Ljubljana or Prague?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Ljubljana has better water within reach. Bled warms to about 24°C in high summer, Bohinj is clearer and colder, and the Adriatic at Piran is about an hour and a half away, though the shore there is concrete platforms and pebbles rather than sand.

Prague is much further from any sea. Swimming there means the Dzban reservoir in the Sarka valley, an outdoor pool, or the wooded banks of the Slapy reservoir an hour to the south. The Vltava in the centre is for boats, not for swimming.

The two eat in much the same way, filling and regional, and the real difference is in the glass. Ljubljana is a wine city, pouring bottles from Vipava, Brda and Styria, including the orange wines of the west, in riverside bars. The Central Market, with its Alpine cheeses and pumpkin-seed oil, is the place to graze, though the range of food runs out within a week.

Prague is built around beer: tank-fresh pilsner in classic pubs, with svickova, goulash and pickled sausages to go with it. Its trap is the tourist centre. The good meals are in Vinohrady, Karlin and Letna, while Ljubljana's gostilna inns are spread more evenly across the city.

Ljubljana's appeal is a small, unified cityscape. Plečnik's Triple Bridge, colonnades and library sit among baroque churches and Secession façades, with the castle above. It is lovely to wander, but it has few individual landmarks and is covered in two or three days.

Prague offers far more to see. The whole historic centre is a UNESCO site. St Vitus Cathedral, the Baroque palaces of Mala Strana, the statue-lined Charles Bridge, the astronomical clock and the synagogues of Josefov easily fill three or four days, and the Art Nouveau and rare Cubist buildings come on top of that.

In Ljubljana, an evening out mostly means a drink on the terraces along the Ljubljanica. Metelkova's scruffy clubs are the one late option at weekends, and the riverside goes quiet after midnight on weekdays.

Prague goes out much harder. Cheap pilsner keeps Zizkov's plain neighbourhood pubs full until late, Vinohrady adds wine and cocktail bars, and the Letna beer gardens fill in summer. Clubbers can choose between the big clubs near Wenceslas Square that run until dawn and the techno venues in Holesovice's converted industrial spaces.

Ljubljana has the mountains and Prague does not. Starting from Šmarna Gora on the city's edge, the Kamnik-Savinja Alps are forty minutes away and the Julian Alps about an hour. That puts serious hiking, rafting on the Soča, the karst caves and winter skiing all within a day.

Prague is green within its own limits, with Petrin Hill, Stromovka park and the rocky Divoka Sarka gorge, and the sandstone towers of Bohemian Switzerland make fine hiking about two hours away. The country around the city is gentle, though, and there are no real peaks nearby.

Both cities make excellent bases, and the difference is what you go out to see. From Ljubljana the outings are mostly scenic: Bled's island church, the painted façades of Radovljica, Predjama Castle in its cliff, the Lipizzaners at Lipica and the Venetian lanes of Piran, with Trieste and Zagreb across the borders. A car helps for the smaller places.

From Prague the outings are mainly historic: the cathedral and ossuary at Kutna Hora, the castles of Karlstejn and Konopiste, the sobering former ghetto at Terezin, and Dresden's galleries by train. Cesky Krumlov is far enough away that many visitors stay the night.

Neither city is built around children, and each has a different strength. Ljubljana is the easier one to get around: its small, flat, mostly car-free centre suits pushchairs, and the castle funicular, the Dragon Bridge and the puppet theatre fill a couple of days, though the zoo is modest.

Prague has the bigger single attraction in the Troja zoo, one of Europe's best, as well as the astronomical clock and the mirror maze on Petrin. Against that, the cobbles, the long castle stairs and the summer crowds make it harder work with small children.

Both centres are easy to walk, so the gap lies in public transport. Ljubljana is a city for walking, with everything within about twenty minutes, electric shuttles in the pedestrian zone and a bike-share scheme. Beyond that there are only buses, and the rail network is slow for trips into the country.

Prague adds three metro lines and a dense tram network that runs through the night on one ticket, so outer areas such as Holesovice or Troja are an easy ride. Its cobbles are tiring, though, and pickpockets work the crowded trams.

Ljubljana's shopping is mostly about gifts. Honey, pumpkin-seed oil, salt from the coast and Idrija lace come from the Central Market, there is a Sunday flea market on the embankment, and Trubarjeva street has a few boutiques. There is no luxury quarter.

Prague has more range, with international labels on Parizska and chains on Na Prikope, plus Bohemian crystal, garnet jewellery and marionettes. The old centre is lined with identical souvenir shops, so the better finds are in the design and vintage shops of Vinohrady and Holesovice.

In Ljubljana, set lunch menus, fairly priced local wine and a centre you can walk keep daily spending moderate. The catch is the small stock of central hotels, which are priced like Western Europe in July and August.

Prague works out cheaper overall. Beer, pub lunches and public transport all stay inexpensive, and staying a few tram stops out in Vinohrady or Zizkov avoids the visitor prices of the historic core, as long as you also avoid the exchange booths in the centre.

Ljubljana does an opera or concert night well for a city its size. It has the Slovenian Philharmonic, the National Opera and Ballet, the programme at Cankarjev dom, and the summer Ljubljana Festival in Plečnik's Križanke courtyard.

Prague can carry a whole trip on music. There are three opera stages, among them the Estates Theatre where Don Giovanni had its premiere, and the Czech Philharmonic plays at the Rudolfinum. Add the Prague Spring festival, and black-light theatre and marionette shows that need no Czech.

Neither city has its own bathing tradition, so the difference is in what lies around them. Ljubljana's quiet, green, car-free centre is restful in itself. There is a large water park with saunas on the edge of the city, and Slovenia's thermal spa towns are within about an hour's drive.

Prague's famous spas are far off in western Bohemia, so in the city wellness means hotel spas, massage studios and novelty beer baths. Rest comes from the old coffee houses, the Baroque gardens below the castle and quiet corners such as Kampa island.