Baden-Baden or Brussels?

Neither city is a beach destination. Brussels has a slight edge only because the wide sands of Ostend and Knokke are a little over an hour away by train, although the North Sea makes that a breezy day out rather than a swim.

Baden-Baden has no coast within reach, just gravel-pit lakes on the Rhine plain and outdoor pools for a hot afternoon. In both places the better way to get into water is indoors: thermal pools in Baden-Baden, Art Deco swimming halls in Brussels.

Brussels is the better city to eat in. Its Belgian classics, from carbonnade and waterzooi to shrimp croquettes, come with one of the world's great beer cultures and the chocolatiers of the Sablon. The cooking of Matonge, Saint-Josse and Schaerbeek adds a range that a small spa town cannot offer.

Baden-Baden's strength lies in its region rather than its own streets. Flammkuchen, venison and Black Forest gateau are on the menus, and the Riesling and Pinot Noir of Neuweier and Varnhalt are poured in the village taverns. The serious tables are a drive away in the northern Black Forest, and in town the choice is mostly hotel dining and cake.

Brussels has much more to see: the Grand-Place, Bruegel and Rubens at the Royal Museums of Fine Arts, the Magritte museum, Horta's UNESCO-listed houses and the Cinquantenaire collections could fill several days. The catch is that the city around these sights is patchy, with office blocks breaking up the old fabric.

Baden-Baden is the opposite. It has fewer sights, but the Belle Époque town of the Kurhaus, the Trinkhalle and the hillside villas survives almost whole, which makes walking through it the main sight. The Museum Frieder Burda, the Brahms house and the Russian church round out a day or two.

After dark the two have little in common. Brussels has a proper night out, mostly in bars: Saint-Géry and the Bourse on warm evenings, Flagey and Châtelain for a local crowd, plus a well-known techno club in the Marolles and a queer scene on Rue du Marché au Charbon.

In Baden-Baden the evening means the gilded casino in the Kurhaus, a hotel bar or a glass of wine, with an older crowd and quiet streets well before midnight. Anyone wanting more takes the train to Karlsruhe or Strasbourg.

Baden-Baden is much the stronger for the outdoors because the Black Forest starts at its edge. The funicular to the Merkur summit, climbing on the Battert cliffs and fir-forest trails lead up to the Mummelsee and the moorland of the Hornisgrinde, with mountain biking in summer and modest skiing in winter.

Brussels has the tall beech stands of the Sonian Forest and city parks such as the Bois de la Cambre, good for a walk or a ride. Beyond them the land is flat, and kayaking or proper hikes mean a trip to the Meuse valley around Dinant.

Both are excellent bases, but Brussels has the edge for speed and density. Ghent is half an hour away, Antwerp forty minutes and Bruges an hour, all by frequent train with no car needed, and Paris is within an hour and a half on the high-speed line.

Baden-Baden's outings take you across a border and into the hills: Strasbourg and the Alsace wine route, Heidelberg, Freiburg, and the UNESCO sites of Speyer and Maulbronn. They are just as rewarding, but several of them work far better with a car.

Brussels does more for children inside the city itself. The Atomium and Mini-Europe, the Iguanodon herd at the Natural Sciences museum, Train World and the comic murals fill several days, with Walibi and Pairi Daiza close by. The cobbles, the traffic and the rain are the drawbacks.

Baden-Baden is calm and safe, and the funicular and forest trails go down well with children. But its main attraction, the Friedrichsbad, does not admit young children, so families tend to spend their days at Europa-Park or Karlsruhe's zoo.

Brussels is easier to get around without a car. Metro, trams and buses reach Ixelles and Saint-Gilles, the main stations link straight to the airport, and the centre is compact apart from the climb to the upper town. Driving there is a burden.

Baden-Baden's centre is small enough to walk, though steep in places, and the station sits out in Oos with buses into town. The real difference is beyond the centre: the High Road, the Rebland villages and Alsace are much simpler with a car of your own.

Brussels has far more to browse. Chocolatiers in the Galeries Royales and on the Sablon, antiques and the Jeu de Balle flea market in the Marolles, Belgian designers on Rue Antoine Dansaert and luxury brands on Avenue Louise cover many tastes.

Baden-Baden's shopping is polished but narrow, with jewellers, watchmakers and delicatessens on Sophienstraße and Lange Straße serving a wealthy spa clientele. Beyond cuckoo clocks and local wine there is little else, and serious shoppers head to Strasbourg.

Neither is cheap, but Brussels is the easier city on a budget. Its business hotels empty out at weekends, and frites, sandwiches and the cooking in the immigrant neighbourhoods keep daily costs down.

Baden-Baden was built for the wealthy and still feels like it. Grand hotels set the prices and every visit to the baths is paid for, so a spa-centred stay adds up quickly, even if guesthouses, bakeries and wine taverns stay fair by German standards.

Brussels has the broader stage. La Monnaie's adventurous opera, the national orchestra at Bozar, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, dance and theatre in two languages, and rock halls on every European tour give a visitor choice on most nights.

Baden-Baden is narrower but remarkable for its size. The Festspielhaus brings international orchestras and opera to one of Germany's largest halls, and the legacy of Brahms and Clara Schumann still shapes the town. Outside classical music there is little.

For rest, Baden-Baden is in a different class. The town exists because of its hot springs, and the silent sequence of hot rooms and pools at the Friedrichsbad, the saunas of Caracalla and the slow walks along the Lichtentaler Allee make relaxing the purpose of the stay rather than a break from sightseeing.

Brussels is a working capital with no bathing tradition. A North African hammam, a hotel spa or a long lunch on an Ixelles terrace is about as restful as it gets.