Bruges or York?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Bruges has the easier seaside. Blankenberge is about fifteen minutes away by train, and the coast tram runs from one wide sandy beach to the next along the whole Belgian shore, so an August afternoon by the sea takes little effort.

From York, Scarborough and its two bays are about an hour away by train, with Filey and Whitby further still, and the water there stays a few degrees cooler. Both seas are the grey North Sea, better for paddling than for swimming.

Bruges has the stronger table, built on Belgian beer. Its wood-panelled cafés pour Trappist and abbey ales alongside mussels with frites, beef stewed in beer and waterzooi, and the chocolate is serious. Its fine dining also goes further, with farmhouse restaurants just outside town.

York's pleasures are more homely: afternoon tea with fat rascals, Yorkshire real ale, Sunday roasts and pies from the Shambles Market. In both cities the streets around the main sights serve tourist fare, so it pays to walk a few minutes away.

Both are among the best-preserved historic cities in northern Europe, and each repays two or three unhurried days. In Bruges the draw is the whole townscape and its painting: canals, stepped gables, the Belfry and the Begijnhof, with van Eyck in the Groeninge Museum and Memling in St John's Hospital.

York has more layers of history and more museums to explain them. It is Roman, Viking and medieval at once, with the Minster's great stained glass, walls you can walk along, Jorvik built on an excavated street and the vast National Railway Museum.

York has more going on after dark, though neither is a clubbing city. Its centuries-old inns along Micklegate, Stonegate and the river make for a proper pub crawl, weekends bring stag and hen parties and race-day crowds, and Leeds is half an hour away for serious clubs.

Bruges is quieter and more intimate. An evening there means a long session of strong ale in a brown café or a cellar bar near the Eiermarkt, then a walk along the lit canals, and most of the centre is asleep by midnight on weeknights.

York has far better countryside within reach. The North York Moors begin about 40km away and end in sea cliffs at Robin Hood's Bay, and the Dales, with their limestone scars and waterfalls, are about an hour west. A car makes both much easier.

Around Bruges the land is flat polder. It is lovely for an easy ride along the canal to Damme or a birdwatching walk at the Zwin salt marsh, but it has no hills or forests to plan a day around.

Both make excellent bases, and the difference is in how you travel and what you see. From Bruges, frequent trains reach Ghent in under half an hour and Brussels in about an hour, with Antwerp a little further, so a car-free week of Flemish cities and art is easy. Ypres and the First World War memorials make a sombre extra.

York's best outings are more rural: Castle Howard, Fountains Abbey, Rievaulx and the steam railway from Pickering, many of them easiest by car or coach tour. By train it reaches the spa town of Harrogate, Leeds, and Durham with its cathedral and castle.

York has the edge with children because its museums seem made for them. There is the National Railway Museum's hall of real locomotives, Jorvik, and the Victorian street in the Castle Museum, plus ghost walks for older children. Walking the walls adds a sense of adventure.

Bruges relies more on short outings, such as boat rides, feeding the swans at the Minnewater and a day at Boudewijn Seapark, and sandcastles are a short train ride away. Its cobbles are harder on pushchairs, and its main attractions are paintings and churches.

Both cities are flat and compact and best seen on foot, and a car is a nuisance in either. Bruges is slightly easier. You can cross the whole canal ring in about half an hour, and frequent trains run to the other Belgian cities and the coast, though the cobbles are hard on suitcases.

York's station is only about fifteen minutes' walk from the Minster, and its fast trains are excellent. The weak spot is the countryside, where rural buses to the moors and country houses are sparse.

Most of what you bring home from Bruges is edible: chocolate from makers on almost every street, Belgian beer with a matching glass for each brew, and bobbin lace, though much of the lace near the Markt is imported. The Saturday market on 't Zand and the flea market along the Dijver are pleasant to browse.

In York the pleasure is the streets themselves, with independent bookshops, jewellers and antiques dealers along Stonegate and Petergate, and the Christmas markets of late autumn and December are worth a trip on their own. In both cities the main high street is mostly familiar chains, and there is little luxury fashion.

Neither is cheap, and the costs land in the same places: hotels inside the canal ring or the walls, at weekends and in peak seasons. In both, staying midweek and just outside the centre makes the biggest difference.

York has more free sightseeing, since the National Railway Museum, the walls and the Museum Gardens cost nothing. In Bruges the old town itself is the free pleasure, and the beer is good value for its quality.

For small cities, both take early music unusually seriously. Bruges has its Concertgebouw and summer festival, and York has the National Centre for Early Music in a medieval church. Bruges leans towards chamber music and contemporary dance, with the Belfry carillon playing over the rooftops.

York has the deeper theatre tradition: the Theatre Royal and its pantomime, the Mystery Plays performed on wagons in the streets, and free choral evensong at the Minster. For bigger shows, Bruges looks to Ghent and Brussels, and York to Leeds.

Neither city has a bathing culture, but Bruges is the more restful place simply to be in. Its canals, the Begijnhof and the Minnewater park are deeply quiet early and late in the day, and the Sint-Anna and Langestraat area stays calm even at midday.

York's quiet corners are the walls at dawn, the Museum Gardens and the riverside paths, but the centre fills up on summer and December weekends. For proper bathing you need Harrogate, half an hour away by train, where the Royal Baths house a Victorian Turkish bath.