Antwerp or Baden-Baden?

Neither city is anywhere near a real beach, but Antwerp is slightly less cut off. Sint-Annastrand gives a sandy riverside promenade to sit on, and the North Sea resorts of Blankenberge and Knokke can be reached by train for a long, chilly day out.

Baden-Baden is far inland, and the nearest you get to outdoor swimming is the flooded gravel pits on the Rhine plain. In both places, water means looking at it or sitting in it warm, not swimming.

Antwerp has more to eat and much more to drink. Beer is the backbone: amber ale in a round bolleke, long abbey and Trappist lists in cafés near the cathedral, and friteries, chocolatiers and modern restaurants in Het Zuid and Het Eilandje to go with it.

Baden-Baden eats well but narrowly, with Flammkuchen, venison and cherry gateau in hotel dining rooms and cake cafés. Its own strength is wine, with Riesling and Pinot Noir tasted in the Rebland villages just outside town. The region's celebrated tables are a drive away in the Black Forest.

Antwerp has far more to see. Rubens in the Cathedral of Our Lady and in his own house, the UNESCO-listed Plantin-Moretus, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts and the domed Central Station are the core of several full days, with MoMu, the MAS and Zurenborg's Art Nouveau streets to add.

Baden-Baden's appeal is the town as a whole: a Belle Époque spa resort with the Kurhaus, the Trinkhalle colonnade and hillside villas. The Museum Frieder Burda and the Kunsthalle add good art, but it is a day or two of sightseeing, not a week.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Antwerp has bars with no closing time, student streets busy past midnight, house and techno nights in dockside warehouses and one of the Low Countries' best-known gay scenes.

Baden-Baden's evening out is the gilded Kurhaus casino with a dress code, followed by a hotel bar or a glass of wine. The streets are quiet by late evening, and anyone wanting a club has to go to Karlsruhe or Strasbourg.

Baden-Baden is far ahead. The northern Black Forest begins at the edge of town, with the Merkur funicular, climbing on the Battert cliffs and trails through fir forest and vineyards. Further up there is the Mummelsee, the Hornisgrinde moorland, mountain biking and some modest skiing.

Antwerp's landscape is flat and heavily built up. Its city parks and cycle rides along the Scheldt dykes or across the Kalmthoutse Heide are pleasant, but nobody goes there for the scenery.

Both are excellent bases, and Antwerp has the edge mostly because everything is on fast, frequent trains. Mechelen, Brussels, Leuven, Ghent and Bruges are all within about an hour and a half, and Rotterdam, Delft and Kinderdijk are within reach over the Dutch border.

Baden-Baden's outings have more variety, with Strasbourg, Heidelberg and Freiburg by train and the Alsace wine route, Speyer and Maulbronn further out. Many of the best ones go much more easily by car.

Antwerp is the easier city with children. Its historic zoo is right next to Central Station, and the trams, the Steen, the MAS rooftop and the foot tunnel under the Scheldt all keep a day busy, in a café culture that welcomes children.

Baden-Baden is safe and calm, and the funicular and forest paths go down well. But the Friedrichsbad turns away young children and the town is built around adults, so families usually head out to Europa-Park or Karlsruhe's zoo.

Antwerp is easier to get around. The national rail hub sits in the middle of town, most sights are within a half-hour walk, and trams and the premetro reach the rest, with shared bikes as well.

Baden-Baden's centre is compact but hilly, and its station is out in Oos, a bus ride away. Trains cover the bigger towns, but the High Road, the wine villages and Alsace really need a car.

Antwerp is a real shopping destination, built on its fashion academy. Conceptual Belgian labels fill the Nationalestraat and Kammenstraat, with the Meir high street, the diamond quarter and the antique shops of the Kloosterstraat alongside.

Baden-Baden is polished but small. Sophienstraße and Lange Straße have jewellers, watchmakers and delicatessens for spa guests, and not much else. Cuckoo clocks and local wine are the souvenirs.

Neither is cheap, but Antwerp is the gentler on the wallet. Rooms there undercut the nearby capitals, the walkable centre costs nothing to get around, and lunch menus and frites stands keep the cost of eating down.

Baden-Baden was built for the wealthy and still feels it. Grand hotels set the price level and every bath visit is paid for, although bakeries, guesthouses and wine taverns are fair by German standards.

The two are evenly matched but very different in character. Antwerp offers more variety: Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in the Frankrijklei opera house, the symphony orchestra by Central Station, bold contemporary dance at deSingel and early music at AMUZ. Most of its theatre, though, is in Dutch.

Baden-Baden is about classical music at a high level. The huge Festspielhaus brings in leading international orchestras and opera, the Kurhaus has its own philharmonic, and the legacy of Brahms and Clara Schumann is everywhere. There is little jazz or rock.

Baden-Baden is in a different league here. The hot springs are the reason the town exists. The domed Friedrichsbad takes bathers through a silent sequence of hot rooms, scrubs and pools, and Caracalla adds indoor and outdoor thermal pools and a large sauna area.

Antwerp has no springs or historic baths. The Flemish sauna complexes are out in the suburbs, so relaxing there mostly means a slow afternoon in Rivierenhof or a brown café.