Bruges or Cardiff?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both seas stay cool enough that most people only paddle. What differs is how easily you reach the sand. From Bruges a short train to Blankenberge puts you on a long, unbroken strip of wide beach, and the coast tram runs along it from the French border to Knokke, so you can pick almost any stretch.

Cardiff has no sand of its own, and the water in the Bay is brown and tidal. Barry Island's bay with its funfair is the nearest option and Penarth's shore is pebble. The better beaches at Porthcawl and on Gower take a drive of an hour or more.

Bruges has the stronger table, mostly because of its beer: Trappist and abbey ales poured in wood-panelled cafés, alongside mussels with frites, beef stewed in beer, waterzooi and chocolate in every other window. The catch is the set-menu restaurants on the main squares, so it pays to eat on the side streets.

Cardiff's food is pleasant but rarely a reason to go. The Victorian market with its griddled Welsh cakes, cawl and laverbread, the bistros of Pontcanna and Canton and the long run of Middle Eastern and South Asian cooking on City Road give you variety, and the pubs pour good local ale. None of it matches the depth of a Belgian beer list.

For sights, Bruges is the clear choice. Its whole canal-ringed centre is medieval and protected as a UNESCO site, from the Belfry and the Burg to the Begijnhof. The art is world-class too: van Eyck in the Groeninge Museum, Memling in St John's Hospital and a Michelangelo Madonna in the Church of Our Lady.

Cardiff's highlights are more spread out and mostly younger. The castle's Victorian Gothic rooms, the Impressionists at the National Museum and the rebuilt Welsh buildings at St Fagans fill two or three good days. But the city has none of the unbroken old fabric that makes Bruges itself the main sight.

Cardiff is the place for a night out. St Mary Street fills with large groups on Saturdays, rugby internationals take over the whole centre, and Womanby Street opposite the castle has small alternative bars that stay open late. Students from two universities keep things going in term time.

Bruges offers a slower kind of evening: long sessions of strong ale in brown cafés and cellar bars around the Eiermarkt and 't Zand, then a walk along the lit canals. Clubs are few, mostly a weekend affair, and the centre is largely asleep by midnight.

Cardiff wins easily outdoors. Bute Park runs from the castle onto the Taff Trail, the coast path passes the cliffs at Penarth, and about an hour's drive gets you to Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons for a proper hike over open moorland.

The land around Bruges is flat polder. It is lovely for an easy ride along the canal towpath to Damme or for watching birds in the Zwin salt marsh, but with no hills or forest it makes a gentle afternoon on a bike rather than a reason to travel.

Both make good bases, but Bruges has the richer list close by. Belgium is small and its trains run often, so Ghent is under half an hour away and Brussels and Antwerp, each a major art city, take about an hour or a little more. Ypres and the First World War memorials of the Westhoek, and even Lille, are within reach as well.

Cardiff's outings are mostly castles: Caerphilly by train, Castell Coch in the woods, and Chepstow and Tintern Abbey together in one day. Bath and Bristol are about an hour away and Big Pit at Blaenavon adds industrial history, though some of the best trips need a car.

Both cities are easy with children, but they keep them busy in different ways. Bruges relies on canal boats, horse-drawn carriages, the swans at the Minnewater and the Boudewijn Seapark amusement park, and the coast adds sandcastles and a large theme park. The cobbles make pushchairs hard work, though.

Cardiff's offer is more hands-on and mostly free: the Techniquest science centre at the Bay, the farm animals and craft demonstrations at St Fagans, and rowing boats on Roath Park lake. It has no theme park of its own, but Barry Island's funfair is a short train ride away.

Bruges is the simpler city to get around. Everything sits inside the canal ring, which you can cross on foot in about half an hour, the centre is flat and largely car-free, and hired bikes cover the rest. Only the cobbles and the walk in from the station count against it.

Cardiff's centre is just as flat and close to its station, but the Bay is a separate trip by shuttle train, bus or water taxi, and there is no tram or metro. For the national park and the remoter castles you need a car.

Neither city is a shopping destination, so what differs is the kind of browsing. Bruges sells things to eat and drink: chocolate makers on almost every street and specialist beer shops with bottles and matching glasses, plus bobbin lace and the Saturday market on 't Zand.

Cardiff's character lies in its glass-roofed Victorian and Edwardian arcades, where independent record, book and vintage shops sit just off the chain-store streets. The market sells Welsh lovespoons, woollen blankets and slate alongside its produce.

Cardiff is the more affordable of the two. Hotels are moderate on ordinary weekdays, though they climb sharply on rugby and big concert dates, and the free national museums, St Fagans included, keep sightseeing cheap.

Bruges makes visitors pay for its popularity, and both rooms inside the canal ring and meals on the main squares are expensive. Staying midweek or near the station and eating away from the Markt narrows the gap, and the old town itself costs nothing to walk.

Cardiff has far more on stage. The Wales Millennium Centre is home to Welsh National Opera and hosts musicals, dance and comedy, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales is based in the city, and small venues around Womanby Street book bands most nights.

Bruges is serious about music but narrower in range. The Concertgebouw specialises in early music, chamber music and contemporary dance, and the summer early-music festival draws listeners from across Europe. Beyond that there are the Stadsschouwburg, the carillon and church concerts, but no opera.

Bruges is the easier place to slow down, but its calm depends on the time of day. The restful part is the old town itself, stone and still water rather than parkland, and you have it to yourself only before the day-trippers arrive or after they leave, so staying the night matters more than any treatment. On a summer afternoon, the quiet residential streets east of the centre are where to go to get away from the crowds.

Cardiff's quiet is greener, and it depends on the day of the week rather than the hour. The parkland along the Taff and the leafy western districts are peaceful on most weekdays, while Saturday nights and match days fill the centre with noise. Neither city offers more than hotel and day spas for pampering, though the hotels at the Bay add leisure pools.