Amsterdam or Frankfurt?

Neither city is right for a beach vacation, but Amsterdam at least has the sea within half an hour by train: the long, dune-backed sands of Zandvoort and Bloemendaal. The water is cold and the wind is brisk, so you go there for a walk and lunch at a beach pavilion more than a swim. In the city itself, the beaches at IJburg and the Sloterplas lake are fine on a hot day.

Frankfurt is a full day's travel from any coast. Swimming there means outdoor pools and forest lakes such as the Langener Waldsee, which warms up nicely in July and August and makes a decent afternoon out. Nobody should come here for the water.

Both cities have plain, hearty home cooking, so the interest lies elsewhere. Amsterdam has more variety thanks to its trading past. Indonesian rijsttafel and Surinamese roti sit alongside herring stalls and the Albert Cuyp market, and its drinking culture of brown cafés and centuries-old jenever tasting rooms is a pleasure in its own right.

Frankfurt's best food experience is narrower but entirely its own. Spend an evening at the long shared tables of a Sachsenhausen apple-wine tavern over Grüne Soße and Handkäs mit Musik, and graze at the Kleinmarkthalle at lunchtime. Beyond that, its strength is good international cooking rather than a deep local tradition.

Amsterdam is the stronger cultural destination by a wide margin. The Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk share the Museumplein, the Anne Frank House is unlike any other visit, and the canal ring of merchant houses survives as it was built rather than as a reconstruction.

Frankfurt has one gallery of international standing in the Städel, and the Museumsufer adds breadth across film, architecture and natural history. Most of the old town was rebuilt after 1944, though, so the Römer and the lanes up to the cathedral feel like a careful restoration rather than a historic city. The skyline of towers is as much a sight as anything old.

Amsterdam offers far more range, and on any night of the week. You can choose between candlelit brown cafés in the Jordaan, summer terraces in De Pijp and Oost, and electronic clubs with all-night licences in old industrial buildings across the IJ.

Frankfurt has its own techno pedigree, built together with Offenbach, but the club scene is small and the city only really goes out on Friday and Saturday. The cocktail bars and late kiosks of the Bahnhofsviertel and the neighbourhood bars along Berger Straße are good fun, and summer evenings drinking on the banks of the Main are a highlight. It is a weekend city rather than a place people travel to for nights out.

Frankfurt has the better outdoors. The Taunus rises just north of the city, with beech forest and the Großer Feldberg at about 880m less than an hour away by public transport. The Stadtwald, the Odenwald and the vineyard paths of the Rheingau add plenty more walking and cycling.

Amsterdam's landscape is flat and its charm is quieter. Its best outings are cycling across the polders of Waterland past windmills and wooden villages, or walking the dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland. It is lovely by bike, but there are no hills to climb, and wind and rain are more frequent.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference lies in what you find at the end of the line. Trips from Amsterdam are short and very Dutch: Haarlem in a quarter of an hour, smaller canal towns such as Delft, Leiden and Utrecht, The Hague for Vermeer, and windmills at Zaanse Schans and Kinderdijk.

From Frankfurt the choice is wider and the scenery more varied. You can see Heidelberg's castle, take a boat past the castles of the Rhine Gorge, reach Cologne Cathedral by high-speed train or visit Würzburg's baroque Residenz, with wine villages and spa towns in between.

Amsterdam is the easier city with children. Artis zoo, the hands-on NEMO science museum, canal boats, pancake houses and city farms are all close together. The fast bikes and unfenced canal edges mean you need to keep hold of small children.

Frankfurt works well for a few days. There are the dinosaur skeletons at the Senckenberg, a central zoo and the Palmengarten's glasshouses, and trams and S-Bahn trains take pushchairs easily. It has fewer things for children close together, though, and its best extras, a wildlife park and a small fairy-tale park, are out in the Taunus.

Amsterdam is the simpler city to move around. Most sights are within half an hour's walk of each other on flat ground, trams cover the canal ring and the museums, and free ferries cross the IJ. Once you trust the busy lanes, a hired bike turns the whole centre into a short ride.

Frankfurt's centre is compact too, and its integrated U-Bahn, S-Bahn and tram network reaches the Taunus and Wiesbaden on the same ticket system, which helps with outings. The many lines and zones take some working out, but the rail link from the airport is quick and easy.

Amsterdam is the better place to shop, and small independent shops are its real strength. The Nine Streets across the western canals and the lanes of the Jordaan are full of boutiques, vintage shops and specialist stores. Kalverstraat, Leidsestraat and De Bijenkorf on Dam Square cover the high street, and PC Hooftstraat has the luxury labels. The Waterlooplein flea market, the Saturday Noordermarkt and the floating Bloemenmarkt are good for browsing, and Delft blue pottery, Dutch cheese and bulbs are the things to take home.

Frankfurt's shopping is mostly practical. The Zeil has the department stores, chains and big malls, and the jewellery and luxury fashion houses are around Goethestraße. For something more individual, Berger Straße and Schweizer Straße have some independent boutiques and delis, and the Saturday flea market on the Main bank has some character. Apart from apple-wine jugs and stoneware, though, nothing here is worth planning a day of shopping around.

Frankfurt is the cheaper of the two, though neither is a bargain. Its hotels are priced for business travellers and soar during trade fairs, but rooms are often much cheaper at weekends and in summer. Cider taverns, Turkish grills and the Museumsufer pass keep daily costs down.

Amsterdam is expensive all year, above all for rooms in the canal ring. A substantial tourist tax comes on top, and museum tickets add up quickly. Staying in Haarlem or Utrecht and eating from markets and snack stalls helps.

Amsterdam has more to offer the visitor. The Concertgebouw is one of the world's great concert halls, and the national opera and ballet perform in the opera house on the Amstel. The Muziekgebouw and the Bimhuis cover contemporary music and jazz, and Paradiso and the Melkweg bring in touring bands.

Frankfurt's opera company is highly respected for its adventurous productions, and the Alte Oper and the jazz cellars make for good evenings. Most of its theatre is in German apart from one English-language company, and the season winds down in summer, so timing matters more here.

Frankfurt wins here thanks to its neighbours. Wiesbaden's Art Nouveau Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme, fed by hot springs, and the thermal baths at Bad Homburg are easy outings, and the Palmengarten offers calm in town.

Amsterdam has no thermal tradition, only large mixed saunas on the city's edges and hotel spas, and its crowded centre is not restful. An early walk along the quieter canals or the ferry across the IJ is as close as it gets to slowing down.