Amsterdam or Brighton?

Brighton has the edge, because its beach is the town itself. The shingle runs from the Marina past the Palace Pier to Hove, with lifeguards on the central stretches in summer. Amsterdam's nearest real beach is the sandy shore at Zandvoort, half an hour away by train.

That is the trade-off: soft sand and dunes on the Dutch side, steep pebbles on the English one. In both places the sea is cold and grey days are common, so this is a place to sit by the sea, not a reason to choose either city.

The two eat about equally well, but in very different ways. Amsterdam's best flavours come from its trading past: Indonesian rijsttafel, Surinamese roti and herring from street stalls, followed by jenever and bitterballen in an old brown café.

Brighton has no dishes of its own and relies on independent kitchens in the North Laine and Kemptown. It is known for vegetarian and vegan food and serious coffee, with fish and chips on the seafront and Sussex sparkling wine on the wine lists.

This is where the two differ most. Amsterdam has the Rijksmuseum's Night Watch, the largest Van Gogh collection anywhere, the Stedelijk and the Anne Frank House, all set around a UNESCO-listed 17th-century canal ring that takes three or four days to see properly.

Brighton has one sight in that league, the Royal Pavilion with its Indian domes and chinoiserie rooms. Add the Regency crescents, the piers and the Lanes, and a day or two of wandering is enough.

Amsterdam offers the bigger night out. It is known for electronic music, with all-night clubs in old industrial buildings and across the IJ in Noord, and the Amsterdam Dance Event every October. For a slower evening there are candlelit brown cafés in the Jordaan and De Pijp.

Brighton's strength is pubs and bars that are busy every night of the week, plus one of Britain's oldest LGBTQ+ scenes in Kemptown. West Street and the clubs in the seafront arches stay open late, but at weekends the stag and hen parties make them rowdy.

Brighton is better placed for the outdoors. The chalk hills of the South Downs National Park start at the edge of the city, Devil's Dyke is a short bus ride away, and the Seven Sisters cliffs are about forty minutes east. Windsurfing and paddleboarding off the seafront add something on the water.

Amsterdam's countryside is flat and quiet. You get windmills, dykes and wooden villages in Waterland, best seen by bike, and dunes with grazing bison in Zuid-Kennemerland, but no hills at all.

Both are excellent bases, and Amsterdam has a slight lead because so many towns are close by train. Haarlem, Leiden, Delft, Utrecht and The Hague with its Vermeers are all within an hour, with Zaanse Schans windmills and the Keukenhof in spring as extras.

From Brighton, the big draw is London, an hour away by fast train. Lewes, Arundel, Chichester and medieval Rye fill the gaps, though the country houses of the Weald are easier with a car.

Amsterdam is the better city for children. The Artis zoo, the hands-on NEMO science museum, Vondelpark playgrounds, city farms and pancake houses keep them busy, though fast bikes and unfenced canal edges mean holding small hands.

Brighton is the traditional English seaside day out, with pier rides, the Victorian aquarium and Volk's Electric Railway. The shingle and cold water are poor for sandcastles, and the centre is best avoided late on weekend nights.

Both centres are walkable, but Amsterdam is flat and better served. Trams, a metro line and free ferries across the IJ cover the city, the train from Schiphol is short and direct, and hiring a bike feels natural if you can cope with busy cycle lanes.

Brighton gets by on its feet and a dense bus network. The walk down to the sea is easy, but the climb back to the station and up into Kemptown is steep.

Both cities are best for small independent shops, but Amsterdam covers more ground. The boutiques and vintage shops of the Nine Streets sit alongside the luxury labels on PC Hooftstraat, De Bijenkorf department store and markets from the Albert Cuyp to the floating Bloemenmarkt.

Brighton's North Laine is good for browsing for records, retro furniture and alternative fashion, and the Lanes have jewellery and antiques. There are no luxury streets or grand department stores.

Rooms are what make Amsterdam so costly, and beds around the canal ring are among the dearest in Europe. Daytime spending is easier to keep in check. Trams and trains are reasonably priced, walking or cycling costs almost nothing, and herring stalls and the Albert Cuyp market give you a cheap lunch. Museums are the other drain, because several of the big collections in one trip soon mount up.

Brighton works out somewhat lighter overall. The Royal Pavilion is its only major paid sight, so a day in town costs little beyond food and drink, although restaurants and pubs charge south-of-England prices. Train fares are the cost to watch. If you plan to visit London and several Sussex towns, the tickets quickly become a real part of the budget.

Amsterdam has the deeper programme all year round. It has the Concertgebouw and its orchestra, national opera and ballet on the Amstel, jazz at the Bimhuis and touring bands at Paradiso and the Melkweg, though most theatre is in Dutch.

Brighton is busiest in May, when the Brighton Festival and England's largest fringe take over the town. The rest of the year brings comedy, small music rooms and the Theatre Royal, and Glyndebourne's summer opera is nearby.

For a spa afternoon, Amsterdam is the better bet. The Dutch take their saunas seriously, and the large wellness centres on the edge of the city have pools and sauna rooms where men and women usually share the space without swimwear. Away from the crowded centre, an early walk along the quieter canals or a ferry across the IJ slows the pace.

In Brighton, wellness mostly means the sea itself. A loyal group of swimmers goes into the Channel at dawn all year and then warms up in the seafront saunas. Beyond that there are only a handful of hotel and day spas. To find calm here you have to pick your time or leave town: Hove's lawns and beach huts out of season, or the villages of the Downs.