Cambridge or Rotterdam?

Neither city is a beach destination, but only Rotterdam has a coast of its own. Cambridge sits inland on the fen edge, the nearest shore is a long drive away, and swimming means the open-air lido on Jesus Green or a dip in the Cam at Grantchester Meadows.

Rotterdam's metro runs all the way to Hoek van Holland, a broad sandy strand backed by dunes, with ocean-going ships passing just offshore. The water stays cold and the wind rarely drops, so it is more a place for a bracing walk than a swim, but it is an easy half-day out that Cambridge cannot offer.

Rotterdam is the more interesting place to eat. Its port history shows on the plate: Surinamese roti shops, Turkish bakeries and Cape Verdean and Indonesian kitchens, with the Markthal's food stalls and the restaurant run along the Witte de Withstraat and Nieuwe Binnenweg as easy starting points. Waterside terraces in Katendrecht and good local craft beer round it out.

Cambridge is comfortable rather than exciting. Its strengths are the old beamed pubs serving ales and Sunday roasts, the daily market on Market Hill and the mix of Asian and Mediterranean places along Mill Road. There is less to discover, and a few days covers it.

Cambridge has the richer historic core. The colleges along the Backs, King's College Chapel's fan vaulting, Trinity's Great Court and the Wren Library form a dense run of medieval and Renaissance buildings, and the Fitzwilliam's art and antiquities are far grander than the city's size would suggest.

Rotterdam's appeal is the reverse: a city rebuilt after the 1940 bombing as a showcase of modern architecture, from the Erasmus Bridge and the Cube Houses to the mirrored Depot Boijmans. Its museums are solid rather than outstanding, and old Rotterdam survives mainly in Delfshaven. Anyone more drawn to design than to history will find it the more engaging of the two.

Rotterdam offers far more after dark. As the birthplace of gabber, it holds techno and house nights in warehouse and harbour venues that draw people from across the country, while the Oude Haven and the Witte de Withstraat fill with terrace drinkers on summer evenings.

A night out in Cambridge usually means a historic inn or a riverside pub garden, with livelier bars on Regent Street and Mill Road. The clubs are small and aimed at students, and they go quiet outside term, so a big night means a train to London.

Both sit on flat, watery land with nothing dramatic nearby, but Rotterdam has a little more variety. The Kralingse Bos offers woods and a sailing lake, the Biesbosch national park's tidal creeks and willow islands are about forty minutes away for canoeing and birdwatching, and the dunes at Hoek van Holland add coastal walks and kitesurfing.

Cambridge's outdoors is gentler and more pastoral: punting through the Backs, cycling the towpath to Grantchester across cattle-grazed meadows, and birds and wild ponies at Wicken Fen.

Both make excellent bases, and Rotterdam has the edge thanks to its dense rail network. Delft and The Hague are minutes away, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leiden and Haarlem are within an hour, and Antwerp lies just over the border, with Kinderdijk's windmills reachable by water bus.

Cambridge's best card is London, under an hour by train. Beyond that come Ely's cathedral above the fens, the timber-framed wool towns of Lavenham and Long Melford, and Norwich, though several of the Suffolk towns and country estates are easier with a car.

Cambridge keeps children happy on a small scale. The free Sedgwick Museum has dinosaurs, Wimpole's working farm lets them meet the animals, and commons and playgrounds sit close to the centre. There is no large zoo or theme park, though, and the college sights ask for quiet.

Rotterdam gives a family more days' worth. Beyond the big zoo at Blijdorp, Plaswijckpark in the north mixes playgrounds with animals, and wide pavements, trams and cycle lanes make it easy to get about with young children. Madurodam's miniature Netherlands is only a short train ride away in The Hague. Outside summer, the weather is the main thing holding it back.

Cambridge is a city for walking. The colleges, market, museums and river are packed into a flat, largely pedestrian centre, and a hired bike gets you to Grantchester. Beyond the centre it is weaker: the station is a fair walk out, the buses are ordinary and the country estates really need a car.

Rotterdam is the easier of the two overall. Its metro, trams and buses share one tap-in system, Rotterdam Centraal is a short walk from the main shopping streets, and water buses cross the Maas and run to Kinderdijk, so you will never need a car. The trade-off is a spread-out postwar centre, where some walks between sights are long and windy.

Rotterdam is the better shopping city. The Lijnbaan, one of Europe's first pedestrian shopping streets, links to the Beurstraverse and the Bijenkorf, and the Meent and Nieuwe Binnenweg add independent fashion, vintage, record and design shops. The big Binnenrotte market runs twice a week.

Cambridge works on a smaller scale. Its real speciality is books, from academic booksellers to second-hand dealers in the lanes, along with independents on Trinity Street and Green Street and the daily market. Shopping there fits around sightseeing rather than shaping a trip.

Neither city is cheap, but Rotterdam is the less expensive place to stay, and most of the difference is the price of a bed. Cambridge is small and famous, and its few central hotels are rarely short of guests, so a night there costs noticeably more than in Rotterdam. It wins some of that back during the day. You can walk everywhere, the Fitzwilliam, the university museums and chapel evensong cost nothing, and only the best-known colleges charge entry. Out of term, booking a college room is the surest way to keep the bill down.

Rotterdam has the opposite situation: plenty of hotels, most of them built for business travel rather than tourism, and many have spare rooms at weekends. Eating out is no bargain in either city, so in Rotterdam the saving comes from a roti or a market-stall lunch rather than from restaurant dinners. Much of its architecture costs nothing to see from the street. A room here plus a short train ride to Amsterdam or The Hague also usually costs less than staying in either of those cities.

The two are broadly level, but what you hear is very different. Cambridge's highlight is choral music: evensong sung by the King's, St John's and Trinity choirs in candlelit chapels, plus student plays and Footlights comedy at the ADC and the summer Folk Festival.

Rotterdam is stronger in concert music and jazz, with the Rotterdam Philharmonic's season at De Doelen and the North Sea Jazz Festival each July, though much of its theatre is in Dutch.

Cambridge's way to rest is slow and outdoors: a punt along the river, a bench in the Botanic Garden or a college garden, tea in the orchard at Grantchester. It has no bathing culture, and the streets around King's Parade fill up in summer, so the calm is best found early, late or on the edges of town.

Rotterdam offers a different kind of rest, built around heat and water. Thanks to the Dutch sauna tradition, there are large wellness complexes on the city's edge with saunas, steam rooms and outdoor pools, mostly textile-free in the sauna areas. The centre itself is brisk, and apart from hotel spas, locals go to the Kralingse Bos or the waterside terraces for quiet.