Antwerp or Ghent?

Ghent has the better access to water, though neither city is a place for a beach vacation. The Blaarmeersen on its western edge has a sandy lakeshore with supervised swimming in summer. Ostend is about an hour away by train, and from there the coastal tram links the resorts.

Antwerp's Sint-Annastrand is sand by a tidal river that nobody swims in, and the coast is close to two hours away. Locals there cool off in outdoor pools and recreation lakes instead.

Both cities eat well on Flemish cooking and great beer, but they do it differently. Antwerp has the more ambitious restaurants: modern, design-led cooking in Het Zuid and Het Eilandje, with a few starred tables. Its local amber ale comes in the round bolleke glass, and the hand-shaped Antwerpse handjes are its chocolate.

Ghent is more homely and more local. Waterzooi carries the city's name, and the strong mustard and purple cuberdons are the things to take home. The Patershol lanes hold the better restaurants, and a long meat-free tradition makes Ghent the easier city for vegetarians.

These two are evenly matched, but they show different centuries. Antwerp is about the wealth of the Flemish Baroque: Rubens's altarpieces in the cathedral, his house and studio, and the Plantin-Moretus printing house. It adds later layers too, with the domed Central Station, the Art Nouveau streets of Zurenborg and the MAS on the docks.

Ghent's appeal is a medieval city that still works as one. It has the Gravensteen castle in the middle of town, the guildhalls facing each other across the Leie, and the van Eyck altarpiece in St Bavo's, one of the founding works of European painting.

Antwerp is the city for clubbing, and Ghent is the city for bars. Antwerp's house and techno tradition lives in old warehouses and under the railway near the docks. It also has one of the best-known gay scenes in the Low Countries, and Het Zuid has smart cocktail bars.

Ghent's evenings are younger and built around beer. Students fill the Overpoort in term time, the old cafés around the Vrijdagmarkt suit long nights, and its few electronic clubs are small. Every July the Gentse Feesten turns the whole centre into a ten-day street party.

Antwerp's surroundings are flat and heavily built up, and the port takes up much of the river to the north. For open country you head beyond it to the Kalmthoutse Heide, a heathland of dunes and pine woods, or ride the quiet dykes through the Scheldt polders.

Ghent's country is just as flat but greener and mostly farmed, and it starts closer to town. Riverside paths follow the Leie to Sint-Martens-Latem, birdwatchers can visit the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetland on the city's edge, and the Zwin reserve on the coast is within reach. In both cities the outdoors means a bike rather than hiking boots.

Both are superb bases, and the difference lies in the direction you want to go. Ghent faces west, with Bruges under half an hour away and Ypres and the First World War battlefields, the coast and Lille all within a day. Antwerp faces north, with Rotterdam about an hour away and Delft, The Hague and the Kinderdijk windmills all possible in a day. Brussels, Mechelen and Leuven are easy from either, and each city makes a good day trip from the other.

Antwerp is the easier city with children. One of the world's oldest zoos sits right next to Central Station, and the flat centre works with a pushchair. Children also tend to enjoy the trams, the Steen, the MAS rooftop and walking under the river through the foot tunnel.

Ghent's car-free centre makes it safe and calm, and the Gravensteen's battlements, the canal boats and the House of Alijn keep younger visitors busy for a day or two. After that there is less made for them, and the cobbles are hard work with a pushchair.

Both are compact, flat and best handled on foot or by bike, with no need for a car. Antwerp's advantage is that its main station is in the centre, and premetro trams reach Het Eilandje and Zurenborg. Ghent's centre is quieter because most cars are kept out by the traffic plan. Its main station, Gent-Sint-Pieters, is a twenty-minute walk south of the centre, so arrivals and day trips usually start with a tram ride.

Antwerp is one of Europe's fashion cities, and Ghent is not. The avant-garde designers who came out of Antwerp's academy shaped the boutiques of the Nationalestraat and Kammenstraat. The city also has one of the world's main diamond districts by Central Station, antique and interiors shops on the Kloosterstraat, and the Meir for the chains.

Ghent's shopping is more modest and more local: independent design around the Serpentstraat, vintage in the student quarter and good markets, from the Sint-Jacobs flea market to the Sunday flowers on the Kouter.

Neither is cheap, and the costs are much the same, set by Belgian restaurant prices that run high for Western Europe. Frites stands and set lunches help in both, and the walkable centres keep transport costs low. Antwerp's rooms usually undercut those in the nearby capitals. Ghent's small hotels are moderately priced for most of the year but fill up during the Gentse Feesten. Ghent also has free entry to several churches, including St Bavo's.

The two cities share the Flemish opera and ballet company, which divides its seasons between their historic opera houses, so they are close here. Antwerp leans towards dance and concerts: contemporary dance at deSingel, the symphony orchestra by Central Station, early music at AMUZ and a large arena for touring stars.

Ghent is stronger on theatre and festivals. NTGent is known well beyond Belgium, though it mostly performs in Dutch. De Bijloke hosts concerts in a medieval hospital, and the Gentse Feesten puts free stages across the centre every July.

Neither city has thermal baths, and neither is a place for spa breaks. Antwerp's best option is the large sauna complexes outside the city, which are mostly reached by car. Ghent offers rest of a quieter kind: the enclosed gardens of the beguinages, slow walks along the Coupure canal and calm Sundays. That makes it slightly better for unwinding after a day of sightseeing.