Amsterdam or Antwerp?

Amsterdam has the better beach option, though neither city is one to choose for the sea. From Amsterdam, the dune-backed sands of Zandvoort and Bloemendaal are about half an hour away by train, with beach pavilions in summer. On a hot weekend you can also swim at the IJburg beaches or in the Sloterplas without leaving the city.

Antwerp's Sint-Annastrand is a sandy riverbank, but the tidal Scheldt is not for swimming. The Belgian resorts are nearly two hours away by train, so a seaside day takes up most of the day, and the cold North Sea is waiting at both ends.

Neither city clearly wins at the table, but they suit different ways of eating. Amsterdam is better for eating on the move and for food from elsewhere: raw herring with onions from a street stall, stroopwafels warm from the Albert Cuyp market, and Surinamese roti and broodjes brought by its trading past. Dutch cooking itself is plain, so a good dinner there usually means eating Indonesian or Surinamese food, or going to a neighbourhood place in De Pijp or Oost, rather than ordering anything Dutch.

Antwerp is the stronger choice for a long sit-down meal. Its own cooking is worth ordering, from stoofvlees braised in dark beer to mussels with frites, and the beer is made to go with it. The design-led restaurants of Het Zuid and the old docks, with a few starred tables among them, give it a more ambitious dining scene. In both cities, skip the menus on the main tourist streets, Damrak in Amsterdam and the Grote Markt in Antwerp.

Amsterdam's museums are the world-famous ones. Rembrandt's Night Watch hangs in the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum holds the largest collection of his work, and the Anne Frank House is the city's most moving visit. The UNESCO canal ring of merchant houses makes the walk between them part of the sightseeing. Allow three or four days.

Antwerp's strength is the Flemish Baroque. Rubens altarpieces hang in the cathedral, his own house and studio are open to visitors, and the Plantin-Moretus printing house has been kept as it was since the Renaissance. Central Station and the Art Nouveau streets of Zurenborg add a later layer, and two or three days cover it well.

Amsterdam is the bigger night out by some distance. Clubs with all-night licences fill converted industrial spaces in Noord and on the edges of the centre, and the Amsterdam Dance Event takes over the city every October. Bars, though, mostly close around one on weeknights.

Antwerp works the other way round. Belgian bars have no fixed closing time, so a brown café near the cathedral can keep going long after Amsterdam's have shut. It also has warehouse techno near the docks and one of the best-known gay scenes in the Low Countries, but the scene is the size of the city, and midweek nights are quiet.

Both cities sit in flat country, but Amsterdam reaches open landscape much more easily. A free ferry and half an hour on a bike take you into Waterland, with its wooden villages and meadows. The Amsterdamse Bos has woods and rowing, and the coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland have bison grazing on them.

Antwerp is hemmed in by the port and built-up land, so its green space is mostly city parks such as Rivierenhof. For real countryside you need to head north to the Kalmthoutse Heide heathland or ride the dykes of the Scheldt polders.

Both are excellent bases, with towns close together on fast trains, and the difference lies in which country you explore. From Amsterdam the trips are Dutch: Haarlem a quarter of an hour away, Leiden, Delft and Utrecht, Vermeer in The Hague, and windmills at Zaanse Schans or the Keukenhof bulb fields in spring.

Antwerp opens up Flanders instead. Mechelen, Brussels, Leuven and Ghent with its Van Eyck altarpiece are all within about an hour, and Bruges is a little further. Rotterdam, Delft and Kinderdijk can still be reached across the border, so you can see some of Holland from Antwerp, which does not work as well the other way.

Amsterdam gives children more to do. The NEMO science museum is built for hands-on play, Artis is one of Europe's oldest zoos, and city farms, pancake houses and well-equipped playgrounds fill the gaps. You do have to watch out for fast bikes and unfenced canal edges.

Antwerp is pleasant rather than packed with things for children. Its zoo sits beside Central Station, and the MAS rooftop, the Steen castle and the foot tunnel under the Scheldt make easy outings. The Bobbejaanland theme park needs a car, and the damp weather means keeping indoor plans ready.

Amsterdam runs on trams, a north-south metro and free ferries across the IJ, and a direct train gets you to Schiphol quickly, so its network reaches further than Antwerp's. Cycling is how the city works, though the busy bike lanes take some nerve.

Antwerp's centre is just as walkable, from Central Station along the Meir to the cathedral and Het Zuid. Premetro trams cover the outer districts and shared bikes cover the rest. The network is smaller, and cobbles and tram tracks make cycling less relaxed. The station's fast links to Brussels and the Netherlands are a real advantage, though.

The two are evenly matched, but each has its own character. Amsterdam is best for independent browsing. The Nine Streets and the Jordaan are full of boutiques and vintage shops, and the Noordermarkt, the Waterlooplein flea market and the floating flower market make it a city of markets too.

Antwerp is the one for fashion. The avant-garde designers who came out of its academy shape the shops along the Nationalestraat and in Het Zuid. It adds the diamond quarter by the station and the antique and interiors shops of the Kloosterstraat.

Antwerp is the easier city on the wallet, mostly because of where you sleep. Amsterdam's canal-ring hotels are among the most expensive in Europe and a hefty tourist tax comes on top. Many visitors save by staying in Haarlem or Utrecht.

Antwerp is not cheap either, and a sit-down dinner costs Belgian prices. Still, rooms usually cost less, and frites, a bolleke in a local café and lunch menus help on a mid-range budget.

Amsterdam is in a different league for live performance. The Concertgebouw and its orchestra are among the best in the world, the National Opera and Ballet perform on the Amstel, the Bimhuis covers jazz, and Paradiso and the Melkweg bring in international bands. The Holland Festival runs every June.

Antwerp has real substance for a city its size, especially in contemporary dance at deSingel and in early music at AMUZ, set in a Baroque church. Opera Ballet Vlaanderen and the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra fill the main halls. In both cities most theatre is in Dutch.

Neither city is a place to come for rest, but Amsterdam makes a spa day easier. Large day spas sit on the edge of the city in the mixed, nude Northern European style, and an early morning on the canals or a ferry across the IJ slows things down, even though the centre itself is crowded.

Antwerp's centre feels calmer than a capital, but its sauna and wellness complexes are mostly in the suburbs or the countryside and need a car. For most visitors, relaxing there comes down to a park or an afternoon in a brown café.