Karlovy Vary or Leipzig?

Neither is a place to swim, but Leipzig has the better of it. South of the centre, flooded mines such as the Cospudener See and Markkleeberger See have sandy shores and beach bars. You can get there by tram or bike, so a hot afternoon at the lake is easy.

Karlovy Vary's nearest equivalent, Lake Medard near Sokolov, is half an hour away, and otherwise swimming means a pool. Some of those pools are warm and fed by the springs, though, which is a different pleasure from a lake.

Both cuisines are built on hearty roasts and dumplings, but Leipzig has more variety. Besides Saxon cooking and Gose, its sour local beer, the Südvorstadt and Plagwitz have casual international restaurants, brunch cafés and beer gardens, so meals stay interesting for several days.

Karlovy Vary's choice is narrower: Czech classics such as svíčková, warm spa wafers and Becherovka, and the promenade restaurants cater to hotel guests. It is lovely for afternoon coffee and cake, less so for a week of dinners.

The two are close here, but they offer different things. In Karlovy Vary the town itself is the sight: the UNESCO-listed spa quarter of pastel hotels, the colonnades and the Vřídlo geyser, with only small, specialised museums alongside.

Leipzig's interest lies in history and collections. Highlights include Bach's Thomaskirche, the Nikolaikirche where the protests of 1989 began, the Grassi museums, the Stasi story at the Runde Ecke and the Battle of the Nations monument. A day or two covers the spa town, while Leipzig is worth a little longer.

Here the two are far apart. Leipzig is a student city whose clubs grew up in old factories and warehouses. Electronic nights run past dawn, and there are bars along the Karli, in Connewitz and beside the Plagwitz canals.

Karlovy Vary is mostly asleep by eleven, with hotel bars, a few pubs and some casinos. The film festival week in early summer is the one time the valley parties.

Karlovy Vary is better for walking. Forest rises straight out of the spa valley, with well-graded paths to the Diana tower and the stag-leap rock. The Slavkov Forest is close by, and the Ore Mountains, with winter skiing at Klínovec, are about forty minutes away.

Leipzig is flat, and its outdoors is woodland and water: the Auwald floodplain forest, canoeing on the canals, and sailing or paddling on the lakes. For hills you need a two-hour train ride.

Karlovy Vary's outings are short and local. Loket, a castle town in a tight loop of the Ohře, is twenty minutes away. The sister spa towns of Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně, the St Maurus reliquary at Bečov and the old mining town of Jáchymov fill a few more days. Prague is possible, but at about two hours each way by coach it makes a long day.

Leipzig is the far stronger base, because it sits at the hub of central Germany's railways. Dresden and Weimar are a little over an hour by train, and Erfurt and Halle are closer still. Wittenberg, Naumburg's cathedral, Dessau's Bauhaus buildings and Berlin are all within easy reach by train as well.

Leipzig is much easier with children. Its zoo, with the covered Gondwanaland hall, works in any weather. The Belantis theme park and the lake shores fill summer days, and the flat streets and trams are easy with a pushchair.

Karlovy Vary has a few things children love: the geyser, the funicular to the Diana lookout and the thermal pool. But the town is built for adults taking cures, and its steep valley sides tire out small legs.

In Karlovy Vary, walking is easy on the valley floor and hard almost everywhere else. Anything above the promenades, whether your hotel or a lookout, means a stiff climb, a bus or the funicular. Beyond the town the trains are slow, so a car makes sense if you want the forests and villages.

Leipzig is the easier place to get about. It is flat, so walking and cycling take little effort, and a full tram network with an S-Bahn line under the centre reaches the outer districts and the lakes. You can leave the car at home for the whole stay.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference is in what you take home. Karlovy Vary caters to well-off spa guests and souvenir hunters, and its real specialities are Moser crystal, local porcelain and Bohemian garnets.

Leipzig's centre is mostly chain stores, though its old trade-fair arcades are pleasant in the rain. The individual shopping is in Plagwitz, with vintage, design and record shops, and at the Spinnerei, a former cotton mill whose galleries and studios open together on weekend tours.

Karlovy Vary works out slightly cheaper overall, as long as you eat one street back from the colonnades, where pubs serve Czech food and beer at local prices. Avoid the festival week, and remember that the grand spa hotels charge for the setting.

Leipzig's saving is in its rooms, which are cheap for a large German city outside the trade-fair weeks. Meals, drinks and taxis cost what they do anywhere in Germany.

Leipzig is in another league. The Gewandhaus Orchestra and the opera house face each other across Augustusplatz, and the Thomanerchor sings Bach in the Thomaskirche most weekends during term. The Bachfest and the Wave-Gotik-Treffen add big festivals, and smaller clubs host jazz and indie.

Karlovy Vary offers a pleasant evening rather than a reason to visit. Its symphony orchestra plays light classical concerts, sometimes outdoors on the colonnades, and the Fellner and Helmer theatre hosts touring productions.

This is what Karlovy Vary exists for. Thirteen springs feed the colonnades, and spa hotels offer medical stays with baths, wraps and doctors' consultations. Days settle into slow walks from spring to spring. Public bathhouses are few, so book a spa stay to get the full experience.

Leipzig has sauna complexes, hotel spas and the quiet of the Auwald, but no bathing tradition of its own. For a real spa you have to go out to Bad Düben or Bad Lausick.