Bruges or Oxford?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Bruges at least has the sea close by. A short train ride to Blankenberge and the coast tram give you a long line of wide, flat sand with promenades, from the dunes near France up to Knokke. The North Sea stays cool and often windy, so expect paddling and a bracing dip rather than proper swimming.

Oxford is about as far from the coast as England gets. Swimming there means the Thames at Port Meadow, the Cherwell or the open-air pool at Hinksey, with grassy banks instead of sand. It's fine on a hot afternoon, but it doesn't replace a beach.

Bruges gives you more to eat and drink for its own sake. Its beer cafés pour long lists of Trappist and abbey ales, each in its own glass, and there are mussels with frites, beef stewed in beer, waterzooi and chocolate in every street. Avoid the set menus on the main squares and eat on the side streets and canalsides.

Oxford's strength is the pub: low-beamed taverns, riverside Sunday roasts and the old Covered Market for lunch. For variety you go out to Cowley Road's Middle Eastern, South Asian and Caribbean kitchens or to the bistros of Jericho. You'll eat well, but there is no local cuisine to seek out.

Both are outstanding historic cities, but they offer different kinds of experience. Bruges is a whole medieval townscape of canals, stepped gables, almshouses and the Belfry over the Markt. Its art is concentrated and superb: the Flemish Primitives in the Groeninge Museum, Memling in St John's Hospital and Michelangelo's Madonna in the Church of Our Lady.

Oxford is a working university, with honey-stone quadrangles, chapels and libraries clustered around the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian. Its museums cover more ground: antiquities and old masters at the Ashmolean, ethnography at the Pitt Rivers, and the Gothic glass hall of the Natural History Museum. That is enough for a day or so more than Bruges needs.

Oxford gives you somewhat more choice after dark. In term the historic taverns fill with students. On summer evenings the riverside pubs along the Thames are the place to be. Cowley Road adds late bars and a couple of small clubs, and Jericho has relaxed wine and cocktail bars. It all goes quieter during the university's long summer break.

Bruges is built for one kind of evening: a long session over strong ales in a brown café or vaulted cellar, perhaps around the Eiermarkt or 't Zand. After that comes a walk by the lit canals. Clubs are few and mostly busy at weekends, and the centre is largely asleep by midnight.

Oxford has the better countryside, and it starts in the centre, with Christ Church Meadow, the University Parks and the open commons of Port Meadow. Within an hour you reach the Cotswold hills, the Chiltern beech woods and the ancient Ridgeway, real country for long walks, and you can punt on the rivers.

Bruges sits in flat polder land with wide skies and poplar-lined canals. It's made for easy cycling, above all the towpath ride to Damme. The Zwin salt marsh near Knokke adds birdlife and the dunes give you windy walks, but there are no hills or forests.

From Bruges the day trips are mostly city to city by train, while Oxford's lean towards country houses and stone villages. Ghent is under half an hour away, with a medieval centre to rival Bruges's own and the Van Eyck altarpiece in its cathedral. Brussels and Antwerp make easy days out. Closer in, Damme is a bike ride along the canal, and the First World War cemeteries and memorials around Ypres are about an hour away by bus or car.

Oxford's best outings are close and rural. Blenheim Palace at Woodstock is about twenty minutes away, and the Cotswold villages such as Burford, Bibury and Chipping Campden are within an hour. Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick Castle, Windsor and Georgian Bath add to the list, and London is an hour away by train. Some of the Cotswold trips are much easier with a car or a tour.

With children, the two are about equal: small, safe and walkable, with only a few days of child-friendly outings. Bruges has canal boats, horse-drawn carriages, the chocolate and frites museums, swans on the Minnewater and Boudewijn Seapark. Sandcastles on the coast are a short train ride away. The cobbles are hard work with a pushchair.

Oxford's winners are free: dinosaur skeletons at the Natural History Museum and the curiosities of the Pitt Rivers. Add punting on the Cherwell and Harry Potter scenes at Christ Church. Wildlife parks and the studio tour mean a trip out of town.

Both centres are small, flat and best on foot or by bike. In Bruges everything sits inside the egg-shaped canal ring, largely car-free, and cycling is how locals get about. The station is just outside the ring, a fair walk or a short bus ride from the Markt, and the cobbles are hard on ankles and suitcases.

Oxford's core takes about twenty minutes to cross, and the station is a short walk away. Buses reach suburbs such as Headington and Summertown. Drivers leave the car at the park-and-ride sites on the edge of town.

Oxford has more to browse. Beyond the chains on Cornmarket there are the Covered Market's small traders, independents on Little Clarendon Street and in Jericho, and antique map and print sellers. Blackwell's on Broad Street is the famous bookshop. Luxury-label hunters head to the outlet village near Bicester.

Bruges shopping is mostly about things to eat and drink: pralines from countless chocolate makers and bottles and glasses from specialist beer shops. Much of the lace in the shop windows is imported, the high street is chains, and the Saturday market on 't Zand and the Dijver flea market are pleasant browsing, not a reason to go.

Neither is cheap, but Bruges is a little easier on the budget. Beds inside the canal ring cost more at weekends and in summer, so staying midweek or near the station helps. Good beer is fair value, and day-trip trains are reasonable.

Oxford has few central hotel rooms, and graduations and conferences keep them expensive, so many visitors stay out by the ring road. Day to day, the free museums and pub meals help, though college entry and library tours add up.

Oxford has the richer live programme, and its highlight is unusual. On most term evenings you can sit in on Evensong sung by the world-famous choirs of Christ Church, Magdalen and New College. There are concerts at the Sheldonian and chamber music and jazz at the historic Holywell Music Room. The Playhouse and New Theatre stage touring shows, and Cowley Road has rock gigs.

Bruges punches above its size in one area: early music and contemporary dance at the Concertgebouw, plus a long-running summer early-music festival. Otherwise there is touring theatre at the Stadsschouwburg and the carillon over the rooftops. For a wider choice you go to Ghent or Brussels.

Neither city has a spa tradition, and in both it comes down to a few hotel and day spas. Bruges is a little better for unwinding because some of it stays calm all day: the Sint-Anna and Langestraat streets on the east side are calm even at midday. The Begijnhof and Minnewater are peaceful once the groups have left.

Oxford's calm is in its gardens: the Botanic Garden, the walled college gardens, Magdalen's deer park and Addison's Walk. A slow afternoon in a punt does the same job. These spots are at their quietest early in the morning, before the tour groups arrive.