Cesky Krumlov or Vienna?

Neither is a beach destination, and summer swimming in both means fresh water rather than sea. The real difference is distance. From Cesky Krumlov you drive about half an hour to the grassy and sandy shores of the Lipno reservoir, because the Vltava in town is for rafting, not swimming.

In Vienna you can swim without leaving the city, on the long gravel banks of the Danube Island or at the old lidos along the calmer Alte Donau, both reached by U-Bahn.

Cesky Krumlov serves filling South Bohemian cooking, such as roast duck, svíčková, river trout and game, in vaulted cellars and on riverside terraces, and its beer is excellent. The choice is narrow, though, and many menus are written for day-trippers.

Vienna has a cuisine of its own and the institutions that go with it. You get schnitzel and Tafelspitz in wood-panelled Beisl, strudel and Sachertorte in the grand coffee houses, and Heuriger taverns pouring wine grown on the city's own slopes. Its weak point is international range, not depth.

Cesky Krumlov is a single, near-perfect set piece. The painted castle tower, the Cloak Bridge and a Baroque castle theatre with its original machinery stand above a bend of the Vltava. The pleasure is the townscape itself, and a day or two covers it.

Vienna works on another scale. It has two imperial palaces, St Stephen's, the Ringstrasse and a whole Jugendstil layer of architecture, alongside museums of world rank, from the Bruegels in the Kunsthistorisches Museum to Klimt at the Belvedere. Even for Schiele, who lived for a time in Krumlov, the Leopold's collection goes much further than the small town's art centre.

In Cesky Krumlov an evening ends with a beer on a riverside terrace or in a cellar bar. There are no clubs, and outside summer the lanes empty early.

Vienna gives you a proper night out when you want one. There are late bars under the Gürtel arches, the Bermuda Triangle drinking quarter in the old town and deckchair bars on the Danube Canal in summer. Its winter ball season, with formal balls in palaces that visitors can buy tickets for, has no counterpart in the small town.

The two are close here, but the outdoors works differently in each. Cesky Krumlov is at its best on the water, floating down the Vltava's wooded meanders by canoe or raft. The spruce woods and peat bogs of the Bohemian Forest are half an hour away for long walks, cycling and cross-country skiing in winter.

In Vienna the green land is reached by public transport. Hiking trails climb through vineyards to the Kahlenberg, the beech hills of the Vienna Woods roll west, and the Donau-Auen protects wild floodplain forest. Flat Danube cycle routes and the limestone plateaus of the Rax add more for those willing to travel further.

Cesky Krumlov has a good handful of outings. You can see the arcaded square of České Budějovice, the white castle at Hluboká, the Baroque farmhouses of Holašovice and the spa town of Třeboň among its fish ponds. Most are much easier by car, and Prague is too far for a comfortable day.

Vienna's central position gives it more, and by train or boat. Bratislava is about an hour away, the Wachau valley has Melk abbey and Dürnstein among its vineyards, and Brno, Eisenstadt and the Neusiedler See all make easy days out.

Cesky Krumlov makes a lovely day for children. There are bears in the castle moat, a tower to climb and a gentle raft trip, plus Lipno's treetop walk nearby. Over several days it runs thin, and the steep cobbles are hard going with a pushchair.

Vienna can keep children busy for a week. Options include Schönbrunn Zoo and its maze, the Prater's Ferris wheel and meadows, sharks at the Haus des Meeres, and dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. There are playgrounds in every district.

In Cesky Krumlov you walk everywhere. The whole old town fits inside one bend of the river, the bus and railway stations are a short stroll away, and the steep cobbled approach to the castle is the only real effort. The limits show as soon as you look beyond the town. Public transport to the forest, the lake and the outlying castles is sparse, so a hire car or an organised tour is the practical way to see the region.

Vienna doesn't have that problem. A single integrated ticket covers the U-Bahn, trams and buses, so Schönbrunn, the bathing spots on the Danube Island and the Heuriger villages are as easy to reach as the Ring itself, and the U-Bahn runs through the night at weekends. A visitor who would need a car in South Bohemia can do without one here, and the flat districts along the Danube Canal suit a bike.

Cesky Krumlov's lanes sell souvenirs: Bohemian glass, garnet jewellery, marionettes and moldavite, the green stone found in the region, plus a few ceramic workshops. Beyond that there is little.

Vienna can carry a real shopping trip. It runs from the luxury houses on the Kohlmarkt and Graben to everyday fashion on Mariahilfer Strasse and independent designers in Neubau. For gifts there is Augarten porcelain, Loden coats and dirndls, and there are a Saturday flea market and Christmas markets as well.

Cesky Krumlov is the cheaper stay. Guesthouses in old houses, Czech meals and local beer are all moderately priced. Rooms with castle views and restaurants on the main lanes charge for the setting, though, and each castle tour has its own ticket.

Vienna costs more for hotels, meals and above all admission to the big palaces and museums. It softens the bill with good-value transport passes, free palace gardens and churches, Heuriger buffets and standing places at the State Opera.

This is where the two are furthest apart. Cesky Krumlov has a short summer season, with plays and opera in the castle garden's revolving open-air theatre and a classical festival in the castle and churches. There is little to attend the rest of the year.

Vienna has music every night of the year, at the State Opera, the Musikverein's Golden Hall with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Konzerthaus and the Volksoper. The Burgtheater and the Vienna Boys' Choir add to that. The city where Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and the Strauss family worked still builds its programme around them.

In Cesky Krumlov the rest comes from quiet rather than facilities. Once the day visitors leave, the old town falls still. Spa options are limited to a few hotel wellness rooms and beer baths, and the peat baths at Třeboň need a day out.

Slowness is part of daily life in Vienna, with long coffee-house afternoons and walks through the palace gardens. It also has proper thermal bathing at Therme Wien in Oberlaa, the Art Deco Amalienbad and the sulphur springs of Baden, about half an hour away.