Prague or Salzburg?

Neither city has a beach, and Prague's swimming is plain. Your options are the Dzban reservoir in the Sarka valley, a few outdoor pools, or the wooded banks of the Slapy reservoir about an hour south. They are fine for cooling off on a hot day, but not worth planning a trip around.

Salzburg does better. Fuschlsee, Wolfgangsee and Mondsee are less than an hour east, with clear green water that you enter from lawns, jetties and small pebble shores below steep hills. The season is short, from June to early September, but an afternoon at one of the lakes is a real pleasure.

The two are much alike: hearty Central European cooking, tourist-trap menus in the old centre and a limited range beyond the local food. The difference is in what you drink. Prague is a beer city, with carefully poured tank lager, microbreweries, cheap chlebicky lunches and Moravian wine bars in Vinohrady and Karlin.

Salzburg's strength is the coffee house, with cake in the afternoon and a Salzburger Nockerl for dessert. Its best beer experience is the Augustiner monastery brewery's chestnut-shaded garden in Mülln, and its better cooking is found in inns on the hills outside town.

Both centres are UNESCO-listed, but Prague offers more, and more variety. The Castle and St Vitus, Baroque Mala Strana, the Charles Bridge, the Gothic Old Town and the synagogues of Josefov fill three or four days, and the Cubist and Art Nouveau buildings add a later layer few cities can match.

Salzburg is a single, compact Baroque ensemble built by the prince-archbishops: the cathedral, the Residenz, the Hohensalzburg fortress and the Mozart houses, all within a few minutes of each other. It is lovely, but it is done in two or three days.

Here the two are far apart. Prague is a genuine drinking destination, with crowded local pubs in Zizkov, cocktail and wine bars in Vinohrady and summer beer gardens on Letna. It also has a choice of clubs, from big all-night venues in the centre to techno spaces in Holesovice.

Salzburg goes to bed early. A beer hall after a concert is the classic evening, and the student pubs along Rudolfskai are about as late as it gets. Anyone after a club night is better off in Munich.

Salzburg is the stronger choice here by a wide margin. Wooded ridges rise inside the town, the Untersberg cable car climbs to about 1,800m, and the Salzkammergut lakes, Königssee and the ski areas are all close.

Prague's green spaces are pleasant, with Petrin Hill, Stromovka and the Divoka Sarka gorge, and the sandstone towers of Bohemian Switzerland make good hiking about two hours away. But the landscape is gentle, and there are no mountains.

Both make excellent bases, but for different kinds of outing. From Prague you get castles and history by train: Kutna Hora's cathedral and ossuary, Karlstejn, the sobering Terezin memorial, and Dresden about two hours down the Elbe.

From Salzburg the trips are about scenery and salt: Hallstatt on its lakeshore, the salt mines at Hallein and Berchtesgaden, and the Werfen fortress. Several of the lake villages are far easier to reach by car, whereas Prague's highlights work well by rail.

Salzburg is the easier city with children. It is small, calm and largely car-free, and children love the trick fountains at Hellbrunn. The hands-on Haus der Natur and the salt mines, with their wooden slides and underground boat rides, add plenty of variety.

Prague has one outstanding attraction in the Troja zoo, plus the astronomical clock and the Petrin mirror maze. Beyond those, there is less for children, and the summer crowds and long castle stairs are harder going. Both cities have cobbles that make pushchairs hard work.

Both centres are walkable in about fifteen minutes end to end, but Prague's transport is in a different class. Its metro and trams reach almost every neighbourhood, run through the night and share one ticket, and a tram takes you up to the castle.

Salzburg relies on trolleybuses, which work well within the town, and its flat riverside paths suit cycling. Getting out to the lakes is a different matter, as the regional buses are slow, and many visitors end up hiring a car.

Neither city is a reason to come shopping, and both have old centres full of souvenir shops. What differs is the local speciality. Prague offers Bohemian crystal, garnets and marionettes, the luxury labels on Parizska and small design and vintage shops in Holesovice.

Salzburg's distinctive buy is Tracht. Dirndls and loden jackets, often made to measure, are sold around Getreidegasse with its wrought-iron signs, and the Domplatz Advent market is one of the region's oldest.

Prague is the cheaper of the two, and its high prices sit mostly in one place. Around Old Town Square and along the river, hotels and restaurants with a view are priced for visitors. Step into Vinohrady, Zizkov or Karlin and everyday spending drops sharply. In the centre, avoid the currency exchange booths.

In Salzburg the high prices are not confined to the old town, because the whole city is dear for its size. Eating in the centre costs well above what you would pay elsewhere in Austria. Saving money there is a matter of planning rather than picking the right district: buy a city card, which covers transport, the fortress and most museums, and eat in the inns and beer halls of the outer districts.

Both are serious classical music cities, and they are close in quality. They differ in rhythm. Prague offers a steady season across three opera houses, the Czech Philharmonic at the Rudolfinum and concerts in the Smetana Hall, plus black-light theatre and a modest jazz scene.

Salzburg revolves around its festivals. The summer festival in the Felsenreitschule and the Festspielhaus, Jedermann outside the cathedral, Mozart Week and the Easter Festival bring leading performers to a small town, but they need booking well in advance.

Salzburg is the more restful choice. The town slows down once the day-trippers leave, and the Paracelsus Bad offers saunas with a view of the Kapuzinerberg. The brine spas of Bad Reichenhall and the thermal springs of Gastein are close enough for a day out.

Prague's spa towns are far off in western Bohemia, so in the city you are left with hotel spas and the novelty of beer baths. Its calm comes instead from coffee houses, the castle gardens and quiet corners like Kampa island.