Leipzig or Prague?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Leipzig has the better swimming. The Cospudener See and Markkleeberger See are flooded mines with sandy shores, clear water and beach bars, and you can reach them by tram or bike, which makes a hot afternoon there easy.

Prague has nothing like that. You swim at the Dzban reservoir in the Sarka valley, at outdoor pools, or at Slapy about an hour south, and the Vltava in the centre is for boats, not swimming.

The two eat at much the same level, and both serve heavy Central European cooking with dumplings. Leipzig's draws are coffee-house history, Gose beer and the marzipan Lerche, with its more inventive kitchens along the Karli and in Plagwitz.

Prague's food is built around carefully poured lager, svickova and pub snacks. The big trap is the area round Old Town Square, so head to Vinohrady or Karlin to eat well.

Here the gap is wide. Prague's whole centre is a UNESCO site, running from the Castle and St Vitus Cathedral through Mala Strana's Baroque palaces to the Old Town and Josefov, and Cubist buildings add a style you rarely see anywhere else. It needs three or four days, and early starts to beat the crowds.

Leipzig's sights are fewer but focused: Bach's Thomaskirche, the Nikolaikirche where 1989 began, the trade-fair arcades and the Runde Ecke. Two or three days covers them, at a calmer pace.

Both are good nights out, but in different ways. Leipzig's strength is electronic music in old factories and warehouses, with gentle door policies and weekends that run past dawn, plus bars along the Karli and in Connewitz.

Prague is a pub city first. You'll find long tables of cheap lager in Zizkov, wine bars in Vinohrady and beer gardens on Letna, with a techno circuit out in Holesovice and loud stag-party clubs in the centre.

Prague has more varied ground on its doorstep. Petrin Hill's orchards, the Stromovka park and the wooded gorge of Divoka Sarka are all inside the city, and the limestone gorges of the Bohemian Karst lie a short trip out.

Leipzig is flat and green rather than scenic. The Auwald floodplain forest, canoe routes from Plagwitz and the cycling and paddling round the mine lakes are its outdoor pleasures, and the hills only start two hours away.

Both make excellent bases, and they point in different directions. From Leipzig, fast trains reach German heritage towns in about an hour: Weimar, Erfurt, Halle, Wittenberg and Dresden, with Berlin not much further.

Prague's outings are about Bohemian castles and towns. Kutna Hora, Karlstejn, Terezin and Melnik are all close, while Cesky Krumlov is a long day out. Dresden is reachable from both, but it is quicker from Leipzig.

Leipzig is the easier city with children. Its compact, flat centre and its trams suit pushchairs, Gondwanaland keeps the zoo good in bad weather, and in summer the lakes and Belantis give a second and third day out.

Prague charms children with its castle, armour and the astronomical clock, and Troja Zoo with its chairlift is superb. Cobbles, steep lanes and summer crowds make it harder work, though.

Both centres take about fifteen minutes to cross on foot, and neither needs a car. Prague is the more complete system, with three metro lines, trams that run all night and the Petrin funicular on one ticket, although cobbles tire the feet and pickpockets work the busy trams.

Leipzig makes up for its lack of a metro by being flat. Bikes are often quicker than trams, and every day-trip train leaves from the one main station.

Neither city is worth the trip for shopping, but the finds differ. Prague has luxury labels on Parizska and genuinely local buys such as Bohemian crystal, garnets and marionettes, though they sit among souvenir shops.

Leipzig's old-town arcades are mostly chains. Its character is in the west, with vintage and record shops on Karl-Heine-Strasse and the galleries of the Spinnerei.

Prague is the cheaper stay overall, because beer, pub lunches and transport cost little once you leave the tourist core. Its central hotels and view restaurants are expensive, though, and the exchange booths are best avoided.

Leipzig's saving is almost all in the room: hotels near the old town are reasonable outside the trade-fair weeks. Meals, drinks and taxis are priced at the German norm.

This is a close match between two great classical cities. Leipzig has Bach in his own church with the Thomanerchor, the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Bachfest, and the Wave-Gotik-Treffen at Whitsun adds something unexpected.

Prague counters with three opera stages, including the Estates Theatre where Don Giovanni premiered, the Czech Philharmonic at the Rudolfinum, and black-light and marionette theatre that needs no Czech.

For a proper spa, Leipzig sends you out of town to Bad Düben or Bad Lausick. In the city itself you get German sauna culture, a few lakeside saunas and slow walks under the oaks of the Auwald, all calmer than anything in Prague's tourist core.

Prague has a little more within the city: hotel spas, plenty of massage studios and the beer baths, which are more of a novelty than a cure. Its quieter hours are spent in the grand old coffee houses, on Kampa island and in the terraced gardens below the castle.