Bruges or Cambridge?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Bruges at least has the sea within easy reach. Blankenberge is a short train ride away, and the coast tram runs past continuous sandy beaches and promenades all the way to Knokke. It makes a good half-day outing on a warm August afternoon, even if the water is only cool enough for a quick dip.

Cambridge has no coast nearby. The Suffolk and Norfolk shores are an hour and a half away by car, so swimming here means the 1920s Jesus Green Lido or the river at Grantchester Meadows.

Bruges gives anyone who cares about food far more to seek out. Belgian beer is the centrepiece, Trappist and abbey ales in dark old cafés. Around it come Flemish dishes Cambridge has nothing to match: mussels and frites, beer-braised beef, waterzooi and a serious chocolate culture. Skip the set menus on the main squares and eat on the side streets and canalsides.

Cambridge has no regional cooking to hunt down. Its strength is the old pub, with real ale and a Sunday roast in a low-beamed room. Add the daily street-food stalls on Market Hill and the Asian and Mediterranean places along Mill Road. Chains fill much of the centre, and a few days covers it.

Both are among the finest historic small cities in northern Europe, and both take two or three days to see properly. Bruges works as one complete picture: a ring of canals, stepped gables, the Belfry over the Markt and the quiet Begijnhof. Its art is concentrated and superb, with van Eyck in the Groeninge, Memling in St John's Hospital and Michelangelo's Madonna in the Church of Our Lady.

Cambridge's heritage is a working university. The courts and chapels along the Backs, King's College Chapel and the Wren Library are still in daily use, so some colleges charge for entry or close around exams. The free Fitzwilliam and the smaller university museums, from Kettle's Yard to the Polar Museum, give it more range than Bruges.

Cambridge offers more of a night out, at least in term. Bars cluster around Regent Street and Mill Road, riverside pubs spill onto the greens in summer, and a small student club scene keeps things going later. It does go quiet in the long vacation.

Bruges is gentler. Its evenings mean strong ales in a brown café or a vaulted cellar around the Eiermarkt, then a walk along the lit canals, and most of the centre is asleep by midnight on weeknights.

Both sit in flat, open country under wide skies, and the outdoors in either means an easy bike ride rather than a hike. From Bruges the classic route is the poplar-lined towpath to Damme, and the coast adds the birds of the Zwin salt marsh and windy walks over the dunes.

Cambridge has its green space right in town: punts on the Cam, cattle on the Grantchester meadows and the big commons. Further out, Wicken Fen's wild ponies and dragonflies and the chalk woodland at Wandlebury give it a little more variety inland, though nothing dramatic.

Bruges is the stronger base, because the frequent Belgian trains put several major cities within easy reach. Ghent is under half an hour away, Brussels about an hour and Antwerp a little further, and the war cemeteries around Ypres and the French city of Lille add more variety again.

From Cambridge the big draw is London, under an hour by train. Ely Cathedral is only fifteen minutes away. Beyond that, the choice is mostly rural, with the wool towns of Lavenham and Long Melford, Audley End and the National Trust estates, and several of these are easier by car.

The two are about even for children: both are small, flat and safe. Bruges has canal boats, horse-drawn carriages, swans on the Minnewater and Boudewijn Seapark, plus sandcastles on the nearby coast. Its cobbles and crowded summer streets are hard going with a pushchair.

Cambridge gives children open commons and playgrounds, punting, the whale skeleton at the free Museum of Zoology and the Sedgwick dinosaurs. Its best day out is the huge collection of historic aircraft at Duxford, just south of the city.

Both are compact and best on foot or by bike, with cars more trouble than they are worth in the centre. Bruges is slightly simpler, since the whole canal ring can be crossed on foot in about half an hour and trains to Ghent, Brussels and the coast leave often. The cobbles are the one real nuisance.

In Cambridge the station is a longer walk from the centre and the buses are ordinary. The country estates and villages around the city are much easier to reach with a car.

Neither is worth a trip for shopping alone, and they differ mainly in what they specialise in. In Bruges it is things to eat and drink, with pralines from countless chocolate makers and Belgian beer with matching glasses, plus the flea market along the Dijver.

Cambridge's speciality is books, from long-established academic booksellers to second-hand dealers in the lanes. Independent clothes shops line Trinity Street and Green Street, and Mill Road has vintage finds.

Both are expensive, but Bruges is the more manageable of the two. Staying midweek or near the station, avoiding the restaurants on the Markt and using the cheap trains for day trips all make a real difference.

Cambridge has few hotel rooms in or near the centre, and they are in steady demand, while eating out costs what it does across south-east England. The free Fitzwilliam, the free evensong and a college room out of term help to balance it.

Cambridge is the better choice for an evening of performance. Choral evensong by the King's, St John's and Trinity choirs is open to anyone during term. The Arts Theatre, student plays and Footlights comedy at the ADC, bands and orchestras at the Corn Exchange and the long-running Folk Festival in summer add more.

Bruges is serious about music but narrower in range. The Concertgebouw specialises in early music, chamber music and contemporary dance, the summer early-music festival is well known, and the Belfry carillon plays over the rooftops. For a wider choice, people take the train to Ghent or Brussels.

Neither has a spa or bathing tradition, so rest in both means quiet places at quiet hours. In Bruges that is the Begijnhof, the Minnewater park and the calm streets of Sint-Anna, best early or late once the tour groups have gone.

Cambridge's slow pace is greener and more active: an afternoon in a punt, a bench in the Botanic Garden or a walk across the meadows to tea in a Grantchester orchard. King's Parade is as crowded on summer afternoons as the streets around the Markt in Bruges.