Cesky Krumlov or Prague?

Neither is a beach destination, but Cesky Krumlov has the easier swim. Lipno reservoir, about half an hour's drive south, has grassy and sandy shores, water pleasant enough in July and August, and sailing and windsurfing besides.

From Prague the options are a city pool, the Dzban reservoir in the Sarka valley, or the wooded banks of Slapy about an hour away. In both places the Vltava itself is for boats rather than swimming.

Both serve the same Bohemian staples of roast pork, dumplings and svíčková, and both revolve around beer. Prague takes it further, with unpasteurised tank lager in classic pubs, microbreweries, Moravian wine bars, cheap chlebicky lunches and a modest modern restaurant scene in Vinohrady, Karlin and Letna.

Cesky Krumlov adds river trout and forest game, served in vaulted cellars and on riverside terraces, along with beer brewed in the town for centuries. The range is narrow and many menus are written for day-trippers, so a couple of dinners show you most of it.

Both are UNESCO-listed old towns under a castle on the Vltava, but Prague is the larger and richer version. Its castle complex with St Vitus Cathedral, Mala Strana's Baroque palaces, the Charles Bridge, Josefov's synagogues and the Art Nouveau and Cubist buildings fill three or four days, with the National Gallery's palaces on top.

Cesky Krumlov is a single, near-perfect townscape seen in a day or two: the painted castle tower, the Cloak Bridge and a Baroque theatre that keeps its original stage machinery. Its setting is more intimate, and it is at its best once the tour buses leave in the evening.

Prague offers a real night out and Cesky Krumlov does not. In Prague you can go from Zizkov's plain locals' pubs to wine and cocktail bars in Vinohrady and summer beer gardens on Letna, and the clubs range from big venues near Wenceslas Square to techno spaces in Holesovice.

In Cesky Krumlov the evening means a few cellar bars and a riverside terrace. There are no clubs, and outside summer the lanes empty early.

Cesky Krumlov puts you closer to the outdoors. The classic day is a canoe or raft down the Vltava's wooded meanders. The Bohemian Forest national park begins about half an hour away, with long walking and cycling routes and cross-country skiing in winter, and the hill of Klet looks towards the Alps on clear days.

Prague's green side is mostly within the city, on Petrin Hill, in Stromovka and in the Divoka Sarka gorge. Its best hiking, among the sandstone towers of Bohemian Switzerland and the Bohemian Paradise, takes up to two hours to reach.

Prague is the better base. Kutna Hora, Karlstejn and Terezin are each about an hour away or less, mostly by train, and Dresden and Karlovy Vary are manageable in a day.

From Cesky Krumlov the outings are closer but harder without a car: the arcaded square of České Budějovice, Hluboká's white castle, the Baroque farmhouses of Holašovice and Třeboň's fish ponds. The journey between the two takes close to three hours each way, so it makes sense to stay the night in Cesky Krumlov rather than visit it from Prague.

Cesky Krumlov works on a smaller, gentler scale for children: the bears in the castle moat, a family raft trip on the river and Lipno's treetop walk, all from a town centre largely closed to cars. Beyond those, the castle's interior tours suit adults better.

Prague has the wider range, above all the Troja zoo on its wooded hillside above the river, with a chairlift and big enclosures, plus the Petrin mirror maze and the National Technical Museum. Children find both towns like something from a storybook, and in both the cobbles and steep lanes make pushchairs hard work. Prague's centre is also packed with crowds in summer.

In both, you can cross the old centre on foot in about a quarter of an hour, cobbles and castle climb included. The difference is what lies beyond it. Prague has three metro lines, trams through the night and one ticket for everything, so a car is only a burden.

In Cesky Krumlov, regional trains and buses reach České Budějovice, but the forest, the lake and the smaller castles really call for a hire car or a tour.

Of the two, only Prague has real shopping: luxury labels on Parizska, chains on Na Prikope and Wenceslas Square, design and vintage shops in Vinohrady and Holesovice, and Christmas markets on the old squares. Cesky Krumlov's lanes sell the same Bohemian glass, garnets and marionettes, with moldavite and a few ceramic workshops as its local touch, but little beyond souvenirs.

Costs come out much the same, and in both you pay extra for a view: rooms and tables overlooking the river or the main squares cost more. The way to save differs. In Prague you sleep a few tram stops out and eat in Zizkov or Karlin pubs, while in Cesky Krumlov you take a guesthouse just outside the centre or come outside summer, remembering that each castle tour is paid separately.

Prague is a serious music city. It has three opera stages, including the Estates Theatre where Mozart conducted the premiere of Don Giovanni, the Czech Philharmonic at the Rudolfinum, the Prague Spring festival, and black-light and marionette theatre that needs no Czech.

Cesky Krumlov has a summer season only, with plays and opera in the castle garden's revolving open-air theatre and a classical festival in the castle and churches. Outside the warm months there is very little on.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and both offer beer baths as a novelty. Prague has more choice, with hotel spas, massage studios and public saunas, and quiet corners in its grand coffee houses, the terraced gardens below the castle and Kampa island.

In Cesky Krumlov, rest comes from the town itself once the day visitors leave. For proper treatments, Třeboň's peat baths make a day out.