Amsterdam or York?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Amsterdam comes closer. The dune-backed sands at Zandvoort and Bloemendaal are about half an hour by train, the sea gets a touch warmer by late summer, and on hot days you can swim inside the city at IJburg or in lakes such as the Sloterplas.

York has no water to swim in at all. Its nearest sand, the twin bays at Scarborough, is an hour away, with Filey and Whitby beyond, and while the old seaside towns make a good day out, the sea there is colder and swims are brief.

Amsterdam eats more interestingly, mostly thanks to its trading past. Indonesian rijsttafel and Surinamese roti, herring from street stalls and the neighbourhood restaurants of De Pijp, the Jordaan and Oost give it a range York cannot match, and its brown cafés and jenever tasting rooms make drinking an attraction in itself.

York's table is traditional English: afternoon tea with fat rascals, Sunday roasts and Yorkshire real ale in centuries-old pubs. It is comforting and well done, but international cooking is thin, so a few days there are enough.

Both pack their sights into a walkable centre, but Amsterdam's are on another level for art. The Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Stedelijk sit side by side, the Anne Frank House is unforgettable, and the UNESCO canal ring is a monument in its own right.

York's strength is depth of time rather than great collections. The Minster's medieval glass, the walls you can walk, the Viking street under Jorvik and the National Railway Museum tell two thousand years of history, and two or three days does them justice, slightly less than Amsterdam needs.

This is where the two differ most. Amsterdam runs from candlelit brown cafés to all-night clubs in old industrial buildings across the IJ, with a serious electronic music scene and the Amsterdam Dance Event every October.

A night out in York means its old inns along Micklegate, Stonegate and the river, which make for a fine ale-house crawl. Weekends bring stag and hen parties and the city goes quiet early on weeknights. Anyone wanting to dance till late takes the train to Leeds.

York has the far better countryside within reach. The North York Moors begin about 40km away, ending in sea cliffs at Robin Hood's Bay, and the Yorkshire Dales with their limestone scars and waterfalls are an hour west, though a car makes most of it much easier.

Amsterdam's outdoors is flat and quiet: a ferry and a bike take you into the meadows and wooden villages of Waterland, the Amsterdamse Bos has woods and rowing, and the coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland have bison. It is pleasant, but there are no hills to climb.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference lies in how easily you get around. From Amsterdam almost everything is on fast trains: Haarlem in a quarter of an hour, then Leiden, Delft, Utrecht, Vermeer in The Hague and Rotterdam's architecture, with Kinderdijk and the Keukenhof as easy extras.

York's rail links reach Harrogate, Leeds, Durham's cathedral and the coast quickly, but many of its finest outings, Castle Howard, Fountains Abbey and Rievaulx, are country houses and ruins best reached by car or coach tour.

Amsterdam gives children more to do over a longer stay. Artis zoo, the hands-on NEMO science museum, park playgrounds, canal boats and pancake houses fill several days, though fast bikes and unfenced canal edges mean keeping small hands held.

York is very good for a shorter visit. Walking among real locomotives at the National Railway Museum, the Jorvik ride and a turn on the walls thrill most children, and the pedestrianised centre feels safer for toddlers, but after two or three days the bigger attractions are an hour's drive away.

Amsterdam is the easier city to get around overall. Trams cover the canal ring and the museum quarter, a metro runs beneath the city, free ferries cross the IJ to Noord and a direct train reaches Schiphol. Hiring a bike is the local way to move, if you have the nerve for the busy lanes.

York holds its own on foot. Almost every sight lies inside or just outside the walls, much of the centre is pedestrianised, and the Minster is a fifteen-minute walk from the station. Beyond the city it falls behind, as rural buses into the moors are sparse.

Amsterdam offers more variety. The Nine Streets are full of boutiques and vintage, PC Hooftstraat carries the luxury labels and De Bijenkorf anchors Dam Square, while the Waterlooplein flea market, the Noordermarkt and the floating Bloemenmarkt add character.

York's appeal is the setting: bookshops, jewellers and antiques dealers along Stonegate and Petergate. The Shambles leans towards souvenirs, there is almost no high fashion, and the Christmas markets are its big season.

York is the gentler on the wallet, though neither comes cheap. Amsterdam's canal-ring hotels are among the costliest in Europe, a substantial tourist tax comes on top and museum tickets add up, so many visitors sleep in Haarlem or Utrecht to ease the bill.

York's rooms climb at weekends, on race days and at Christmas, but staying midweek or just outside the walls helps a lot, and the National Railway Museum, the walls and the Museum Gardens cost nothing.

Amsterdam is in a different league. The Concertgebouw and its orchestra are world-famous, the national opera and ballet perform on the Amstel, the Bimhuis covers jazz, and Paradiso and the Melkweg bring touring bands, though most theatre is in Dutch.

York offers charm on a smaller scale: the historic Theatre Royal and its pantomime, early music in a medieval church, free choral evensong at the Minster and the occasional Mystery Plays on wagons in the streets. Big tours skip it for Leeds.

Neither is a place to come and unwind, but Amsterdam has more within the city: large day spas on its edges with serious Dutch saunas, mixed and nude in the Northern way, plus quiet hours in the Vondelpark or on a ferry across the IJ.

York itself has only hotel and small day spas, and its gentler pleasures are morning walks on the walls and long afternoon teas. Its trump card is Harrogate, half an hour away, where the Victorian Turkish bath in the Royal Baths is worth the trip.