Karlovy Vary or Wroclaw?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation, and they come out level here, but the water you will find differs. Karlovy Vary's best swimming is in its warm, spring-fed outdoor pools, with Lake Medard, a flooded mine, about half an hour away.

Wroclaw has sandy beaches along the Oder with deckchairs and drinks stands. They are for lounging on a summer afternoon rather than swimming, and for a real swim you need a pool or a lake out in the countryside.

Wroclaw is the better place to eat. Its Polish comfort food is broader and better handled: pierogi, żurek in a bread bowl, roast duck, cheap milk-bar lunches and a fair number of bistros just off the Market Square that give old dishes a lighter touch. Cellar brewpubs and craft beer add to the evenings.

Karlovy Vary's cooking is narrower: roast pork, dumplings and svíčková, with a few more ambitious kitchens. What it does well is the spa café, with cake and coffee by the Teplá, warm wafers from the colonnade stalls and a glass of Becherovka in the town where the liqueur was invented.

Wroclaw has more to see and more to fill the days. The vast Market Square with its Gothic Town Hall, the brick churches of Ostrów Tumski lit by the lamplighter at dusk, the gilded Aula Leopoldina, the Centennial Hall and the Racławice Panorama add up to several days of sightseeing. The city's rebuilding after 1945 adds an unusual layer of history.

Karlovy Vary's appeal is the whole town seen as one scene: pastel spa architecture climbing the valley, the colonnades, and the Vřídlo geyser rising inside its hall. It is lovely to walk, but the museums are small and specialised, and a day or two covers it.

The gap here is wide, and it comes down to who is in town after dark. Karlovy Vary's evenings follow the routine of spa guests, so the choice is a Czech pub, one of a few cocktail or wine bars, or a casino, and the streets have mostly emptied by about eleven. The film festival in early summer is the one week a year when the valley fills with crowds, parties and outdoor bars.

In Wroclaw the students set the pace, so timing matters there too: term time is lively, and the city goes noticeably calmer when they leave. Shot bars, craft beer pubs and cocktail bars sit close together in the cellars and courtyards around the Market Square, so a night out is easy to put together on foot. There are only a few dance venues and some industrial spaces for clubbing, and in summer the drinking moves out to the riverbanks.

The two are broadly level, but the landscapes are very different. In Karlovy Vary, beech and spruce forest starts at the edge of the colonnades, so graded spa paths, the funicular to the Diana tower and the Slavkov Forest uplands are right on hand, with skiing at Klínovec about forty minutes away.

Wroclaw is flat and watery, with green spaces such as Szczytnicki Park, the Japanese Garden and kayaking among the Oder islands. Its hills take a drive, but they are more dramatic: the lone peak of Ślęża, the Karkonosze ridge and the sandstone mazes of the Table Mountains.

Both make good bases, and the difference is distance. Karlovy Vary's best outings are close: Loket's river-loop castle is twenty minutes away, and the sister spa towns of Mariánské Lázně and Františkovy Lázně, the St Maurus reliquary at Bečov and Plzeň's breweries are all within reach by regional train. Prague is possible as a long day.

Wroclaw's trips are castles and churches spread across Lower Silesia: Książ above its gorge, the timber Churches of Peace, Krzeszów abbey and the Jelenia Góra palaces. A car helps if you want to combine several in a day.

Wroclaw is much the better choice with children. The zoo and its Afrykarium are a full day out, the bronze dwarfs turn every street into a treasure hunt, and the water science centre and the summer fountain shows at the Centennial Hall add more. The flat, traffic-free centre makes pushchairs easy.

In Karlovy Vary, children enjoy the geyser, the spouted spring cups, the funicular and the wafers, and Loket's castle makes an easy outing. Otherwise the town is designed for adults on a cure, and its steep slopes wear out small legs.

Both are easy without a car, and they work in different ways. Karlovy Vary is a long, narrow strip that you walk along the promenades, with buses and the funicular taking the strain out of the steep sides of the valley.

Wroclaw's old centre is flat and partly pedestrianised. A large tram network and bike lanes along the river reach the zoo and the outer districts, though trams slow down in rush hour.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but they offer different things. Karlovy Vary sells crafted goods to spa guests: Moser crystal from its own showroom, local porcelain, Bohemian garnets, and jewellers and boutiques along Stará louka.

Wroclaw is more everyday, with malls for the chains, the 1930s Renoma department store and a riverside market hall full of cured meats and pickles. Look for Bolesławiec stoneware, amber and a few vintage shops in Nadodrze.

Wroclaw is the cheaper stay. Central hotels cost far less than in Western capitals, milk-bar lunches and beer are very cheap, and trams, museums and the zoo are modestly priced. Only the square's terraces and summer weekends push prices up.

Karlovy Vary is a resort and charges for its setting in the grand spa hotels and colonnade restaurants, especially in festival week. Pubs a street back and the free springs help keep a visit within reason.

Wroclaw has a real concert life. The National Forum of Music runs a full orchestral and chamber season, the opera house stands by the old moat, and the Wratislavia Cantans and Jazz on the Oder festivals add highlights. The theatre is strong but mostly in Polish.

Karlovy Vary offers an evening out rather than a reason to come. Its symphony orchestra, which grew out of the old spa bands, plays light classics, sometimes on the colonnades in summer. Touring shows play in the ornate Fellner and Helmer theatre.

Karlovy Vary is in a different league for wellness. Thirteen springs feed the colonnades, guests sip from spouted porcelain cups on a centuries-old drinking cure, and sanatoria offer carbonated baths, peat wraps and medical consultations. Public bathhouses are few, though, so it pays to book a spa stay.

Wroclaw has no bathing culture of its own, only hotel spas, an aquapark with saunas and quiet hours on the islands. For taking the waters, you head to Szczawno-Zdrój, about an hour away.