Krakow or Zakopane?

Neither place has a beach, and both are far from the Baltic, so the difference lies in the kind of swimming on offer. Krakow has the Zakrzowek quarry, a turquoise lake below limestone cliffs a short tram ride from the centre, with fenced bathing areas open only in summer.

In Zakopane, the glacial lakes are off limits for swimming, and the Czorsztyn reservoir is an hour's drive away. The outdoor thermal pools are warm all year, though, so you can still swim in January there in a way you cannot in Krakow.

Krakow offers more variety. You can eat pierogi and zurek in bread, have lunch in a milk bar, buy zapiekanki at Plac Nowy late at night and drink craft beer or flavoured vodka in Old Town cellar cafés. The top end is thin in both places.

Zakopane's highland cooking is different from Krakow's lowland food: grilled oscypek with cranberry jam, kwaśnica with smoked rib and lamb, often served in timber inns with live fiddlers. The choice is narrow, though. Menus along Krupówki repeat each other, so the best meals are in small family inns on the side streets.

Here the gap is large. Krakow has one of Central Europe's best-preserved medieval centres, with the Cloth Hall, St Mary's Basilica and its hourly bugle call, Wawel's castle and coronation cathedral, and Jewish Kazimierz. Add the Schindler Factory museum and you have two or three full days of major sights.

Zakopane's heritage is a small local story by comparison: the Zakopane style of wooden architecture, the Tatra Museum, Szymanowski's Villa Atma and the carved grave markers of the Pęksowy Brzyzek cemetery. It is charming, and one day covers it.

Krakow is the place for nights out. Its large student population keeps the brick-vaulted Old Town cellars busy past midnight. Kazimierz's courtyards and shabby-chic bars give the most atmospheric bar crawl, and cheap drinks make bar-hopping the usual evening. Stag groups crowd parts of the Old Town at weekends.

Zakopane's evenings centre on Krupówki, with pubs, a few clubs and inns that get loud during après-ski on winter weekends and at New Year. Outside those peaks, and midweek, the town quietens down, and hikers planning an early start rarely stay out late.

Zakopane is far ahead here. Granite peaks, cirques and glacial lakes begin at the edge of town. Choices range from crocus meadows in Kościeliska to the walk to Morskie Oko, Giewont's cross and Rysy, and the Kasprowy Wierch cable car opens up the high ridges without the climb. The popular trails get very crowded in high season.

Krakow's green spaces are gentle ones: the Planty, the Blonia meadow, the Wolski Forest and the Kosciuszko Mound, plus river cycle paths. Ojcow's limestone valley is close, but for real mountains Krakow visitors make the two-hour trip to the Tatras that Zakopane has on its doorstep.

Krakow has the stronger list, because two of Poland's most visited sites are close by. The Wieliczka salt mine, with its underground church, is half an hour away, and Auschwitz-Birkenau, which needs a full day, is about an hour and a half. Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Wadowice and Czestochowa add pilgrimage and history.

Zakopane's outings are more rural: the painted larch-wood church at Dębno, the log houses of Chochołów, and the Niedzica and Czorsztyn castles facing each other across the reservoir. Across the border, Spiš Castle and Levoča are a strong Slovak day, but weekend traffic can make any of these drives long.

Both work well for children, in different ways. Krakow keeps them busy with the car-free square, the fire-breathing Wawel dragon and its cave, the zoo and an indoor water park, and Energylandia is about an hour away. The drawbacks are cobbles that are hard on pushchairs and sights too heavy for younger children.

Zakopane suits families who like being outdoors. They can take the funicular up Gubałówka for slides and the summer toboggan run, walk the flat Kościeliska valley with a pushchair, go sledging and try the nursery slopes in winter, and spend wet days in the thermal water parks.

Krakow is easier to get around. The Old Town, Wawel, Kazimierz and Podgorze are all within walking distance, trams cover the rest, and a train runs from the airport. Day trips go by train or bus without a car.

Zakopane's centre is small and Krupówki is pedestrianised, and minibuses run to Kuźnice and the valley trailheads. Getting there and away is the problem: the road jams badly in peak seasons, the train from Krakow winds slowly through the hills, and parking in town is difficult.

Krakow has more to offer shoppers. Amber, lace and carved boxes fill the medieval Cloth Hall, blue-patterned Boleslawiec pottery is the classic thing to take home, and Kazimierz adds vintage shops and a weekend flea market. Neither town has much in the way of luxury fashion.

Zakopane's shopping is narrower but more particular to the place. The market below Gubałówka sells sheep's-wool sweaters, sheepskins, felt slippers and wheels of oscypek, and Krupówki is the place for outdoor gear. Look for the handmade pieces among the trinkets.

Both are cheap by Western European standards, and Krakow is a little cheaper day to day. Milk-bar lunches, trams and city museums cost little. Prices go up mainly around the Main Square and on summer weekends, and dropping into Kazimierz brings them down again.

Zakopane is good value for a mountain resort, with family guesthouses, filling inn meals and cheap minibuses. It does, however, follow the resort calendar: Christmas, New Year and the winter school breaks push room prices up sharply, while spring and autumn are clearly the cheapest times to go.

Krakow gives visitors far more to hear. The Philharmonic and the opera run regular seasons, there are Chopin recitals in churches most evenings, jazz plays in brick cellars through the week, and klezmer fills Kazimierz, ending each summer with the Jewish Culture Festival on Szeroka Street. Its well-known theatre is mostly in Polish.

Zakopane's live culture is small and rooted in folk tradition: the Witkacy Theatre, highland string bands fiddling in the inns, and the August folklore festival with its dance troupes and parades.

Zakopane is the clear choice for unwinding. It grew up as a health resort, and geothermal water feeds the outdoor pools at Chochołów, Białka Tatrzańska, Bukowina and Szaflary, all within half an hour. A soak there after a day on the trails is part of the routine for many visitors. For quiet, stay on the upper slopes rather than near Krupówki.

Krakow has no bathing culture of its own, and the hot springs it points visitors to are the ones next to Zakopane. Inside the city, relaxing means hotel spas, the water park saunas or a salt-air session deep in Wieliczka.