Dresden or Vienna?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Vienna offers proper summer swimming. The Danube Island has about 20km of grassy and gravel banks, and the calmer Alte Donau is lined with old lidos you can reach by U-Bahn after a day of sightseeing.

In Dresden the Elbe has sandy banks but is not safe to swim, so a cool-off means an outdoor pool, a flooded gravel pit or one of the ponds around Moritzburg.

Both cities take coffee and cake seriously and grow wine nearby, but Vienna has a full cuisine of its own. There is schnitzel and Tafelspitz in wood-panelled Beisl taverns, Sachertorte in grand coffee houses, and Heuriger taverns pouring Grüner Veltliner inside the city limits.

Dresden's cooking is plainer Saxon fare: sauerbraten, dumplings, game and the layered Eierschecke at the afternoon coffee table, with dry Elbe valley wines from Radebeul and Meissen. Its most varied eating is in the Neustadt, while the streets around the Frauenkirche lean towards tourist menus.

Both are former royal seats with world-class collections, but Vienna has more of them and on a larger scale. The Hofburg and Schönbrunn, the Bruegel rooms of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Klimt at the Belvedere and the Jugendstil of Otto Wagner and the Secession add up to a week of looking.

Dresden packs its treasures into a tighter riverside core: Raphael's Sistine Madonna in the Zwinger, the Green Vault in the Residenzschloss and the rebuilt Frauenkirche. Three or four days cover it, and the mix of careful reconstruction and post-war blocks gives the old town a more uneven, layered character.

Neither city is a reason to travel for nightlife, and the two are about level. The difference is in shape. Dresden's going out is concentrated in one district, the Äußere Neustadt, where students crowd small bars and courtyard pubs and drink on the pavements on summer nights, while the old town goes quiet after dinner.

Vienna's evenings are more spread out and often slower: late bars under the Gürtel railway arches, deckchair bars on the Danube Canal and wine at a Heuriger on the city's edge. In winter it has the ball season, when visitors can buy tickets to formal balls in palaces and halls.

Dresden has the more dramatic scenery. Saxon Switzerland's sandstone towers, gorges and table mountains begin under an hour upriver by train, with the Bastei view, several days of walking on the Malerweg and a long tradition of free climbing. The Elbe cycle route and the Dresden Heath cover gentler days.

Vienna's green land is softer and starts at the tram stop: beech woods and vineyards climbing to the Kahlenberg, the Prater meadows and the floodplain forest of the Donau-Auen. For high ground you need to travel about 90 minutes to the Rax and Schneeberg.

Both have an excellent choice of trips by river and rail. From Dresden they lead into Saxon history: porcelain and the cathedral at Meissen, the Königstein fortress, Leipzig and the intact old towns of Bautzen and Görlitz, with Prague just possible in a long day.

From Vienna you can cross borders easily, with Bratislava about an hour away by train or Danube boat and Brno not much further. Closer to home there are the orchards and abbeys of the Wachau, Haydn's Eisenstadt and the spa town of Baden.

Vienna is the easier city with children. It has the world's oldest working zoo at Schönbrunn, the Prater's rides and Ferris wheel, sharks at the Haus des Meeres aquarium and the ZOOM children's museum for rainy days.

Dresden is pleasant and relaxed with children but has less of this. Highlights are the miniature railway in the Großer Garten, the Transport Museum and paddle steamer trips. There is no aquarium or theme park, and the art museums will not hold young children for long.

In neither city do you need a car, but Vienna's system is in another league. Five U-Bahn lines, trams and buses run on one ticket, the U-Bahn runs all night at weekends, and the pedestrian old town inside the Ring links most sights.

Dresden works on a smaller scale. The old town and the Neustadt are a walk apart across the Augustus Bridge, and trams fill in the rest. Suburban trains and paddle steamers take you along the Elbe to Meissen, Pillnitz and Saxon Switzerland.

Vienna has much more to shop for. The Kohlmarkt and Graben carry luxury houses, Mariahilfer Strasse handles everyday fashion, and the side streets of Neubau hold independent designers. Augarten porcelain, crystal and Loden coats make for good gifts.

Dresden's high street on Prager Straße is mostly chains. The more interesting shopping is in the Neustadt's second-hand and design shops around the Kunsthofpassage, alongside Meissen porcelain and wooden Ore Mountain toys. Both cities have well-loved Christmas markets, and the Striezelmarkt is one of Germany's oldest.

Dresden is the cheaper trip. Its hotels and casual Neustadt meals cost less than in Vienna, and a single day ticket covers trams and suburban trains. Its museums do charge separately, though, and old-town rooms get dearer in the Christmas season.

Vienna costs more, mainly for its palaces, museums and opera seats, but standing places at the State Opera, free palace gardens and Heuriger buffets help keep a stay under control.

Both are serious music cities, and Dresden's Semperoper and Staatskapelle, the Kreuzchor and Bach at the Frauenkirche would be the highlight of most cities. Vienna simply has more and plays it more often. The State Opera stages a different work on most nights, the Vienna Philharmonic plays in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, and the Konzerthaus, Volksoper and Burgtheater fill out the week.

In practice, a visitor to Vienna can expect to find something first-rate on any evening, often within reach through standing places. In Dresden it pays to plan around the Semperoper programme and the festival calendar.

Vienna has easier access to warm water. Therme Wien's spring-fed pools are inside the city, the Art Deco Amalienbad has a tiled sauna hall, and Baden's sulphur springs are about half an hour away. Add long coffee-house afternoons, and resting comes easily.

Dresden offers German municipal saunas and a thermal pool at Bad Schandau, under an hour upriver. Its calm comes more from the wide Elbe meadows and an old town that empties in the evening.