Brussels or Dusseldorf?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Brussels is a little better placed. Long sandy beaches at Ostend and De Haan are a little over an hour away by train, although the North Sea there is cool and windy.

From Düsseldorf the coast is a full day's travel away, and the Rhine is too dangerous for swimming. A summer swim there means Unterbacher See or a gravel-pit lake, which is pleasant enough but hardly a reason to go.

Brussels is the stronger city for food. It has Belgian classics such as mussels, carbonnade and waterzooi, plenty of frites and pralines, and a beer culture built on lambic and gueuze brewed only in and around the city. Matonge, Saint-Josse and Saint-Gilles add Congolese, Moroccan and Turkish cooking, which gives it real range.

Düsseldorf eats well in two main ways: Altbier and sauerbraten in the Altstadt brewhouses, and ramen and izakaya around Immermannstrasse. Both are good, and the Japanese quarter is something Brussels lacks, but there is less variety beyond them.

Brussels has much more to see. The Grand-Place is one of Europe's great squares, Horta's Art Nouveau houses are UNESCO listed, and the Royal Museums hold Bruegel, Rubens and Magritte. The Cinquantenaire museums and the comics murals fill further days, even if the streets between these sights are often dull.

Düsseldorf's strength is modern art. The Kunstsammlung splits its collection between K20, with its Klee works, and K21, with a net slung under its dome, and the Kunstpalast adds more. The Altstadt was largely rebuilt after the war, though, and its finest historic building, Benrath Palace, lies out in the suburbs.

The two cities are about equal after dark, but the nights feel different. Brussels is a city of beer bars: wood-panelled taverns pouring lambics, terraces around Saint-Géry, and a more local crowd at Flagey and Châtelain. It also has a respected techno club in the Marolles and a queer scene around Rue du Marché au Charbon.

Düsseldorf's Altstadt packs a few hundred pubs into a few streets, and at weekends it turns into a loud street party where stag groups are part of the crowd. Carnival, when the whole city goes out in costume for days, has no real equivalent in Brussels.

Both cities sit in flat country and offer gentle green space rather than scenery. Brussels has the Sonian Forest, a UNESCO-listed beech forest with tall trees right on its edge, and the Ardennes valleys around Dinant are about two hours away for hills and kayaking.

Düsseldorf's outdoors is the river itself: grassy Rhine meadows and long cycle paths to Kaiserswerth. The wooded Bergisches Land and the Neandertal are within half an hour, so gentle hill walking is closer to hand.

Both are excellent bases, but Brussels has the better list. Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp are all within an hour, each a first-rank historic town, and Paris is about an hour and a half by high-speed train.

Düsseldorf has Cologne cathedral less than half an hour away, plus Bonn, the Brühl palaces and the Ruhr's industrial heritage at Zollverein. Aachen, Maastricht and the Middle Rhine castles make good longer days out, though they take more time to reach than the Flemish towns do from Brussels.

Both work about equally well with children, but for different reasons. Brussels has more to see for children: the Atomium and Mini-Europe side by side, the Iguanodon hall at the Natural Sciences museum, and comic murals all over the centre. Its cobbles, heavy traffic and rain can make the days hard work, though.

Düsseldorf is easier day to day. It is orderly, trams take buggies without fuss, and the free game park in Grafenberg forest and the Rhine meadows give space to run. Phantasialand is within an hour for a bigger day out.

Both centres are easy to explore on foot, but Düsseldorf's is flat. The Altstadt, the Königsallee and the Rhine promenade connect without effort, and the S-Bahn reaches the airport in minutes. One regional network also runs on to Cologne and the Ruhr.

In Brussels, the walk between the lower and upper town is steep and the pavements are rough. Still, metro and trams cover the city well, you can tap a bank card to pay, and the trams are a pleasant way to reach Ixelles and Saint-Gilles.

Düsseldorf is the better city for buying clothes. The Königsallee has luxury flagships and jewellers along its canal, and big department stores and Schadowstrasse are nearby. Flingern's design shops and the Japanese quarter's stationery add some independent character.

Brussels is better for browsing than for fashion: chocolatiers in the Galeries Royales, antiques on the Sablon, and the morning flea market on Place du Jeu de Balle. Rue Dansaert is the street for Belgian designers.

Both cities cost what a prosperous Western European city costs, so neither is a budget choice. What differs is the hotels. Brussels empties out at weekends as business travellers leave, which makes a Friday-to-Sunday stay noticeably better value.

In Düsseldorf, hotel prices can multiply during the big trade fairs, so check the fair calendar before booking. Brewhouse meals and noodle bars keep daily costs reasonable in Düsseldorf, much as frites and the immigrant neighbourhoods do in Brussels.

Brussels has the stronger evening programme, and it is easier for visitors to follow. La Monnaie is known for adventurous opera productions, and Bozar and Flagey host top orchestras. Dance and theatre run in both French and Dutch, and the Queen Elisabeth Competition is a fixture of the classical year.

Düsseldorf has the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the domed Tonhalle, but much of its best theatre and cabaret is in German. Its own claim is electronic music, as the city where Kraftwerk began.

Düsseldorf is the more restful of the two. Saunas are part of local routine at the public pools, the thermal baths of Aachen and other large complexes are within reach, and the Japanese garden in Nordpark and the Rhine meadows make slow days easy.

Brussels has no bathing culture beyond a few North African hammams and hotel spas. Unwinding there means a long lunch, an afternoon on a café terrace in Ixelles or a walk in the Sonian Forest.