Karlovy Vary or Prague?

Neither city is a place for swimming, and both are far from any sea. What differs is the stand-in. Karlovy Vary has warm outdoor pools fed by its springs and, in summer, Lake Medard, a flooded former mine near Sokolov about half an hour away. Prague has the Džban reservoir in the Šárka valley on its edge, and the wooded shores of Slapy about an hour south feel more like a lakeside break.

Both cook the same hearty Czech staples, roast pork, dumplings, goulash and svíčková, with Pilsner-style beer alongside. Prague gives you more ways to eat well. Its neighbourhood pubs in Vinohrady, Karlín, Letná and Holešovice serve beer straight from the tank, chlebíčky and the old canteen buffets make good lunches, and there are Moravian wine bars and a modest modern restaurant scene, as long as you stay away from the menus around Old Town Square.

Karlovy Vary is narrower. The promenade restaurants serve international menus to hotel guests, the cafés along the Teplá are for cake and coffee, and ambitious cooking is rare. Its real treats are its own: warm spa wafers from the colonnade stalls, and Becherovka, still distilled in the town where it was invented.

Karlovy Vary is one very handsome set piece. Pastel Belle Époque hotels and bathhouses rise in tiers up the Teplá valley, and the colonnades frame the springs and the Vřídlo geyser, all part of the UNESCO-listed Great Spa Towns of Europe. Its museums are small, covering glass, Becherovka and local history, and a day or two is enough.

Prague works on a far larger scale. The castle with St Vitus Cathedral, the Baroque palaces of Malá Strana, the Charles Bridge, the Old Town and the Jewish Quarter make up one of Europe's most complete historic centres. On top of that come Art Nouveau and Cubist buildings and National Gallery collections spread across several palaces. Allow three or four days, and expect crowds at the main sights.

This is where the two differ most. Karlovy Vary is mostly asleep by eleven. It has hotel bars, a few wine and cocktail bars, pubs and casinos, and only gets lively during the film festival week in early summer.

Prague has a real night out at every level. There are the cheap, local pubs of Žižkov, the wine bars of Vinohrady and the summer beer gardens on Letná and Riegrovy sady. Its clubs run until dawn, from the big tourist venues near the Charles Bridge to the techno and alternative spaces in Holešovice.

Both offer gentle green countryside rather than drama, but the setting is different. In Karlovy Vary the forest starts where the promenade ends, with graded old spa paths to the Diana lookout and the Slavkov Forest beyond. The Ore Mountains are about forty minutes away for skiing at Klínovec in winter, and the Ohře is good for easy canoeing.

Prague's green spaces are inside the city: Petřín, Stromovka and the rocky gorge of Divoká Šárka. Its best hiking, among the sandstone towers of Bohemian Switzerland and the Bohemian Paradise, is up to two hours away, and there are no mountains or skiing nearby.

Karlovy Vary's outings are small and close. The castle town of Loket is twenty minutes away, the spa towns of Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně are about an hour, and Bečov has the St Maurus reliquary and Jáchymov its mining heritage. Prague is a long day there and back by coach.

Prague reaches further and offers more variety. You can see Kutná Hora's St Barbara's Cathedral and bone-decorated ossuary, Karlštejn castle above its wooded valley, the sobering memorial at Terezín and the vineyards of Mělník. Dresden is about two hours away by train along the Elbe.

Karlovy Vary is calm and easy to stroll. Children like the geyser, sipping warm spring water from spouted cups, and the funicular to the Diana lookout with its small animal enclosure. Once you have spent an afternoon at the thermal pool and visited Loket, though, there is little left for children, and the steep valley sides are hard work with a pushchair.

Prague keeps children busy for longer. Its zoo in Troja is one of Europe's best, with a chairlift on a wooded hillside, and the castle, the astronomical clock, the mirror maze on Petřín and the technical museum fill several days. Cobbles, the castle stairs and summer crowds are what wear families out.

Karlovy Vary is one long, narrow strip along the Teplá that is pleasant on foot, with local buses and a funicular for the steep climbs to hotels and viewpoints. Regional trains are slow, so a car makes the forests and villages much easier to reach.

Prague's transport takes you much further. You can walk across the compact centre in about fifteen minutes. Three metro lines, a dense tram network that runs through the night, buses and the Petřín funicular all share one ticket, so no visitor needs a car. Watch for pickpockets on the crowded trams through Malá Strana.

Karlovy Vary has a maker of its own: Moser crystal, made in the town since the nineteenth century, along with porcelain from the local factories. Both are sold along Stará louka next to jewellers and boutiques for spa guests. Beyond those and Bohemian garnets, the choice is small.

Prague offers a little more range. Luxury labels line Pařížská and the chains are on Na Příkopě and Wenceslas Square. Wooden toys, marionettes, and the design and vintage shops of Vinohrady and Holešovice make up for the identical souvenir shops of the old centre.

Costs are much the same in both: moderate by European standards, with the showpiece streets charging for the setting. In Karlovy Vary the savings come from eating in a pub one street back from the colonnades and avoiding the summer season and festival week. In Prague they come from staying a few tram stops out and eating in Žižkov or Vinohrady, and from using a bank rather than the exchange booths in the centre.

Karlovy Vary offers a pleasant evening rather than a season. The symphony orchestra, which grew out of the old spa bands, plays light classical concerts, sometimes outdoors on the colonnades in summer. The Fellner and Helmer theatre hosts touring drama and operetta, and there is a Dvořák festival in autumn.

Prague is one of Europe's great music cities. It has three opera stages, including the Estates Theatre where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni, the Czech Philharmonic plays at the Rudolfinum, and the Prague Spring festival opens with Smetana's Má vlast. Black-light and marionette theatre need no Czech.

On rest and restoration Karlovy Vary is in a different class. Thirteen main springs supply the colonnades for the drinking cure. Dozens of spa hotels and sanatoria offer carbonated baths, peat wraps and medical stays, some with pools of warm spring water. There are fewer public bathhouses than its fame suggests, so book a spa stay.

Prague has no bathing tradition of its own, just hotel spas, massage studios and novelty beer spas. Rest there means an hour in a grand old coffee house, the terraced gardens below the castle or a bench on Kampa.