Brussels or The Hague?

The Hague has its own coastline. Scheveningen's wide sand, pier and summer pavilions are about a quarter of an hour from the centre by tram, and Kijkduin offers a quieter stretch backed by dunes. You can wander down after a museum morning without planning a day around it.

Brussels has nothing of the kind, and reaching Ostend or Knokke means more than an hour on the train. The water is the same cold North Sea either way, so neither place is for a swimming vacation, but only The Hague lets the beach become part of everyday life.

Brussels is the far richer place to eat. Mussels, waterzooi, shrimp croquettes and beer-braised stews sit alongside a beer culture of Trappist ales and local lambics, Sablon chocolatiers, and Congolese, Moroccan and Turkish cooking in Matonge and Schaerbeek.

The Hague has one standout: Indonesian food, from a full rijsttafel to simple plates of rendang, which is unusually good thanks to its East Indies families. Beyond that and the herring carts and harbour fish stalls, its brown cafés are pleasant rather than a reason to travel.

Brussels has more to see and more grandeur. The Grand-Place is a set piece few European cities match, the Royal Museums pair Bruegel and Rubens with Magritte, and Horta's Art Nouveau houses add a whole architectural movement, though the city around them is patchy.

The Hague is smaller and more intimate, built around the Binnenhof and the Mauritshuis, where Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring hangs. Mondrian at the Kunstmuseum, Escher and the Panorama Mesdag round out a city that fills two or three unhurried days, where Brussels can easily fill more.

Brussels gives a fuller night out. Its strength is the bar, with drinkers spilling into the streets around Saint-Géry, locals at Flagey and Châtelain, and century-old taverns pouring strong ales, backed by a respected techno club in the Marolles and a queer scene on Rue du Marché au Charbon.

The Hague winds down early. After-work terraces on the Plein, student bars at the Grote Markt and summer sundowners at Scheveningen's beach pavilions are fine, but serious clubbers head for Rotterdam or Amsterdam.

The Hague has more of the outdoors on its doorstep, and it is the sea that makes the difference. Real dunes at Meijendel and the Westduinpark, the old Haagse Bos near the centre and cycle paths towards the bulb fields give a coastal landscape, with kitesurfing when the wind picks up.

Brussels has the Sonian Forest, a fine beech wood with tall stands of trees, and parks like the Bois de la Cambre, but the land around is flat farmland. For hills, both cities fall short; Brussels at least can reach the Ardennes valleys around Dinant for a day.

Both are outstanding bases, and the difference is in what lies close. From Brussels the prizes are Flemish: Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp, with Leuven, Mechelen and the Meuse towns besides, and Paris within about an hour and a half by high-speed train.

From The Hague the distances are shorter still. Delft and Leiden are about fifteen minutes away, Rotterdam and Gouda not much further, and Amsterdam, Haarlem, Utrecht, Kinderdijk's windmills and the Keukenhof bulb fields all within an hour.

The Hague is the easier city with children. Madurodam's miniature Netherlands, the beach and sea aquarium at Scheveningen, Museon and Duinrell just outside town all come in a calm, flat city with playgrounds in every park.

Brussels has strong draws too, especially the dinosaur hall at the Natural Sciences museum, the Atomium beside Mini-Europe and the comic murals. But heavy traffic and uneven cobbles make it more tiring for parents, and in both places a wet day sends everyone indoors.

The Hague is the simpler place to move about. Its centre is flat, trams run frequently out to Scheveningen and Madurodam, and separate bike lanes make cycling the natural way to cover a spread-out city.

Brussels packs its main sights into a walkable core, but the climb from the lower town to the Mont des Arts is steep and pavements are rough. Its metro and trams work well, though, and in both cities a car is more trouble than it is worth.

Brussels has the edge for browsing. Chocolatiers in the Galeries Royales and the Sablon, antiques and the Jeu de Balle flea market in the Marolles, and Belgian designers on Rue Antoine Dansaert give it things you cannot buy elsewhere, from lace to comics.

The Hague is more refined than distinctive, with antique dealers and boutiques along the Denneweg and Noordeinde and the 1880s Passage arcade. Its most memorable stop is the huge Haagse Markt, but it has no local craft to carry home.

Neither is a budget city, and the costs fall in similar places: sit-down meals and central hotels at weekday rates. Both empty of government and business travellers at weekends, which is when rooms are easier on the wallet.

The ways to save differ. In Brussels it is frites, sandwiches and the cooking of Saint-Josse and Matonge, with beer good value for its quality. In The Hague it is Indonesian and Surinamese eateries, picnics from the Haagse Markt and a hired bicycle, though Scheveningen's seafront hotels charge extra in summer.

Brussels offers more across the board. La Monnaie stages adventurous opera in a house tied to the founding of Belgium, Bozar and Flagey host the national orchestra and visiting ensembles, and theatre and dance play in both French and Dutch, so more of it is open to visitors.

The Hague has one world-class company, Nederlands Dans Theater, and seeing it at home is a real reason to book. Beyond that, it has the Residentie Orkest and conservatory concerts, but no resident opera company, and its theatre is mostly in Dutch.

Brussels has little to offer a restful stay. The Dutch build whole days around heat and cold water, but the Belgian capital has only a few North African hammams and spa rooms tucked inside hotels, and the town of Spa itself is a long way off towards the Ardennes. Rest here means lingering over a meal or a terrace drink, or escaping to the beech woods on the south-eastern edge, while the traffic and the working rhythm of a capital carry on around you.

The Hague is the easier place to switch off, both for its facilities and for its pace. Its big sauna complexes are an outing in their own right, where you can move between hot rooms, steam, cold plunges and garden lounges from morning to evening, though most of them expect you to leave the swimsuit behind. The town helps too: a seat of government with embassy avenues and quiet residential streets, where only the beach on a hot weekend draws real crowds.