Bath or Rotterdam?

Neither city is a reason to pack swimwear, but Rotterdam at least has a proper beach of its own. Hoek van Holland is a wide sandy strand backed by dunes and reached by metro, with container ships passing close offshore. It is good for a windy walk, even if few people swim.

Bath has nothing comparable. The nearest sea is the brown, shallow Bristol Channel at Weston-super-Mare, an hour away, and in summer locals swim in the Avon by a weir. For clean sand you need the Dorset or Devon coast, which is a long day there and back.

Rotterdam eats more widely. It is a port city with large immigrant communities, so you will find Surinamese roti, Turkish bakeries and Moroccan and Cape Verdean cooking, and the Markthal and the Binnenrotte market make grazing easy.

Bath's strength is local and traditional: West Country cheese, Somerset cider, gastropubs and afternoon tea, plus its own Sally Lunn and Bath buns. It lacks variety and street food, and the evening winds down earlier than in Rotterdam.

Bath is the better city for sightseeing. The whole city is a World Heritage Site, and the Royal Crescent, the Circus, Pulteney Bridge, the Abbey and the steaming Roman Baths all lie a few minutes' walk apart. Together they form an intact Georgian city built on Roman foundations.

Rotterdam offers the opposite: a centre destroyed in 1940 and rebuilt as a showcase of modern architecture, from the Cube Houses to the mirrored Depot Boijmans van Beuningen. Its museums are solid rather than outstanding, and the old city survives only in pockets such as Delfshaven.

Rotterdam is the better night out, mainly because of its clubs. As the birthplace of gabber, it still fills warehouse and harbour venues with techno and house nights that draw crowds from across the country. The terraces on the Witte de Withstraat and around the Oude Haven keep the bars busy in summer.

Evenings in Bath centre on the pub, from old coaching inns to the real-ale houses on Walcot Street, with a few student clubs in term time. Most weeknights end soon after dinner, and anyone wanting more takes the train to Bristol.

Bath has the better countryside on its doorstep. Green hills rise straight from the streets, the Skyline loop follows the ridges, and the canal towpath runs through the Limpley Stoke valley. The Cotswolds and the Mendips, with Cheddar Gorge, are both within an hour.

Rotterdam's outdoors is flat and watery. You can cycle along the dykes into polder country, sail in the Kralingse Bos or canoe among the creeks of the Biesbosch. It is pleasant by bike, but walkers will miss the hills.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is in how you travel. From Rotterdam, fast trains reach Delft, The Hague, Leiden, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Antwerp within about an hour, so a week of excursions needs no car at all.

Bath's best day trips are rural and ancient: Stonehenge and Avebury, Wells and Glastonbury, Lacock and the Cotswold villages. Bristol and Cardiff are easy by rail, but most of the rest needs a car or a small-group tour.

Bath gives children a short list of good things rather than a full programme. The costumed characters on the terraces of the Roman Baths, the big playground in Royal Victoria Park below the Royal Crescent, a boat trip on the Avon and the children's theatre will fill a day or two. After that, families go further: Bristol's science centre, aquarium and wildlife park are a short train ride away, and the safari park at Longleat is about forty minutes by car.

Rotterdam has more to keep children busy for a longer stay. Plaswijckpark in the north combines playgrounds and animals, the city's parks have plenty of play areas, and the Euromast and a harbour boat tour appeal to most ages. Madurodam's miniature Netherlands is a short train ride away in The Hague, and the Efteling theme park is about an hour by car, so a week with children has no shortage of plans.

Both are easy without a car, in different ways. Bath is compact, with the main sights all within a twenty-minute walk, though the hills are steep and the countryside beyond needs a car or a tour. Rotterdam has a slight edge, because its metro, trams, water buses and cycle paths cover the city and reach the coast, even if the spread-out postwar centre means longer, windier walks between sights.

There is little to choose between them, but the shopping is quite different. Bath is better for browsing: antiques on Bartlett Street, furniture makers and salvage dealers on Walcot Street, the centuries-old Guildhall Market and the little shops on Pulteney Bridge, all in Georgian stone.

Rotterdam is stronger on the high street. The Lijnbaan, one of Europe's first pedestrian shopping streets, has a department store and the major chains close together. Vintage, record and design shops run along the Meent and the Nieuwe Binnenweg.

Neither city is cheap, but Rotterdam is easier on the budget. Hotel rooms are plentiful and often quiet at weekends in the business districts, and market stalls and Surinamese snack shops keep lunch modest, though restaurant meals and beer are expensive.

In Bath, rooms are scarce and dear, especially in summer and around Christmas, and the Roman Baths and the spa add to the bill. Pub lunches and a walkable centre help, and so does staying in Bristol and coming over by train.

Rotterdam offers more on stage. The Rotterdam Philharmonic, one of the best orchestras in the country, plays a full season at De Doelen, and the conservatory helps keep the small jazz and pop venues lively. Each July the North Sea Jazz Festival brings hundreds of acts, although much of the city's theatre needs Dutch.

In Bath, stage life centres on the gilded Georgian Theatre Royal, with touring drama, opera and pantomime, along with concerts in the Abbey and long-running festivals. There is no resident orchestra, though, and most nights offer only a small choice of live music.

This is where Bath stands apart. It is the only place in Britain where you can bathe in natural hot spring water, in the open-air rooftop pool overlooking the Abbey or in the small Georgian Cross Bath, and the whole town moves at a strolling pace.

Rotterdam is brisk and practical. Its best option is a large Dutch sauna complex on the edge of the city, usually textile-free, and the centre has only hotel and day spas.