Antwerp or Paris?

Neither is a beach city, but Antwerp has a slight edge. Sint-Annastrand gives it a stretch of real sand on the Scheldt's left bank all year, and the North Sea resorts of Blankenberge and Knokke are under two hours by train, though the water stays cool.

Paris lays out sand and deckchairs along the river only in summer. In return it has swimming spots in the Bassin de la Villette and the Seine, plus handsome Art Deco pools, none of which Antwerp's tidal river can offer. Its nearest coast in Normandy is a similar trip away.

Antwerp's cooking is Flemish through and through: stoofvlees braised in dark beer, mussels, shrimp croquettes and frites in paper cones. Beer is its real strength, from the bolleke of amber ale to the long Trappist lists in the old brown cafés. The modern kitchens of Het Zuid and Het Eilandje are good, but this is a city for beer and comfort food rather than one you would travel to just to eat.

Paris is in another league. It has morning markets such as Aligre, the haute cuisine tradition, natural-wine bars and small, inventive neo-bistros in the east of the city. Add the couscous of Belleville, Vietnamese pho in the south-east and pastry made into an art form, and you have a range Antwerp cannot match.

Antwerp's culture centres on one golden age. Rubens's altarpieces in the Cathedral of Our Lady, his house and studio, the UNESCO-listed Plantin-Moretus printing house and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts tell the story of the Flemish Baroque. Central Station and the Art Nouveau of Zurenborg are rewarding extras.

Paris works on a different scale. The Louvre alone could take a week, and the Orsay, the Orangerie, Cluny and Rodin would each lead the bill elsewhere, before you reach Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle and the Eiffel Tower. The cityscape of Haussmann boulevards and the Marais is a sight in its own right, though the queues are part of the price.

Antwerp punches above its size. Bars have no fixed closing time, its warehouse house and techno clubs have a long tradition, and its gay scene is among the best known in the Low Countries. Still, it is lively at weekends and quiet midweek.

Paris has far more ground to cover, from the crowded bars of Oberkampf, the Canal Saint-Martin and Belleville to the cocktail bars of South Pigalle and summer barges on the river. Bars close earlier than in Antwerp and doors can be selective, but the clubs carry on until dawn every week of the year.

Paris offers more for the outdoors, though neither city has big landscapes. Inside the city there are the Buttes-Chaumont's cliffs and lake and the large woods of Boulogne and Vincennes. The forest of Fontainebleau, with its sandstone boulders loved by climbers and its marked trails, is about forty minutes away by train.

Antwerp's surroundings are flat and taken up by the port. Its parks, the Kalmthoutse Heide heathland and the dyke rides through the polders suit cyclists well, but few visitors come for them.

Both are superb bases, and Paris comes out a little ahead on sheer grandeur. Versailles, Chartres, Giverny, Champagne in Reims and the Loire châteaux via Tours make up a list of royal palaces and famous landscapes that could fill a second week.

Antwerp's strength is density, across two countries. Mechelen is a short hop away, Ghent, Brussels and Leuven take under an hour, and Bruges takes about an hour and a half. Rotterdam, Delft and Kinderdijk across the Dutch border mean you can collect several historic cities without long journeys.

Paris has much more for children. Disneyland and Parc Astérix are a short train ride out, and the city has the Cité des Sciences, the Jardin des Plantes galleries with their skeletons, and carousels and toy sailboats in the Luxembourg.

Antwerp is easier day to day. Its historic zoo sits beside Central Station, the flat centre suits a pushchair, and the foot tunnel under the Scheldt is a free adventure. Paris, by contrast, means metro stairs, small hotel rooms and long queues, and Antwerp's grey weather means keeping indoor plans ready.

Paris is the better city to move around in. It is one of the great walking cities, and its metro is so dense that a station is always close, with the RER reaching Versailles and the airports. The cost is stairs, long corridors and rush-hour crowds.

Antwerp is simpler and smaller. Most of it lies within a half-hour walk from Central Station to the river and Het Zuid, with trams and premetro for the rest and bikes as a natural choice. The station also connects you straight into the Belgian and Dutch rail network.

Antwerp's shopping is specialised and has real character. You will find conceptual Belgian design in the boutiques of Nationalestraat and Kammenstraat, the legacy of its famous fashion academy, along with the diamond quarter and antiques on the Kloosterstraat.

Paris covers everything, from the couture flagships of Avenue Montaigne and the grand department stores to independent designers in the Marais, the covered passages, the Saint-Ouen flea market and the bouquinistes along the Seine. For range and sheer pleasure, it leads easily.

Antwerp is the less costly stay. Rooms are cheaper than in the nearby capitals, the compact centre means you rarely pay for transport, and café beers and frites stay reasonable, though sit-down dinners follow high Belgian price levels.

Paris is harder on the wallet, with small, costly hotel rooms, expensive terrace drinks and full admission at the big sights. Its free city museum collections, market picnics and lunchtime set menus soften the cost but do not close the gap.

Paris has the much fuller calendar. The Palais Garnier and Opéra Bastille, the Philharmonie, chamber concerts in the Sainte-Chapelle, jazz cellars around the rue des Lombards and cabaret in Pigalle offer something every night that needs no French.

Antwerp is well served for its size. Opera Ballet Vlaanderen performs in its historic opera house, and deSingel is good for contemporary dance, a field where Flanders has an international name. AMUZ stages early music in a Baroque church. In both cities, most theatre is out of reach unless you speak the local language.

Neither city is a place to rest, but Paris has a little more to offer. The tiled steam rooms and mint tea of the Grande Mosquée hammam in the Latin Quarter, along with smaller neighbourhood hammams, are right in town.

Antwerp relies on the Flemish sauna habit, but its large wellness complexes lie in the suburbs and countryside and are mostly reached by car. A slower pace, a park bench or a brown café is the easier way to unwind there.