Munich or Zagreb?

Neither city has a coast, but Munich is better for inland swimming. People sunbathe on the gravel banks of the Isar at the Flaucher, and the Starnberger See and Ammersee, both under an hour by S-Bahn, have jetties, lawns and clear alpine water.

Zagreb's options are Jarun and Bundek, two former gravel pits with pebbly shores. They are fine for cooling off on a hot afternoon but little more. If you want the sea, the usual answer is a separate stay on the Adriatic, about two hours' drive away.

Both cities eat heartily in the Central European way, but Munich has more depth. It has the beer halls and chestnut-shaded beer gardens, roast pork with crackling and white sausage before noon, the Viktualienmarkt for snacks, and a respectable tier of starred restaurants.

Zagreb's equivalents are štrukli, turkey with mlinci and Zagorje sausages, with Dolac market as its version of the Viktualienmarkt. The real difference is in what you drink: long coffees on the terraces around Flower Square and wine from Plešivica and Slavonia, rather than litres of Helles.

Munich's royal collections are in another league. The Kunstareal brings together the Pinakotheks, the Glyptothek and the Lenbachhaus, and the Residenz, Nymphenburg and the vast Deutsches Museum could fill a week. The one drawback is that much of the old town was rebuilt after wartime bombing.

Zagreb is more intimate. The medieval Upper Town with St Mark's tiled roof and the Stone Gate, the Austro-Hungarian Green Horseshoe and the ivy-covered arcades of Mirogoj are lovely, and the Naive Art and Broken Relationships museums are distinctive. Two days cover most of it.

Munich has more range after dark. Beer halls keep going all evening, the Glockenbachviertel and Gärtnerplatz have cocktail and gay bars, and a few serious techno clubs stay open until morning at weekends. From late September, the Oktoberfest tents take over the city.

Zagreb is smaller and easier-going. Evenings centre on café-bars that switch from coffee to drinks, with Tkalčićeva as the main strip of terraces and lakeside clubs at Jarun in summer. Neither city is wild, but Zagreb winds down sooner.

The Alps are what put Munich ahead. Trains reach Garmisch, the Zugspitze and Tegernsee for real mountain hiking in summer and skiing in winter, and the Five Lakes are good for sailing and cycling. In town, the English Garden is huge, with surfers riding the standing wave on the Eisbach.

Zagreb's outdoors is gentler. The beech woods of Medvednica start at the edge of the city, a tram and short bus ride away, Maksimir is a fine old park, and Plitvice's lakes make a long day out. There is no high mountain country within easy reach.

Munich is one of the best day-trip bases in Central Europe. Augsburg is half an hour away, Nuremberg, Regensburg, Salzburg and Innsbruck are all within two hours by train, and Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee are the classic royal outings. Hardly any of this needs a car.

Zagreb's excursions are pleasant rather than famous. You can see Trakošćan castle and the Zagorje hills, baroque Varaždin, Samobor with its cream cake, and the star-shaped fortress at Karlovac, with Ljubljana as a long day. The Zagorje castles are easiest with a car.

Both cities are safe, green and easy to get around with a pushchair, but Munich has far more for children to do. There is Hellabrunn zoo, the Deutsches Museum's children's area, the transport museum and the Sea Life aquarium in the Olympic Park, and Legoland is about an hour and a half away by car.

Zagreb has a zoo in Maksimir, the Tesla technical museum with its trams and mock mine, and a funicular that small children love. With no theme park or large aquarium, it suits a short, relaxed stay.

Both old towns are compact enough to walk. Munich's integrated network of U-Bahn, S-Bahn, trams and buses goes much further, to the lakes, Nymphenburg and the airport, and the flat city is made for cycling. The main irritation is delays on the central S-Bahn line.

Zagreb relies on its dense web of blue trams and the tiny funicular up to the Upper Town, which serve visitors well. However, trams slow down in rush-hour traffic, and the Upper Town's cobbles are steep in places.

Munich is a real shopping city. Maximilianstrasse has the luxury houses, Neuhauser Strasse and Kaufingerstrasse have department stores, and a centuries-old delicatessen sells fine coffee and food. Specialist tailors make Tracht, the traditional dirndls and lederhosen, and the December Christmas markets add craft stalls.

In Zagreb, shopping is an everyday affair centred on Ilica and the malls on the edge of town, with little luxury. The best buys are small and local: licitar honey-dough hearts, a Croatian necktie, lace and truffle products. The Sunday flea market at Britanski trg is something Munich largely lacks.

Zagreb is far easier on the wallet. Central apartments and small hotels, trams, museum entry and market food are all reasonably priced. Only cocktails, upmarket restaurants and the best hotels cost Western European rates.

Munich is the most expensive city in Germany, and hotels take the biggest share, especially during Oktoberfest and trade fairs. Beer-hall food, picnics in the beer gardens, free parks and lakes and cheap Sunday museum entry soften the bill a little.

Munich is one of Europe's great music cities. The Bavarian State Opera performs in the National Theatre and has a long-running summer festival, three orchestras of real standing play in halls such as the Herkulessaal, and the gilded Cuvilliés Theatre stages chamber opera. Add operetta at the Gärtnerplatztheater and a respected jazz scene.

Zagreb has a proper season of its own at the Croatian National Theatre and the Lisinski hall, with the Zagreb Soloists in churches and open-air concerts in Upper Town courtyards in summer. It has less of international fame, and in both cities spoken theatre is mostly in the local language.

Munich has a bathing tradition that Zagreb's centre lacks. There is the Art Nouveau Müller'sches Volksbad with its Roman-style steam bath, mixed textile-free saunas with infusion rituals, and the huge thermal complex at Erding about forty minutes away, with Bad Tölz and Bad Reichenhall further out.

In Zagreb itself, you are mostly limited to hotel spas. The real soaking is in the Zagorje resorts of Tuheljske, Krapinske and Stubičke Toplice, all within about an hour. Both cities are easy to slow down in, Munich in the shade of a beer garden and Zagreb over long café mornings.