Amsterdam or Bruges?

You won't really swim in either place. The North Sea is only about 17°C to 18°C in late summer, so both coasts are for walking more than bathing. The difference is in how you reach the sand.

From Amsterdam, Zandvoort and Bloemendaal are half an hour away by train, and on a hot afternoon there are swimming spots in town at IJburg and lakes such as the Sloterplas. From Bruges, Blankenberge is about fifteen minutes away, and the coast tram then runs along a whole line of wide sandy beaches and resorts you can hop between.

The two are broadly level, but they suit different appetites. Amsterdam's best food comes from its trading past: Indonesian rijsttafel, Surinamese roti, herring from street stalls and the neighbourhood restaurants of De Pijp and Oost. Its drinking centres on jenever and the early-evening borrel.

Bruges is a beer city first. Wood-panelled cafés pour Trappist and abbey ales, and the food alongside is mussels, beef stewed in beer and chocolate. Its everyday range is narrower. In both cities, the main tourist squares are the places to avoid eating.

Amsterdam has the deeper collections. The Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk sit together on the Museumplein, and the Anne Frank House is a visit no other city can offer. The canal ring needs three or four days to see properly.

Bruges is smaller but remarkably intact: a whole medieval town of guildhalls, the Belfry and the Begijnhof. Van Eyck and Memling hang in the Groeninge Museum and St John's Hospital, and there is a Michelangelo in the Church of Our Lady. Two days cover it, and the narrow streets fill quickly with day-trippers.

This is the biggest gap between the two. Amsterdam runs from candlelit brown cafés to electronic music clubs with all-night licences in Noord and old warehouses, and each October the Amsterdam Dance Event takes over the city.

Bruges is made for a slow evening of strong beer in a vaulted cellar, with some late life around the Eiermarkt and 't Zand thanks to the students. Clubbing means one or two small venues, and on weeknights the old town is quiet by midnight.

Both sit in flat polder country best seen by bike, and neither has hills or wild landscapes. Amsterdam has a little more on offer: the villages and meadows of Waterland a short ferry ride away, the woods and rowing of the Amsterdamse Bos, and the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland where bison graze.

Bruges has the towpath ride to Damme and the birdlife of the Zwin salt marsh. That makes a lovely afternoon, but there is less variety.

Both are excellent bases in small countries with frequent trains, so the real question is which towns you want to see. Amsterdam opens up the Netherlands: Haarlem in a quarter of an hour, Leiden, Delft and Utrecht, Vermeer in The Hague, the windmills of Zaanse Schans and Kinderdijk, and the Keukenhof in spring.

Bruges opens up Flanders: Ghent in under half an hour, Brussels and Antwerp a little further, Damme by bike and the First World War sites around Ypres. Lille is just across the French border.

Amsterdam is the easier city with children. Artis, one of Europe's oldest zoos, the hands-on NEMO science museum, city farms, playgrounds and pancake houses give plenty to fill the days. Fast bikes and unfenced canal edges need watching.

Bruges works well for a couple of days, with boat rides, the Belfry climb, the swans at the Minnewater and Boudewijn Seapark, and the coast is close for sandcastles. Beyond that the city is mostly paintings and churches, and the cobbles make pushchairs hard work.

Both centres are flat and compact and best seen on foot or by bike, and a car is more trouble than it is worth in either. Amsterdam has the fuller network, with trams, a metro, free ferries across the IJ and a quick direct train to Schiphol.

Inside the Bruges canal ring you hardly need transport at all. The station, though, sits outside the centre, and the cobbles are punishing on suitcases and wheels.

Amsterdam is much stronger for shopping. The Nine Streets and the Jordaan are full of independent boutiques and vintage shops, and PC Hooftstraat has the luxury labels. A grand department store anchors Dam Square, and markets from the Albert Cuyp to the floating Bloemenmarkt add variety.

In Bruges, most of what you buy is something to eat or drink: pralines, Belgian beer and its glasses. There is also bobbin lace, though much of it is imported. Beyond the chain stores of Steenstraat there is little depth.

Neither city is cheap, but Bruges is the lighter of the two on spending. Amsterdam's canal-ring hotels are among the costliest in Europe, a substantial tourist tax comes on top, and museum tickets add up. Staying in Haarlem or Utrecht is a common way round it.

In Bruges the expense is concentrated in weekend and summer rooms and in the restaurants on the main squares. A midweek stay near the station and meals on the side streets make a real difference.

Amsterdam offers far more. Its Concertgebouw is one of the world's great halls and home to a world-famous orchestra, and the National Opera and Ballet perform on the Amstel. The Bimhuis covers jazz, and Paradiso and the Melkweg bring in international touring bands.

Bruges does well for its size. Its modern Concertgebouw is strong in early and chamber music, and its summer early-music festival draws listeners from across Europe. There is no opera company and little live music in bars, though, so for more choice you take the train to Ghent or Brussels.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so this comes down to spas and finding quiet corners. Amsterdam has several large day spas and sauna complexes on its edges, mixed and nude in the Northern European way. Bruges has a handful of hotel spas and day spas.

The quiet comes in different forms. In Amsterdam it is the Vondelpark or a ferry across the IJ. In Bruges it is the Begijnhof, the Minnewater and the Sint-Anna quarter, early in the morning or after the day-trippers have gone.