zoo along the Isar, the hands-on Deutsches Museum, the transport museum and beer gardens with playgrounds fill days, and buses and trains take pushchairs.

Cesky Krumlov has storybook appeal, with the bears in the castle moat and a gentle raft trip that most children love, plus the Lipno treetop walk nearby. But steep cobbles make pushchairs hard work, and once the castle and the river are done there is little else aimed at young visitors.

Both centres are pedestrian and easy on foot, although Cesky Krumlov's cobbles and the climb to the castle take more effort than flat Munich.

The real difference is beyond the old town. Munich's U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses run as one integrated network out to Nymphenburg, the lakes and the airport, and regional trains reach the mountains. From Cesky Krumlov, links to the forest and the smaller castles are thin, so most visitors hire a car or join tours.

Cesky Krumlov's lanes sell souvenirs and not much else: Bohemian glass, garnet jewellery, marionettes and the local green moldavite, with a few ceramics workshops.

Munich is a serious shopping city. There are luxury houses on Maximilianstrasse, department stores along Kaufingerstrasse, independent design shops in Glockenbach and Schwabing, and Dallmayr's long-established delicatessen. Specialist tailors sell dirndls and lederhosen, and in December the Christmas markets fill the old town with craft stalls.

Cesky Krumlov costs much less. Family guesthouses in the old houses, Czech meals and local beer stay moderately priced, though rooms with castle views and each separately ticketed castle tour push the bill up.

Munich is Germany's most expensive city, and hotels are the biggest cost, especially during Oktoberfest and trade fairs. Beer garden picnics, free parks and lakes, and token Sunday museum fees help, but they will not bring it close to the Czech town.

Both have a historic court theatre, and the comparison says a lot. Munich's rococo Cuvilliés Theatre still stages chamber opera, while Cesky Krumlov's Baroque theatre holds only a few performances a year and is mostly seen on a tour.

Beyond that, Munich is in a different league. The Bavarian State Opera, three orchestras of real standing, the Gärtnerplatztheater, jazz clubs and big concerts at the Olympic Park run through most of the year. Cesky Krumlov's offer is mainly summer: the revolving open-air theatre in the castle garden and a classical music festival.

Munich has a real bathing culture. There are the vaulted Art Nouveau pools and steam bath of the Müller'sches Volksbad, textile-free public saunas with infusion rituals, and the huge thermal complex at Erding about forty minutes away.

Cesky Krumlov has a few hotel wellness rooms and beer baths, with Třeboň's peat baths within reach for a day. What it offers instead is stillness once the tour buses leave, which some travellers will find more restful than any spa.