Hallstatt or Munich?

Neither is a swimming destination, and both offer cold, clear Alpine water in high summer. In Hallstatt the lake is right beside you, but the steep shore leaves only a small lawn and jetty in the village and the lido at Obertraun. From Munich you take a train to the Starnberger See or the Ammersee, where the lawns are wider and the water slightly gentler, or you join the locals on the Isar's gravel banks.

Eating in Hallstatt is limited to a few guesthouse dining rooms and terraces serving schnitzel, goulash and char or whitefish from the lake. The view is often better than the plate, and kitchens can close early.

Munich gives you far more to choose from. Its brewery beer halls and beer gardens serve roast pork and white sausage, the Viktualienmarkt is good for grazing, coffee and cake are taken seriously, and there is a tier of starred restaurants for a special dinner.

Hallstatt's history goes very deep. Salt has been mined in the mountain for seven thousand years, the village gave its name to an Iron Age culture, and the painted skulls of the Beinhaus are unforgettable. Still, the salt mine, the small museum and the village itself take about a day.

Munich can fill a week. The Alte Pinakothek and its neighbours in the Kunstareal, the Wittelsbach rooms of the Residenz, Nymphenburg and the vast Deutsches Museum put it in a different league for anyone who travels for art and museums.

Evenings in Hallstatt mean a late dinner, a glass of wine by the water and a walk in the dark. Nothing stays open late, which is exactly what overnight guests come for. Munich has an actual night out: long beer hall evenings, cocktail and gay bars around Gärtnerplatz and Glockenbach, student pubs in Schwabing, and a few techno clubs that run until morning at weekends.

Hallstatt has the stronger outdoors, because it sits inside the mountains rather than looking at them. The Krippenstein cable car rises from Obertraun to the Five Fingers platform and the Dachstein ice caves, the Echerntal path climbs past waterfalls, and hut-to-hut routes, via ferratas and winter ski touring start nearby.

Munich comes close in its own way. Its foothills and lakes, Garmisch and the Zugspitze are about an hour or more away by train, and within the city it has the English Garden, the Eisbach surfers and long cycle paths along the Isar.

Munich is the better base for excursions, mostly because of the railway. Augsburg, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Salzburg, Innsbruck and the royal castles of Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee are all reachable without a car.

Hallstatt's outings are lovely but closer to home: Bad Ischl and the Kaiservilla, St Wolfgang's altarpiece, Gmunden's lake castle and Altaussee, with Salzburg as a long day. Without a car, buses and the lakeside line make each trip a matter of planning.

Hallstatt has a couple of real highlights for children, with the miners' slides and underground lake in the salt mine and, for older children, the icy caves of the Dachstein. Beyond those, the single steep, crowded lane is hard going with a pushchair.

Munich is much easier for a family stay. The Hellabrunn zoo along the Isar, the hands-on rooms of the Deutsches Museum, beer gardens with playgrounds and smooth, pushchair-friendly transport mean the days take little effort, and Legoland is within reach for a day out.

Inside Hallstatt you walk everywhere in minutes, though often up steps and steep paths. The difficulty is getting in and out: the station is across the lake, so you arrive by boat, and buses towards Obertraun, Gosau and Bad Ischl are thin outside summer, so many visitors bring a car.

Munich is simpler in every way. It has a walkable old town, one integrated U-Bahn, S-Bahn and tram network that reaches the museums, lakes and airport, and flat streets for cycling, so a car is more trouble than help.

Shopping in Hallstatt fills half an hour on the main lane, with salt from the mine as the one souvenir worth carrying home. Munich is a real shopping city, with luxury houses on Maximilianstrasse, department stores along the pedestrian axis, Dallmayr's old delicatessen, specialist Tracht tailors and design boutiques in Glockenbach and Schwabing.

Neither is cheap, but Hallstatt is harder on the budget. It has very few rooms for the visitors it draws, meals are priced at resort level, and the salt mine, funicular and cable car soon add up. The usual way to save is to sleep in Obertraun, Bad Goisern or Bad Ischl.

Munich's hotels are dear too, especially during the Oktoberfest and the big trade fairs, but it gives you more ways to spend less. You can bring a picnic to a beer garden, the parks and the Isar cost nothing, and Sunday museum entry is almost free.

In Hallstatt, live music means the village brass band on feast days and the odd summer concert in church. For anything more you go to Bad Ischl for operetta or to Salzburg.

Munich is one of Europe's great music cities. The Bavarian State Opera plays at the National Theatre, three major orchestras perform in halls such as the Herkulessaal, and the Cuvilliés Theatre, the Gärtnerplatztheater and a strong jazz club scene give you something on most nights.

Hallstatt's calm comes from its setting: mist on the lake at dawn and empty evenings, with the brine baths of Bad Ischl and Bad Aussee a short drive away. Around midday, though, the crowds in the lane break the peace.

Munich has more to offer. You can bathe under the vaults of the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad, try the German sauna rituals, or spend a day at the huge thermal complex at Erding. Slow afternoons in a beer garden or on the English Garden lawns make it easier to unwind than you might expect in a big city.