Antwerp or Cambridge?

Neither city is for a beach vacation, but Antwerp gets you nearer to one. Sint-Annastrand gives a strip of sand on the Scheldt, outdoor pools and lakes on the city's edge help in summer, and direct trains to Blankenberge and Knokke make a day on the sand possible without a car.

Cambridge is further from the sea, and the Norfolk and Suffolk shore really needs a car. Here a swim means fresh water: the long 1920s lido on Jesus Green, or the Cam at Grantchester Meadows on a hot afternoon.

Antwerp is much the better place to eat. It has a real regional cuisine to work through: beer-braised stoofvlees, mussels, shrimp croquettes, frites from a proper friterie and the city's own chocolates. Its beer culture runs from the local amber ale to long Trappist lists in the brown cafés. Het Zuid and Het Eilandje add an ambitious modern restaurant scene, with a few starred tables.

Cambridge has no local dishes to seek out. Its strengths are the old riverside pubs with ales and Sunday roasts, the daily stalls on Market Hill and the Asian and Mediterranean cooking on Mill Road. Away from those, the centre leans heavily on chains.

The two are about level, and each fills two or three days, but they are different kinds of visit. Antwerp's culture is painting and the wealth of a great trading port. You see Rubens altarpieces in the cathedral and his house and studio, the Renaissance printing house of Plantin-Moretus, and the Flemish masters in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Later layers include the domed Central Station, Art Nouveau Zurenborg and fashion at MoMu.

Cambridge is above all an architectural experience: eight centuries of college courts and chapels along the Backs, with King's College Chapel and the Wren Library at their head. Its museums are the university's own, led by the Fitzwilliam. Some colleges charge for entry and shut around exams.

Antwerp is the stronger city after dark. Belgian bars have no fixed closing time, so the old centre and the student streets keep going late. The city also has a long house and techno tradition in warehouse venues near the docks, and one of the best-known gay scenes in the Low Countries.

Cambridge's nights belong to the pub, from historic inns to beer gardens by the river. Its small student club scene goes quiet in the summer break and at Christmas, which is exactly when many visitors come. For a big night out, people take the train to London.

Both sit in flat, low country, and neither is a trip for the outdoors. The difference is where the green space is. In Cambridge it runs through the town itself: commons beside the centre, punting through the Backs and the water meadows to Grantchester, with Wicken Fen's birds and ponies a little further out.

Antwerp's best open country lies beyond the port and the suburbs. The Kalmthoutse Heide has heath, dunes and pine woods, and the dykes along the Scheldt polders make good bike rides. In town you have parks such as Rivierenhof and the Stadspark.

Antwerp has the edge because its trains reach two countries. Ghent, Bruges, Brussels, Leuven and Mechelen are all easy by rail, and across the border lie Rotterdam, Delft, The Hague and the windmills of Kinderdijk. You could fill a week with medieval cities and never need a car.

Cambridge's great asset is London, under an hour away for a museum or a show. Ely Cathedral and Norwich are simple train rides too. The Suffolk wool towns and the National Trust estates are easier by car.

Antwerp is the slightly easier city with children. The zoo sits right beside Central Station, and the trams, the MAS rooftop, the Steen and the foot tunnel under the Scheldt all keep children interested. Belgian cafés are relaxed about families. The wet weather means having indoor plans ready.

Cambridge is small, safe and green, and punting goes down well at most ages. The free zoology museum and the Sedgwick dinosaurs are good for curious children, and Duxford's aircraft make the best outing. The college sights themselves are hushed, though, and there is no zoo or theme park.

Both centres are compact and best on foot or by bike, and a car is a nuisance in either. Antwerp also has trams, some running underground, which carry you out to Het Eilandje and Zurenborg. Its main station is close to the sights and is the hub for rail links across Belgium and into the Netherlands.

In Cambridge almost everything is in a flat, largely pedestrian core, and a hired bike is how you reach Grantchester. The station is on the edge of town, the buses are ordinary, and the country estates are easier with a car.

Antwerp is a genuine shopping destination, and its speciality is fashion. The designers who came out of its fashion academy shaped the conceptual boutiques of the Nationalestraat, Kammenstraat and Het Zuid. You also have the Meir for high-street names, the diamond quarter by the station and the antique and interiors shops of the Kloosterstraat.

Cambridge shopping is small-scale and bookish. You find academic and second-hand booksellers, the market on Market Hill, independent shops on Trinity Street and vintage finds on Mill Road. It fits round sightseeing rather than shaping a trip.

Neither is cheap, but Antwerp is easier on a mid-range budget. Rooms there usually cost less than in nearby capitals, and a café beer or a cone of frites stays reasonable, even if sit-down dinners follow Belgian prices.

Cambridge is the dearer stay, mainly because central hotels are few and in steady demand, especially in summer and around graduations. It does save you money elsewhere: the Fitzwilliam and most university museums are free, evensong costs nothing, and a college room out of term can be good value.

The two are broadly level, but they offer very different kinds of evening. Antwerp has the larger institutions: Flemish opera and ballet in the historic house on the Frankrijklei, a symphony orchestra by Central Station, and contemporary dance at deSingel. Its theatre is mostly in Dutch.

Cambridge's speciality is choral music, with world-famous college choirs singing evensong in candlelit chapels during term. Add the Arts Theatre, student comedy in the Footlights tradition and the summer Folk Festival, but no opera house.

Cambridge is the more restful place, though neither has a spa culture of its own. Its calm comes from the setting: a punt on the river, a bench in the Botanic Garden or a college garden, and the meadow walk to Grantchester. In summer, keep to early mornings and the edges of town, because the streets around King's Parade fill with tour groups.

Antwerp is a city for museums and shopping rather than rest. Flemish sauna complexes with pools and gardens exist, but most are out of town and mostly reached by car. In the city, unwinding usually means a park or a quiet brown café.