Bristol or Bruges?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Bruges comes closer. A short train ride to Blankenberge brings you to the coast tram and a long line of wide sandy beaches, good for a sunny half-day by the North Sea.

From Bristol, the Severn estuary offers mud flats and silty water, and the tide goes out a long way at Weston-super-Mare. The appeal is cold-water dipping in tidal pools such as Clevedon's marine lake. Proper swimming beaches mean a long drive into Devon, Cornwall or Gower.

The two eat equally well but in very different ways. Bristol is a city for grazing: St Nicholas Market, container kitchens on the harbour, the bakeries of Gloucester Road, plus West Country cider and craft taprooms.

Bruges has the stronger identity. Trappist and abbey beers, mussels with frites, beef stewed in beer and serious chocolate all belong to the place. The catch is that the restaurants around the Markt cater to day-trippers, so the good meals are on the side streets.

Bruges is clearly the richer place for sightseeing. Its whole UNESCO-listed centre is the attraction: the Belfry over the Markt, the Burg with the Basilica of the Holy Blood, and the Begijnhof. The art is in the same league, with Van Eyck at the Groeninge and Memling in the medieval hospital.

Bristol's sights are more scattered and tell a story of trade and engineering. Brunel's SS Great Britain and the Clifton Suspension Bridge lead the way, followed by St Mary Redcliffe and M Shed's honest account of the port's past. Banksy's street art in Stokes Croft offers a modern counterpoint that Bruges has no answer to.

Bristol is the clear choice for going out. Its sound-system heritage fills warehouse and railway-arch clubs around Temple Meads, and a large student population keeps weekends running late. Stokes Croft adds scruffier, more creative bars.

Bruges offers a different kind of evening: a long session over strong ales in a brown café or cellar bar near the Eiermarkt, then a walk along the lit canals. There are only one or two small clubs, and the centre goes quiet early on weeknights.

Bristol has much more to offer outdoors. The limestone cliffs of the Avon Gorge, the deer park at Ashton Court and the mountain-bike trails in Leigh Woods are all in the city itself. The Mendips are under an hour away, and Exmoor and the Brecon Beacons are within reach for real upland hiking.

Around Bruges the land is flat polder with poplar-lined canals. That makes it lovely for an easy ride to Damme or birdwatching at the Zwin salt marsh, but there are no hills or forests to explore.

Both are excellent bases, and Bruges has a slight edge because Belgium is compact and its trains are frequent. Ghent, Brussels and Antwerp each offer a full city of art and architecture within easy rail reach, and Ypres and the Westhoek battlefields add a moving day of history.

Bristol's excursions are more rural and varied. Bath is a quarter of an hour by train, and Wells and Glastonbury lie to the south. Cardiff is just across the Severn, the Cotswold villages are to the east, and Stonehenge and Avebury make a full day. Several of these are easier with a car.

Bristol is slightly the better choice with children. Its harbourside cluster of the SS Great Britain, the We The Curious science centre and the aquarium, linked by little ferries, copes well with rainy days. The wildlife park and the open space of the Downs add more.

Bruges appeals to younger children in shorter bursts: canal boats, carriage rides, swans on the Minnewater and the Boudewijn Seapark. The beaches are close for sandcastles. In both cities pushchairs struggle, on Bristol's steep hills and on Bruges's cobbles.

Bruges is far easier to get around. The old town is flat, largely car-free and walkable from end to end in about half an hour, hired bikes are the natural way to travel, and trains leave often for the rest of Flanders. Only the cobbles slow things down.

Bristol's core is walkable too, and the harbour ferries help. Clifton is a steep climb, though, and with no tram or metro, longer journeys mean buses stuck in traffic.

Shopping is a modest pleasure in both, and neither city is worth a trip for it. Bristol has more range: Cabot Circus for chains, Gloucester Road for records, delis and vintage clothes, and boutiques along Park Street up to Clifton.

Bruges is mostly about things to eat and drink, such as pralines, beer with matching glasses and bobbin lace. Choose your lace carefully, since much of it is imported. The weekend markets on 't Zand and along the Dijver are pleasant for a browse.

Both are expensive for their size and cost about the same overall, but you save in different ways. In Bristol, most of the main museums and churches are free and market food is cheap, though hotel rates rise at weekends.

In Bruges the cost is in rooms inside the canal ring and meals on the main squares. Staying midweek or near the station and eating on the side streets saves the most, and the beer is good value for its quality.

Bristol offers clearly more on stage. The Bristol Old Vic still performs in its Georgian auditorium, the Hippodrome takes touring musicals and ballet, and the Tobacco Factory stages fringe Shakespeare. Above all, small venues host bands, jazz and electronic acts most nights.

Bruges is narrower but more specialised. The Concertgebouw is known for early and chamber music, the summer early-music festival draws listeners from across Europe, and the Belfry carillon plays over the town. Live music in bars is thin.

Neither city has a spa tradition of its own, so they are broadly level. Bristol has the better options for bathing: the heated Victorian lido in Clifton, cold-water dips along the Severn, and Bath's thermal rooftop pool a short train ride away.

Bruges offers calm rather than treatments. Early mornings in the Begijnhof, evenings by the Minnewater and the quiet streets of Sint-Anna are as restful as any city walk, as long as you avoid the main streets on summer afternoons.