Prague or Zagreb?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both send swimmers to fresh water. Prague's options are the Dzban reservoir in the Sarka valley and the wooded, cabin-lined Slapy reservoir an hour south. Zagreb has Lake Jarun and Bundek inside the city, and the Adriatic is about two hours over the hills, so a coastal stop is far easier to add to a Zagreb trip.

The two are close, but they are built on different rituals. In Prague the glass comes first: carefully poured, often unpasteurised lager, with svickova, roast pork and dumplings to go with it and chlebicky for a cheap lunch. Its weak spot is the tourist centre, so the meals worth having are in Vinohrady, Karlin or Letna.

In Zagreb the market and the café terrace come first. Dolac market sets the tone each morning, štrukli and turkey with mlinci are the dishes to look for, and wine from Plešivica and Zagorje beats the beer. Neither city is a destination for serious diners, but Zagreb's centre is less of a tourist trap.

Prague is in a different league. The whole centre is a UNESCO site, and it runs from the Castle and St Vitus Cathedral through Mala Strana's Baroque churches and over the Charles Bridge to the Old Town and the Old Jewish Cemetery, with Art Nouveau and rare Cubist buildings on top. It needs three or four days and early starts to beat the crowds.

Zagreb's heritage is more modest but has its own charm. There is the tiled roof of St Mark's and the Stone Gate in the Upper Town, the Austro-Hungarian Green Horseshoe below, and the ivy-covered arcades of Mirogoj cemetery. Museums such as the Mimara and the Museum of Broken Relationships are good rather than famous, and two days covers it.

Prague offers far more after dark. Cheap, excellent beer keeps Zizkov's plain pubs and the summer beer gardens on Letna and Riegrovy sady full late into the night. Clubbing ranges from the dawn-closing tourist clubs near Wenceslas Square to an alternative techno scene in Holesovice's old industrial spaces.

Zagreb's night out is gentler. It centres on the café-bar terraces of Tkalčićeva and the small cocktail and craft beer bars around Flower Square, with Jarun's lakeside clubs taking over in summer. It is friendly and easy, but most weeknights are over well before Prague's would be.

Both have gentle, green surroundings, but the shape is different. Zagreb has a real forested mountain on its doorstep: Medvednica, with beech woods, huts and a small ski slope in snowy winters. Plitvice's lakes and waterfalls are about two hours south.

Prague's green space is more urban: Petrin's orchards, the old royal park of Stromovka and the rocky gorge of Divoka Sarka. Its most memorable hiking is further out, among the sandstone towers of Bohemian Switzerland and the Bohemian Paradise.

Prague is the better base for excursions, and most of them are easy by train. Kutna Hora's cathedral and bone-decorated ossuary, Karlstejn castle and Terezin are each about an hour away, and Dresden and Karlovy Vary are about two hours. Cesky Krumlov makes a fine overnight trip.

Zagreb has a pleasant range but no single headline. There are the Zagorje hill castles such as Trakošćan, baroque Varaždin, little Samobor and the Plešivica wine roads, with Ljubljana as a long day. Several of these are easier with a hire car than by train.

Both are safe and manageable with children, and they differ in what is easy and what is memorable. Prague has the stronger highlights: the storybook castle, the astronomical clock's moving apostles and the hillside zoo at Troja with its chairlift. The cobbles, steep lanes and long castle stairs are hard work with a pushchair, though.

Zagreb is the easier city day to day, with a flat Lower Town, trams that take pushchairs, the Tesla technical museum and lakes for a summer swim. It has fewer attractions children will remember for years.

Both centres are compact and walkable, but Prague's transport goes further. Three metro lines carry the main routes and trams run all night, all on one ticket that also covers the Petrin funicular and the river ferries. The one thing to watch is pickpockets on the crowded trams through Mala Strana.

Zagreb manages with trams, buses and its tiny funicular, and the flat Lower Town is easy on the feet. With no metro, the trams get slow in rush-hour traffic, and a car becomes useful for the Zagorje castles and Plitvice.

Prague gives a shopper more to work with. Luxury labels line Parizska under Art Nouveau facades, and the distinctive buys are Bohemian crystal, garnet jewellery and marionettes. Small design and vintage shops in Vinohrady and Holesovice make up for the souvenir clutter in the old centre.

Zagreb is everyday shopping along Ilica, with little at the luxury end. Its souvenirs are charming rather than precious: licitar honey-dough hearts, a cravat from the country that gave it its name, lace, and truffle products from Dolac.

Costs are much the same in both, but the savings come in different ways. In Prague the beer, pub lunches and transport are cheap, but the historic core is priced for visitors and the exchange booths are a trap, so the savings come from staying and eating in neighbourhoods like Zizkov or Karlin.

Zagreb's centre is reasonable in itself, from apartments and museum tickets to market food and terrace coffee. Upmarket dining and cocktails there cost about what they would in Western Europe.

Prague is the place for music lovers. There are three opera stages, including the Estates Theatre where Mozart premiered Don Giovanni, the Czech Philharmonic at the Rudolfinum and the Prague Spring festival. Black-light theatre and marionette shows need no Czech.

Zagreb has a proper season, but on a smaller scale. The Croatian National Theatre stages opera and ballet, the Lisinski hall hosts the Zagreb Philharmonic, and summer brings concerts to Upper Town courtyards. Little of it is internationally known, and much of the theatre is in Croatian.

Neither city is a wellness destination, but Prague offers more within the city itself. There are hotel spas, plenty of massage studios and novelty beer baths, along with grand old coffee houses, the terraced gardens below the castle and quiet corners on Kampa island and in Vysehrad.

Zagreb's in-town offer is mostly hotel wellness floors. For a real soak you need to travel out to the thermal pools at Tuheljske or Stubičke Toplice in Zagorje, about an hour away. The calm of its café mornings and Upper Town lanes is its own kind of rest.