Baden-Baden or Ghent?

Neither is a beach destination, but Ghent at least has sand within reach. Ostend and the coast tram are about an hour away by train, and the Blaarmeersen lake has a sandy shore with supervised swimming in summer. In Baden-Baden, swimming means outdoor pools and the gravel-pit lakes of the Rhine plain, and the town's water is meant for thermal bathing.

Baden-Baden eats well within a narrow range. The centre leans on smart hotel dining and coffee and cake. Its real pleasures are Baden dishes such as Flammkuchen and venison, and the wine taverns of the Rebland villages, which pour Riesling and Pinot Noir from the slopes just outside town.

Ghent gives you more to explore without leaving the centre: waterzooi, beef stewed in beer and shrimp croquettes in the Patershol lanes, frites from stands, and brown cafés around the Vrijdagmarkt with long lists of Trappist and lambic beers. It is also the easier of the two for vegetarians.

Baden-Baden is one well-kept period piece: the Belle Époque Kurhaus, the Trinkhalle and the hillside villas of a Great Spa Town. Add the Museum Frieder Burda and the Kunsthalle and you have enough for a day or two.

Ghent has more depth and older layers. The van Eyck brothers' altarpiece in St Bavo's is one of the founding works of European painting. Around it stand the moated Gravensteen, the guildhalls of the Graslei and Korenlei, and museums ranging from the Flemish masters to the SMAK. The choice is between nineteenth-century elegance and a living medieval city.

A night out in Baden-Baden means the gilded casino rooms of the Kurhaus with their dress code, a hotel bar or a glass in a wine bar, and the streets are calm by late evening.

Ghent stays out much later. In term time the university fills the student bars of the Overpoort, the old cafés of the Vrijdagmarkt and Oudburg are made for long evenings over beer, and in July the Gentse Feesten turns the centre into a ten-day street party. Clubbers will find little in either.

From Baden-Baden you walk straight into the northern Black Forest. The Merkur funicular climbs to views over the Rhine plain, climbers use the Battert cliffs, and the High Road runs past the Mummelsee to the Hornisgrinde moorland at over 1,100m, with modest skiing in winter.

Ghent's countryside is flat and farmed. It is best seen by bike along the Leie towards Sint-Martens-Latem, or with binoculars in the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetlands. It is pleasant, but there is nothing like the forested uplands.

Both make excellent bases for day trips. From Baden-Baden, Strasbourg, the Alsace wine route, Heidelberg and Freiburg are each around an hour away, though a car makes the Alsace and Black Forest outings far easier.

Ghent has the edge because its destinations are closer and all reachable by train. Bruges and Brussels are each about half an hour away and Antwerp is within the hour, with Leuven, Ypres and Lille behind them, so you never need to drive.

Both are safe and calm with children, and in both the main family attractions lie outside town. Baden-Baden suits families who want forest trails, the funicular and a day at Europa-Park, though the Friedrichsbad turns young children away. Ghent offers a car-free centre, the armour and battlements of the Gravensteen, canal boats and the Blaarmeersen lake beach, but its cobbles are hard on pushchairs.

Baden-Baden's centre is walkable but has steep streets. The station is a bus ride away in Oos, and the wine villages, the High Road and Alsace really call for a car.

Ghent is simpler. The flat, largely car-free centre puts the cathedral, the Graslei and the Gravensteen minutes apart, trams cover the rest of the city, and there are bike lanes everywhere. Frequent trains make a car more trouble than it is worth.

Baden-Baden's shopping is upmarket but small, with jewellers, watchmakers and boutiques along Sophienstraße and Lange Straße and little beyond cuckoo clocks and wine. Ghent has more variety and less polish: independent design in the Serpentstraat, vintage near the Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat, the Sint-Jacobs flea market and the Kouter flower market, plus chocolate, cuberdons and mustard to take home.

Neither is cheap, but Baden-Baden is the costlier stay. It still caters to a wealthy spa clientele, grand hotels set the tone and every visit to the baths is paid for separately, though simple guesthouses and wine taverns help.

Ghent has Western European prices but is easier to manage. Frites stands, bakeries and set lunches keep daytime eating sensible, small hotels and guesthouses are plentiful, the centre is walkable and St Bavo's is free to enter.

Both have far more on stage than their size suggests, but in different ways. Baden-Baden is classical through and through, with international orchestras and opera at the Festspielhaus, the town's philharmonic in the Kurhaus and the legacy of Brahms and Clara Schumann.

Ghent's programme is wider. There is opera and ballet at the opera house, NTGent's bold theatre, though mostly in Dutch, and early music at De Bijloke. Each July the Gentse Feesten adds free stages, and the city also has a long-running jazz festival.

Wellness is the reason Baden-Baden exists. Hot springs used since Roman times feed the domed Friedrichsbad, with its silent sequence of hot rooms, scrubs and pools, and the modern Caracalla with its pools and saunas. Grand hotel spas and the Lichtentaler Allee keep the whole town at a resting pace.

Ghent has no bathing culture beyond hotel spas and private saunas. Its restfulness comes from beguinage gardens, walks along the Coupure canal and slow Sundays.