Amsterdam or Ghent?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation, and both have the same cold, often windy North Sea on their doorstep. The differences are small and practical. From Amsterdam, the dunes and beach pavilions of Zandvoort are about half an hour by train, while Ghent's nearest coast, at Ostend, is about an hour, though the coastal tram from there reaches a whole line of resorts. In town, Amsterdam has the IJburg beaches and lakes like the Sloterplas, and Ghent has the supervised lake swimming at the Blaarmeersen.

The two are about level for eating, but the cooking is quite different. Amsterdam's best food came in through its trading history: Indonesian rijsttafel, Surinamese roti, raw herring from street stalls and stroopwafels at the Albert Cuyp. Its drinking ritual is jenever and the early-evening borrel with bitterballen.

Ghent sticks closer to home, with Flemish dishes such as waterzooi, beef stewed in beer and grey shrimp croquettes, and it is unusually easy for vegetarians. Its brown cafés around the Vrijdagmarkt and the Patershol pour long lists of Trappist and lambic beers, and for anyone who cares about beer they go deeper than Amsterdam's.

Amsterdam carries more weight. Around one square it has the Rijksmuseum with the Night Watch, the largest Van Gogh collection anywhere and the Stedelijk, and on top of those come the Anne Frank House and the UNESCO-listed canal ring of merchant houses. Seeing it properly takes three or four days.

Ghent's appeal is more concentrated. It has one supreme masterpiece, the van Eycks' Ghent Altarpiece in St Bavo's, set in a medieval centre of guildhalls, towers and a moated castle in the middle of town. The museums are good rather than world-famous, and two or three days cover them.

Amsterdam has the far bigger night out. It has a serious electronic music scene, with all-night clubs in old industrial buildings in Noord and on the edges of the centre, and the Amsterdam Dance Event every October. For a drink, the terraces of the Jordaan and De Pijp are calmer than the loud squares.

Ghent's nights belong to its students and its beer. The Overpoort bars run late in term time and the cafés of the Oudburg suit a long evening, but the clubs are few and small. The exception is the Gentse Feesten in July, when the whole centre turns into a ten-day party.

Both sit in flat country made for cycling rather than hiking, but Amsterdam gives you more to do outdoors. A free ferry across the IJ leads straight into the dykes and wooden villages of Waterland, the Amsterdamse Bos offers woods and rowing on the edge of the city, and the Zuid-Kennemerland dunes have bison.

Ghent's outdoors is gentler and more farmed: riverside paths along the Leie to Sint-Martens-Latem, birdwatching in the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetlands and the Zwin reserve near the coast.

Both are superb bases for trips by train, but the outings are of different kinds. From Ghent the trips are to major historic cities: Bruges in under half an hour, Brussels and Antwerp soon after, plus the First World War battlefields around Ypres and Lille over the French border.

From Amsterdam, more of the day trips are the classic Dutch countryside: working windmills at Zaanse Schans and Kinderdijk, the fishing villages of the old Zuiderzee and the Keukenhof bulb fields in spring. Then come smaller canal towns such as Haarlem, Delft and Leiden, with Vermeer in The Hague.

Amsterdam is the better city for children because so much is built for them. There is Artis, one of Europe's oldest zoos, the NEMO science museum, city farms, playgrounds in the parks and pancake houses. The catch is the fast bike traffic and the unfenced canal edges, so small children need holding on to.

Ghent's car-free centre makes it a relaxed place to walk with children, and the Gravensteen's armour and battlements are a sure hit. After that there is little: the nearest zoo is in Antwerp, and the cobbles make pushchairs hard work.

Both centres are flat, compact and best seen on foot or by bike, but Amsterdam's transport goes further. Trams, a north-south metro line and free ferries to Noord cover the whole city, and Schiphol airport is one direct train ride away. Its crowded bike lanes do take nerve, though.

Ghent's traffic plan makes walking in the old centre very pleasant, and its bike streets are calmer to ride. The drawback is Gent-Sint-Pieters station, a twenty-minute walk south of the centre, so arrivals and day trips usually start with a tram ride.

Amsterdam offers a much wider range. The Nine Streets have boutiques and vintage shops along the canals, PC Hooftstraat has the luxury labels and De Bijenkorf is a grand department store, with the Noordermarkt and the floating Bloemenmarkt adding markets with character.

In Ghent, the interesting shops are in side streets such as the Serpentstraat, with vintage near the university, and there is little luxury. Its best buys are edible: cuberdons, chocolate, the city's mustard and Belgian beer.

Ghent is the easier city on the wallet, mainly because of the rooms. Amsterdam's hotels around the canal ring are among Europe's most expensive and come with a hefty tourist tax, so many visitors stay in Haarlem or Utrecht to save money.

In Ghent, small hotels and guesthouses are moderately priced for most of the year, though not during the Gentse Feesten. Eating out costs Western European prices in both, and frites stands or market snacks keep daytime bills down.

Amsterdam is the place to travel to for a performance. The Concertgebouw is one of the world's great concert halls, the national opera and ballet perform on the Amstel, the Bimhuis covers jazz, and Paradiso and the Melkweg bring in international touring bands.

Ghent has a strong scene for a city of its size: the Flemish opera in its nineteenth-century house, early music at De Bijloke in a medieval hospital, and NTGent's bold theatre, though like Amsterdam's stage work it is mostly in Dutch.

Neither is a spa destination, but Amsterdam has the actual facilities. Its large day spas and sauna centres on the edge of the city follow the Northern European habit of mixed, nude saunas, while Ghent has only a few private saunas and hotel spas.

What Ghent offers instead is quiet. The walled gardens of the beguinages, walks along the Coupure and calm Sundays make it a peaceful place after a day of sightseeing, which Amsterdam's crowded centre rarely is.