Bristol or Ghent?

Neither city is a place for beach life, but Ghent gets closer. Trains reach Ostend in about an hour, and the coast tram links long stretches of wide sand and dunes. On hot days there is also the lake beach at Blaarmeersen on the city's edge.

Bristol's own shore is Severn mud, and even the sand at Weston-super-Mare comes with a tide that goes out a very long way. The best water nearby is the Victorian marine lake at Clevedon, which is for a brisk cold dip rather than a day on the beach.

The two eat about equally well, but in different ways. Ghent has a cooking tradition of its own: waterzooi, beef stewed in dark beer and frites in paper cones. Its brown cafés in the Patershol and around the Vrijdagmarkt pour long lists of Trappist and lambic beers, and it is notably easy for vegetarians.

Bristol has no signature dish, so the pleasure lies in grazing. Try the stalls of St Nicholas Market, the container kitchens on the harbourside and the bakeries along Gloucester Road and North Street. To drink, it offers West Country cider and craft ale in warehouse taprooms instead of Belgian beer lists.

Ghent has the richer set of sights. Its medieval centre is lived in rather than staged, with the Gravensteen standing in the middle of town. St Bavo's Cathedral holds the Ghent Altarpiece, a painting of real importance in European art, and the Museum of Fine Arts and the SMAK back it up.

Bristol's interest is maritime and industrial. Its highlights are the SS Great Britain, the Clifton Suspension Bridge over the gorge, the Georgian terraces of Clifton and St Mary Redcliffe, with Banksy's early street art in Stokes Croft as a more modern draw. That makes a good two days, but Ghent gives you more art and older buildings for your time.

Bristol is the better night out. The sound-system culture behind trip hop, drum and bass and dubstep lives on in clubs in warehouses and railway arches around Temple Meads. Stokes Croft adds scruffy, creative bars that stay open late.

Ghent is more about beer than dancing. Expect long evenings in the old cafés around the Vrijdagmarkt, the student bars of the Overpoort in term time and only a handful of small clubs. The exception is July, when the Gentse Feesten keeps the whole centre partying into the early hours for ten days.

Bristol has far more to offer outdoors. The open Downs, Leigh Woods and the deer park at Ashton Court are all inside the city, and the old Bristol to Bath railway path gives about 25km of traffic-free cycling. Further out, the Mendips are good for walking and caving, and the Brecon Beacons and Exmoor offer proper upland hiking about two hours away.

Around Ghent the land is flat and farmed. You can cycle the riverside paths along the Leie to Sint-Martens-Latem, watch birds at the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetland, or paddle and row at the Blaarmeersen. The cobbled lanes of the Flemish Ardennes near Oudenaarde give cyclists some climbs, but nothing dramatic is within reach.

Both make excellent bases, and Ghent is the better one. Bruges and Brussels are each about half an hour away by train and Antwerp under an hour. Mechelen, Leuven, the battlefields around Ypres and even Lille across the French border follow, all without a car.

Bristol's best outing is Bath, a quarter of an hour away by train, with Wells, Glastonbury and Cardiff about an hour off. The Cotswold villages, Stonehenge and Avebury are well worth the trip, but several of them are much easier by car. From Ghent, the trains do nearly all the work.

Bristol keeps children busier. Beyond the attractions on the harbour there are Noah's Ark Zoo Farm, the deer at Ashton Court and plenty of room to run on the Downs. The steep hills are hard on small legs and pushchairs, though.

Ghent's advantage is calm streets, since cars are kept out of most of the centre. The castle's battlements, the canal boats, the old toys at the House of Alijn and the playgrounds at Blaarmeersen make a pleasant couple of days. The zoo and the theme parks are elsewhere, and the cobbles are as tough on pushchairs as Bristol's slopes.

Ghent is much easier to get around. Its centre is flat and mostly free of cars, trams cover the rest of the city, and bike lanes run everywhere, so cycling soon feels like the natural way to travel.

Bristol's core is walkable, and the yellow harbour ferries are a pleasure. Clifton, though, is a stiff climb, and with no tram or metro you depend on buses that crawl through traffic once you leave the centre. A hire car helps for the countryside around Bristol, whereas in Ghent a car is only a burden.

Shopping is a side pleasure in both cities, and there is little luxury in either. Bristol's strength is its independent streets: Gloucester Road for records, delis and vintage clothes, boutiques on Park Street and galleries in Clifton's Georgian arcades. The big Cabot Circus complex covers the chains.

Ghent leans on markets and things to eat. It has the flea market at Sint-Jacobs and the Sunday flower market on the Kouter, and chocolate, cuberdons, mustard and beer are the souvenirs to take home. For independent design, look along the Serpentstraat.

Neither city is cheap, and costs end up much the same. Bristol saves you money because most of its main museums and churches are free and the market food is good value, but hotel prices climb at weekends.

In Ghent, sit-down dinners and beer bills add up, and the castle and main museums charge for entry. Frites stands, set lunches and cheap trams soften the cost, and rooms are moderately priced except during the July festival.

The two are well matched on stage but strong in different things. Ghent is the place for opera, ballet and serious theatre. Its opera house is one of the two homes of the Flemish national company, NTGent has a name well beyond Belgium although it plays mostly in Dutch, and De Bijloke specialises in early music.

Bristol is best for live music, with bands, jazz and electronic acts in small venues across Stokes Croft and Old Market most nights. The Bristol Old Vic is the oldest continuously working theatre in the English-speaking world, and together with Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory it offers plays a visitor can follow without any Dutch.

Bristol has the edge for unwinding, largely because Bath is so close. Its rooftop thermal pool is fed by Britain's only natural hot springs. Nearer at hand, the heated Victorian lido behind Clifton's terraces makes a restful half day.

Ghent has no spa culture beyond a few private saunas and hotel spas. Its calm comes from the enclosed gardens of the beguinages, walks along the Coupure canal and quiet Sundays. That is restful after a day of sightseeing, but it is no reason to choose the city.