Munich or Vienna?

Neither has a beach, and both are about equally good for summer swimming. The difference is where you swim. Munich's best water is out of town, in the clear, alpine-fed Starnberger See and Ammersee under an hour away by S-Bahn, with the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher closer in. Vienna keeps its swimming inside the city: the 20km Danube Island and the calmer, warmer Alte Donau with its old lidos are an after-work U-Bahn ride away.

Vienna has the more distinctive table. Schnitzel, Tafelspitz and a pastry tradition of strudel and Sachertorte are served in wood-panelled Beisl taverns and grand coffee houses, and wine is grown inside the city limits, poured at Heuriger taverns in Grinzing and Nussdorf.

Munich's food is built around beer: brewery halls, chestnut-shaded beer gardens where you may bring a picnic, roast pork with crackling, and white sausage before noon. The Viktualienmarkt makes an excellent stop for grazing. In both cities the choice beyond the local cooking is limited, so come for the traditional dishes rather than variety.

Vienna has more to offer, as almost the whole imperial capital survives. The Hofburg, Schönbrunn, the UNESCO-listed old town around St Stephen's and the grand buildings along the Ringstrasse are all there, plus a second great period in Jugendstil and Otto Wagner's architecture. The Kunsthistorisches Museum's Bruegels and the Klimts at the Belvedere put it among Europe's best gallery cities.

Munich comes close in some areas. The Alte Pinakothek and the rest of the Kunstareal, the Residenz and Nymphenburg are first-rate, and the Deutsches Museum has no counterpart in Vienna. Its old town, however, was largely rebuilt after wartime bombing and feels less complete.

Munich offers slightly more after dark. Beyond the beer halls, the Glockenbachviertel has the densest run of cocktail and gay bars, and a few serious techno clubs go on until morning at weekends. Oktoberfest takes over the city for just over two weeks from late September.

Vienna's evenings are slower: bars under the Gürtel railway arches, deckchairs by the Danube Canal in summer, or wine at a Heuriger. Its distinctive moment comes in winter, when visitors can buy tickets to formal balls in the palaces.

Munich has the Alps. On clear days the peaks are visible from town, and an hour by train brings you to the Wetterstein, the Zugspitze and Tegernsee for summer hiking or winter skiing. In the city, the English Garden is vast and surfers ride the standing wave on the Eisbach.

Vienna's countryside is gentler: beech woods and vineyard trails up to the Kahlenberg, the floodplain forest of the Donau-Auen, and the cycle path through the Wachau. For true mountains you have to go to the Rax and Schneeberg, about 90 minutes away.

Munich is the better base for excursions. Augsburg is half an hour away, Nuremberg and Regensburg are easy by fast train, and Salzburg and Innsbruck both work as day trips. Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee add the famous royal castles.

From Vienna the best outings are along the Danube: Bratislava by train or boat, and the Wachau with Melk Abbey and Dürnstein. There are also Haydn's Eisenstadt and the spa at Baden. Salzburg and Budapest are too far for a day and need an overnight stay.

Both are safe, green and easy with children, with zoos, hands-on technical museums and plenty of playgrounds. Vienna has the classic funfair: the Prater's giant Ferris wheel and rides. It also has the world's oldest running zoo at Schönbrunn and an aquarium in a wartime flak tower. Munich focuses more on outdoor days, with beer gardens that have their own playgrounds, lake beaches by S-Bahn, and Legoland about an hour and a half away by car.

Getting around is easy in both cities. Each has a compact, mostly pedestrian old town and a single integrated network of U-Bahn, trams and buses. Vienna is slightly easier within the city, with trams running around the Ring and the U-Bahn running through the night at weekends. Munich's network is better for leaving town, as the S-Bahn goes to the lakes and regional trains handle most day trips, though delays on the central S-Bahn line are a familiar annoyance.

Munich is the better city for shopping. Maximilianstrasse and the Theatinerstrasse arcades are full of luxury houses, Glockenbach and Schwabing have independent boutiques, and specialist tailors make proper Tracht, the dirndls and lederhosen that make the most authentic souvenir.

Vienna's offer is smaller and focused on quality: the Golden U of Graben and Kohlmarkt, everyday fashion on Mariahilfer Strasse, and gifts such as Augarten porcelain, crystal and Loden coats. Its Saturday flea market by the Naschmarkt has no real equivalent in Munich.

Vienna is the cheaper of the two, and hotels account for most of the gap. Munich is the most expensive city in Germany, and rooms become very costly during Oktoberfest and the big trade fairs. Its savings are small ones: a picnic in a beer garden and token museum entry on Sundays.

In Vienna, hotels are reasonable outside the ball season and Christmas markets. Set lunches and Heuriger buffets keep meals affordable. The main expense is entry to the big palaces and museums.

Munich would be a major music city anywhere else. The Bavarian State Opera is world class, there are three fine orchestras, and the rococo Cuvilliés Theatre is a jewel for chamber opera.

Vienna goes further. The State Opera puts on a different work most nights, and its cheap standing places are open to anyone. The Vienna Philharmonic plays in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, the Boys' Choir sings Sunday Mass, and the music of Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and the Strausses is played somewhere in the city every night.

The two are about equally restful, but they relax in different ways. Munich has the deeper bathing culture: the vaulted Art Nouveau pools of the Müller'sches Volksbad, textile-free saunas with infusion rituals, and one of Europe's largest thermal complexes at Erding. Vienna's calm comes from everyday habits, such as a long sit over a single coffee in a coffee house, with the thermal pools at Oberlaa and the old sulphur springs of Baden nearby when you want a proper soak.