Cesky Krumlov

This is an inland town in a river valley, so beach life isn't really part of a stay. In summer, swimmers go to Lipno, a large reservoir in the Bohemian Forest about half an hour's drive south. It has grassy and sandy beaches around its shores and water that reaches around 20°C in July and August. The Vltava loops through town, but it is used for floating downstream in rafts and canoes, not for swimming. For most of the year there is nowhere to swim.

Eating here means hearty South Bohemian cooking: roast pork and duck with dumplings and cabbage, svíčková in cream sauce, river trout and game from the surrounding forests. Most of it is served in vaulted cellars and riverside terraces around the old town. The local beer, brewed in the town for centuries, is the best thing on the table. There are a few more ambitious kitchens and plenty of cafés for cake and coffee. The range stays narrow, though, and many menus are written for day-trippers. It's a pleasant place to eat but not a reason to come.

The whole old town is a UNESCO-listed set piece. Renaissance and Baroque houses with painted facades crowd a tight bend of the Vltava, and the castle, one of the largest in the country, rises above them. Its painted round tower, its courtyards and the Cloak Bridge, with its three levels of arches, are the classic views. The interiors include state rooms and a Baroque castle theatre that still has its original stage machinery, one of very few left in Europe.

Below the castle, the Gothic church of St Vitus and the Egon Schiele art centre in a former brewery round out the sights, along with a few small museums. The appeal is the intact townscape more than the collections. Most visitors have seen it all within a day or two, and early mornings and evenings, when the tour buses have left, show it at its best.

Evenings are quiet. A few pubs and cellar bars in the old town, some popular with backpackers, keep going past dinner, and in summer the riverside terraces stay busy until late. There are no clubs, and outside the peak months the lanes empty early. It's a place for a beer by the river, not a night out.

The outdoors here is gentle and green. The classic outing is a day floating down the Vltava by canoe or raft, through wooded meanders and small weirs, ending in town or at a riverside village. The Bohemian Forest, a national park of spruce woods, peat bogs and rounded ridges along the Austrian border, begins about half an hour away. It has long, quiet walking and cycling routes, and in winter there is cross-country skiing.

Close to town, the forested hill of Klet has an observatory and wide views towards the Alps on clear days. The Lipno reservoir adds sailing, windsurfing and a lakeside cycle path. The countryside is soft rather than dramatic, and best from late spring to early autumn.

South Bohemia fills a few good days. České Budějovice, half an hour away, has one of the largest arcaded squares in central Europe. Its old German name, Budweis, gave Budweiser beer its name, and the town is home to the Budvar brewery. Beyond it is Hluboká, a white neo-Gothic castle set in parkland. Holašovice, a UNESCO-listed village of Baroque farmhouses, is a short drive away, and the Cistercian monastery of Zlatá Koruna is only a few minutes along the river.

Further out, Třeboň is a spa town ringed by historic fish ponds, and Rožmberk castle and the monastery at Vyšší Brod sit along the upper Vltava. Across the border, Linz in Austria is about an hour and a half away. Prague is a longer journey than a day trip comfortably allows. A car makes most of these much easier.

Children enjoy the castle as a storybook setting. Bears have been kept in the moat for centuries, and older children can climb the tower and walk the courtyards. A gentle family raft trip on the river is the highlight for most. The town is small and safe, and the centre is largely closed to cars. On the other hand, the lanes are cobbled and steep in places, which is hard work with a pushchair, and the interior tours suit adults better. Lipno's treetop walk and lake shores give families a good day out nearby.

The old town is tiny and almost entirely walkable. You can cross it in a quarter of an hour, although the cobbles and the climb up to the castle take some effort. The bus station and the hilltop railway station are within walking distance of the centre. Leaving town is harder: regional trains and buses link it with České Budějovice, but connections to the countryside, the forest and the smaller castles are thin. Most visitors who want to explore the region hire a car or join tours.

Shopping is mostly souvenirs. The old-town lanes are full of Bohemian glass and crystal, garnet jewellery, wooden toys, marionettes and moldavite, the green stone found in the region. A few workshops sell handmade ceramics and prints. Beyond that there is little: no fashion streets, no department stores and no market of note.

It's good value by Western European standards. Guesthouses and small family hotels fill the old houses, and local beer and Czech meals stay moderately priced. Rooms with castle or river views and restaurants on the main lanes charge more for being there, and the castle tours are each priced separately. Staying a little outside the centre, or coming outside summer, keeps costs noticeably lower.

Performance here is a summer affair. The castle garden has an open-air theatre with a revolving auditorium that turns between scenes, and it stages plays and opera on warm evenings. A long-running international music festival brings classical concerts to the castle and churches. The Baroque castle theatre hosts only a few performances a year, so most people only ever see it on a tour. For the rest of the year there is very little to attend.

There is no bathing tradition here, and spa options are limited to a few hotel wellness rooms and beer baths. What the town does offer is calm. Once the day visitors leave, the old town becomes still, and a slow evening by the river or a quiet winter stay can be restful. For proper spa treatments, Třeboň's peat baths are within reach for a day.