Brussels or Ghent?

Neither city is for swimmers, but Ghent has the edge. The Blaarmeersen on its western edge has a lake with a sandy shore and supervised swimming in summer, and the coast tram runs from De Panne to Knokke once the train reaches Ostend.

Brussels has nothing like that lake. Swimming there means its handsome Art Deco indoor pools or the summer open-air basins, and the coast is a breezy day out a little over an hour away.

Brussels is the stronger place to eat because of its range. Beyond the mussels, carbonnade and frites, there is Congolese food in Matonge, Moroccan and Turkish cooking in Saint-Josse and Schaerbeek, neighbourhood restaurants in Saint-Gilles and Ixelles, and the praline makers of the Sablon. The lambics and gueuzes brewed in and around the city make the beer cafés worth seeking out too.

Ghent keeps closer to Flemish home cooking, with waterzooi, which is named after the city, beef in dark beer and grey shrimp croquettes. It is notably easy for vegetarians, and its cuberdons and strong mustard make good things to take home. The Patershol lanes give a few rewarding evenings rather than a reason to come.

Both are first-rate for sightseeing, but in different ways. Brussels has the grander set pieces: the gilded Grand-Place, Bruegel and Magritte in the upper town, and Victor Horta's Art Nouveau houses in Saint-Gilles and Ixelles. Between them, though, the cityscape is broken by office blocks.

Ghent is the more complete medieval town. You can see three towers line up from St Michael's Bridge, a moated castle stands in the middle of town and the guildhalls face each other across the Leie. It also has the van Eyck altarpiece, one of the founding works of European painting, and two or three days cover it all.

Evenings out are similar in scale but different in crowd. Brussels is a city of beer bars, around Saint-Géry and the Bourse, Place Flagey and Saint-Gilles. It adds a techno club in the Marolles with a European name and a queer scene around Rue du Marché au Charbon.

Ghent's nights belong to its students, loud and late on the Overpoort in term time, with older beer cafés around the Vrijdagmarkt. Each July the Gentse Feesten turns the whole centre into a ten-day street party.

Brussels has the better outdoors close at hand. The tall beech stands of the Sonian Forest begin at the city's edge, and the Bois de la Cambre and the Woluwe ponds are good for a run. The hills and rivers of the Meuse valley and the Ardennes are a day out away.

Around Ghent the country is flat and farmed. It is pleasant for cycling along the Leie to Sint-Martens-Latem or birdwatching in the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetland, but there is nothing dramatic within reach.

Both are superb bases, and each is an easy day trip from the other. Brussels reaches further, with Paris by high-speed train, the Waterloo battlefield and Namur and Dinant on the Meuse.

Ghent is better placed for western Flanders. Bruges is closer, and it is easier to reach Ypres and the First World War cemeteries of the Westhoek, the cobbled lanes of the Flemish Ardennes and the coast.

Brussels has far more aimed at children. There are the Iguanodons at the Natural Sciences museum, the Atomium and Mini-Europe at Heysel, Train World, the comic murals, and the Walibi and Pairi Daiza parks outside town. Heavy traffic and bad weather are the main drawbacks.

Ghent is the calmer place to walk with small children, because cars are kept out of the centre. The Gravensteen, the canal boats and the House of Alijn will fill a day or two. Beyond that you have to go to Antwerp or the coast for a zoo or theme park.

Ghent is the easier city to move around. Its centre is flat and mostly free of cars, and bikes are how locals get about, with bike streets throughout. The one catch is that the main station, Gent-Sint-Pieters, is a twenty-minute walk from the old town.

Brussels has more transport, with a metro, trams, tap-to-pay fares and direct trains to the airport. On foot, though, the climb from the lower to the upper town is steep, the pavements are rough, and traffic makes any car journey hard work.

Brussels gives shoppers much more to explore. It has antiques and master chocolatiers around the Sablon, vintage shops and the daily flea market in the Marolles, Belgian designers on Rue Antoine Dansaert and luxury brands on Avenue Louise.

Ghent is pleasant for browsing, with independent design on the Serpentstraat, vintage near the university, and the flower market on the Kouter. It has little luxury, and its best buys are things to eat.

Both cost what you would expect in Belgium, so neither is cheap. They save money in different ways. In Brussels the business hotels empty at weekends, which makes a Friday-to-Sunday stay better value, and the immigrant neighbourhoods keep meals cheap.

Ghent's small hotels and guesthouses are fairly priced for most of the year, except during the Gentse Feesten. The walkable centre and the free-to-enter cathedral also keep daily costs down.

Brussels has the bigger stages. They include La Monnaie, known for adventurous opera, Horta's Bozar with the national orchestra, and Flagey's admired acoustics. The Queen Elisabeth Competition takes place each spring, and there is dance and theatre in French and Dutch, plus rock tours that always stop here.

Ghent does well for its size. It has the Flemish opera house, the early music at De Bijloke and the free summer stages of the Gentse Feesten. Its most famous theatre, NTGent, plays mostly in Dutch, which limits it for many visitors.

Neither city has a bathing tradition or is worth visiting for spas. Brussels at least has a few North African hammams and its Art Deco pools, though the traffic and the pace of a working capital rarely let you switch off.

Ghent is the more restful place to stay. It has the enclosed gardens of the beguinages, walks along the Coupure canal, and quiet evenings and Sundays once the day-trippers leave.