Brussels or Frankfurt?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Brussels at least has a real coastline within reach. Trains run to Ostend, De Haan and Knokke in a little over an hour, with wide sandy beaches and promenades for a breezy day out, though the North Sea stays cool even in high summer.

Frankfurt's nearest sea is a day's journey away. Summer swimming there means outdoor pools and gravel-pit lakes such as the Langener Waldsee, whose sandy shores and warm July water suit a lazy afternoon better than a seaside trip.

Brussels is much the stronger city for eating. Its range runs from friterie frites to mussels in white wine, waterzooi and shrimp croquettes, and its beer culture of lambics, gueuzes and abbey ales is among the richest anywhere. Praline makers around the Sablon and the Congolese, Moroccan and Turkish cooking of Matonge and Saint-Josse widen it further.

Frankfurt's local food is narrower and heartier: Grüne Soße, Handkäs mit Musik and tart Apfelwein at the long tables of Sachsenhausen's taverns, with the Kleinmarkthalle for sausages and cheese. It eats well enough, but you will run through the local dishes in a couple of meals.

Brussels has the bigger set pieces. The Grand-Place's gilded guild houses, the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts with Bruegel, Rubens and Magritte would anchor any trip. Horta's UNESCO-listed Art Nouveau houses give it something Frankfurt cannot match, even if office blocks break up the historic streets.

Frankfurt's strength is concentrated on the Museumsufer, where the Städel stands out among more than a dozen museums along the Main. Its old town around the Römer and the cathedral was rebuilt after 1944, so it reads as a reconstruction set beneath a skyline of towers, interesting but less moving.

Evenings in Brussels have more going on, and most of it happens in bars. Drinkers fill the streets of Saint-Géry, locals gather around Flagey and Châtelain, and the century-old taverns pour strong ales. A long-established techno club in the Marolles and the queer scene on Rue du Marché au Charbon round it out.

Frankfurt has its own electronic pedigree, shared with Offenbach, and the Bahnhofsviertel has a rough charm with its cocktail bars and late kiosks. Outside Friday and Saturday, though, the city goes quiet in a way Brussels does not.

Frankfurt has the better outdoors on its doorstep. The Taunus rises beyond the northern suburbs, with the Großer Feldberg at about 880m, mountain-bike routes and Roman frontier paths. The Stadtwald and the long Main cycle paths are in the city itself.

Brussels has the Sonian Forest, a grand beech wood on its south-eastern edge, and parks like the Bois de la Cambre. Beyond that the land is flat, and the Meuse valley and the Ardennes are a day out rather than an easy half-day.

Both are outstanding bases, and the difference is in what you travel to. From Brussels the draw is a string of Flemish art cities a short train ride apart: Ghent's canals and the Van Eyck altarpiece, medieval Bruges, Rubens's Antwerp, with Paris reachable by high-speed train.

Frankfurt's trips lean more towards landscape. The castles and wine villages of the Rhine Gorge are best seen by boat. Add Heidelberg's castle ruin, Riesling in the Rheingau and imperial cathedrals at Speyer and Worms, with Cologne an hour away by fast train.

Both work about equally well with children, and both have a great dinosaur hall: the Iguanodons at the Natural Sciences museum in Brussels and the skeletons of the Senckenberg in Frankfurt. Brussels adds more eye-catching sights, such as the Atomium, Mini-Europe and the comic murals, plus Walibi and Pairi Daiza for a big day out. Its cobbles and rainy days can wear parents down, though.

Frankfurt is gentler on the logistics. It has a central zoo, the Palmengarten lawns, boat trips past the skyline, river paths for scooters, and trams that take pushchairs easily.

Frankfurt is the easier city to move around. Its compact centre links the Römer, the Zeil and the Museumsufer on foot, and one integrated network runs all the way out to the Taunus, Wiesbaden and Mainz. The airport is only about a quarter of an hour from the centre by train.

Brussels is also walkable and its trams are pleasant, and you can simply tap a bank card to ride. However, the climb between the lower and upper town is steep and the pavements are rough.

Brussels has more that is worth shopping for. It has master chocolatiers in the Galeries Royales and on the Sablon, antiques on the same square, the morning flea market on Place du Jeu de Balle and Belgian designers along Rue Antoine Dansaert. Lace, comics and beer make easy things to take home.

Frankfurt is more practical: department stores and malls on the Zeil, luxury houses around Goethestraße, and independent shops on Berger Straße. Its Saturday flea market on the Main bank adds some character, and apple-wine stoneware makes the obvious souvenir.

In both cities, business travellers set the price of a hotel room. In Brussels the EU and corporate trade fills the rooms on weekdays, so a weekend stay is when the business hotels empty and become better value. Frankfurt's bigger risk is its trade fairs, when rooms become scarce and very expensive, so check the fair calendar before you fix your dates.

Daily spending is easier on the pocket than the hotels suggest. In Brussels, frites, sandwiches and the kitchens of Matonge keep meals cheap, and the beer is good value for its quality. Frankfurt has its cider taverns, Turkish grills and market stalls, plus the Museumsufer pass, which covers many museums at once.

Both cities stand level here, each with an opera house known for adventurous staging. Brussels has La Monnaie, where an 1830 performance sparked the revolution, along with Bozar, Flagey's acoustics, the spring Queen Elisabeth Competition and dance and theatre in two languages. It even has a marionette theatre performing in local dialect.

Frankfurt counters with the Alte Oper, serious German-language drama at the Schauspiel, an English-language theatre and jazz cellars with roots in the post-war years. Its season is thinner in summer.

Frankfurt is clearly the better choice for unwinding, thanks to the spa towns around it. You can soak in hot-spring water at Wiesbaden's Art Nouveau Kaiser-Friedrich-Therme, try the saunas at Bad Homburg, or take the waters at Bad Nauheim, all without much travel.

Brussels has no such tradition close by. Its options are a few hammams, day spas and Art Deco pools, and the town of Spa itself is a long trip away. Relaxing there mostly means a long lunch or an afternoon on an Ixelles terrace.