Brussels or Colmar?

Neither city is for a swimming vacation, but Brussels at least has a coast within reach. Ostend, De Haan and Knokke are a little over an hour away by train, with long sandy North Sea beaches that work best as a windy day by the sea.

Colmar is far from any sea. In summer, swimming means the municipal pools or a small lake up in the Vosges valleys.

Brussels offers more range. You can eat frites from a friterie, mussels or carbonnade flamande in a proper restaurant, and Sablon pralines afterwards. The beer culture, including lambics brewed only in this area, is a reason to come in itself. The immigrant cooking in Matonge, Saint-Josse and Schaerbeek takes you well beyond Belgian classics.

Colmar is narrower but very good at what it does. Its winstubs serve choucroute, baeckeoffe and tarte flambée, with Alsace Riesling and Gewurztraminer from the slopes around town. Away from the regional cooking, though, the choice runs out quickly.

Brussels has the larger body of art and architecture. The Grand-Place, Bruegel and Rubens at the Royal Museums, a whole museum for Magritte, Horta's Art Nouveau houses and the Cinquantenaire collections could fill most of a week. The catch is the setting, because the showpieces sit among office blocks.

Colmar is the opposite. It has less in total, but its painted half-timbered old town and Petite Venise have survived as one piece. The Unterlinden's Isenheim Altarpiece is worth the journey on its own.

Brussels has a real night out, built mostly around bars. Drinkers fill the streets around Saint-Géry, Ixelles has Flagey and Châtelain, and there are strong ales in century-old taverns. A well-known Marolles techno club and the queer scene on Rue du Marché au Charbon add to it.

Colmar's evenings stop after a long dinner and a last glass on a terrace by the canals. For anything later, people take the train to Strasbourg.

Colmar is much better placed for the outdoors. Vineyard paths start within half an hour, and above them the forested Vosges offer glacial lakes, summer pastures and the Route des Crêtes, with views across to the Black Forest. The wine route is also fine cycling country.

Brussels has the tall beech stands of the Sonian Forest and some good parks. For hills or kayaking, though, you need the Ardennes valleys around Dinant, about one and a half to two hours away.

Both are excellent bases, but they work in different ways. From Brussels the trips are to cities by fast train: Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp within an hour, and Paris, Cologne or Amsterdam for a long day.

From Colmar the trips are to small places close by. Eguisheim, Riquewihr and Kaysersberg are a few kilometres apart, and Strasbourg, Basel and Freiburg are each under about an hour. The wine villages are much easier by car or bike than by the thin bus service.

Brussels keeps the children's attractions inside the city, a tram or metro ride away: the Atomium beside Mini-Europe, and the dinosaur hall at the Natural Sciences museum. The drawbacks are the cobbled pavements and the rain, which often moves the day indoors.

Colmar is the easier town to walk around with small children because it is flat, calm and compact, and there are boat rides through Petite Venise. Its bigger outings are out in the countryside: the Hunawihr stork park, the Kintzheim macaques and Europa-Park. For most of them you need a car.

Brussels is easier to manage without a car. Its centre is walkable, apart from the steep climb to the upper town, and metro, trams and tap-to-pay buses cover the rest. The three main stations link straight to the airport.

Colmar can be crossed on foot in minutes, and Strasbourg and Mulhouse are quick by train. The weak point is the countryside, where limited buses push most visitors into a hire car or onto a bicycle.

Brussels gives shoppers far more to do. There are chocolatiers in the Galeries Royales and on the Sablon, antiques at the weekend Sablon market, the morning flea market on Place du Jeu de Balle, and Belgian designers along Rue Antoine Dansaert.

Colmar is mainly for regional things to take home, such as wine bought from the producer, Soufflenheim pottery and Alsatian linen. Its Christmas markets are the high point of its year.

Colmar is a little easier on the wallet: set lunches, regional wine and village tastings cost little. Its rooms are the problem, because they are scarce and expensive in summer and during the Christmas market weeks.

Brussels works the other way round. Its weekday hotel prices are pushed up by business and EU travellers, but weekends are noticeably cheaper.

Brussels is a serious city for the performing arts. La Monnaie stages adventurous opera, Bozar and Flagey host top orchestras, and the spring Queen Elisabeth Competition is a major classical event. There is also contemporary dance in two languages and an old marionette theatre.

In Colmar the offer is mostly festivals, mainly the July classical festival and the autumn jazz festival. For the rest of the year, people go to Strasbourg or Basel.

Neither city has a bathing tradition. Brussels offers North African hammams, day spas and Art Deco pools, but the capital's traffic and working pace are always around you.

Colmar has only hotel spas. Its quiet evenings by the canals and walks through the vines, however, make for the more restful few days.