Cambridge or St Andrews?

Cambridge has no coast at all; the nearest Suffolk and Norfolk beaches are about an hour and a half by car, so swimming means the Jesus Green Lido or the river at Grantchester Meadows. St Andrews has three beaches on foot from the centre, the long dune-backed West Sands, sheltered East Sands by the harbour and little Castle Sands under the cliffs.

Neither is a sunbathing destination. The St Andrews water stays chilly even in late summer and wind is common, so its beaches are for walking, kites and a quick cold dip, but that still beats anything an inland fen city can offer.

Both towns eat well enough without being a reason to come, and the difference is in kind. Cambridge leans on old pubs with ales and Sunday roasts, a daily market with street food, riverside tea rooms and a wider international spread along Mill Road.

St Andrews has a narrower range but a stronger link to its surroundings: Fife lamb, East Neuk crab and lobster, ice cream queues on summer evenings, and fish and chips or smoked fish in the harbour villages down the coast.

Cambridge has far more to see. The run of colleges along the Backs, King's College Chapel, Trinity's Great Court and the Wren Library form one of the densest historic cores in England, and the Fitzwilliam plus a cluster of university museums fill two or three full days.

St Andrews has fine medieval fragments, the ruined cathedral with St Rule's Tower to climb and the castle with its siege tunnels, alongside its own ancient university and the golf heritage of the Old Course. It is charming, but a day or two exhausts it.

Neither place is built for a big night, but Cambridge has more to work with. As a city rather than a town, it has enough pubs and bars for an evening to move from an old inn by the colleges out to the busier strip along Mill Road. The student clubs go quiet outside term, but in summer people drinking outdoors on the riverside greens keep the evenings going. If you want more, London is under an hour away by train, close enough for a night out and a train home.

St Andrews relies much more on the university calendar. During term the students bring life to a few bars and their union. Outside term, which is when most visitors come, an evening usually means a quiet pint among golfers and an early night. Going further afield takes more effort too. Dundee is about half an hour away, and Edinburgh means a bus to Leuchars and then a train, which makes for a long trip back late at night.

Cambridge's countryside is soft and flat: punting through the Backs, water meadows to Grantchester, the commons in town and the birds and wild ponies of Wicken Fen. It is pleasant, but there is no relief and no drama.

St Andrews has far more to get out into. The Fife Coastal Path runs past cliffs, caves and sea stacks, the Eden estuary draws wading birds, Tentsmuir's pine woods end at seal-watching shores, and the Lomond Hills and Perthshire offer proper hill walks by car, with links golf on every side.

Fast trains give Cambridge a slight edge. London is under an hour away, Ely's cathedral fifteen minutes and Norwich a little over an hour, all without a car. Audley End, the wool towns of Lavenham and Long Melford, and the National Trust estates at Anglesey Abbey and Wimpole are an easy drive.

St Andrews has the East Neuk harbours, Falkland Palace and Dundee within about half an hour, and Edinburgh, Stirling and Glamis make full days out. Without a car, though, trips from St Andrews take more planning around buses.

Cambridge gives children more to do. The free Museum of Zoology with its whale skeleton, the Sedgwick dinosaurs, punting and above all the historic aircraft at Duxford fill several good days, and the flat streets and green commons make it easy going.

St Andrews is gentle and safe, with sandcastles and rock pools on its beaches, a small aquarium, the castle tunnels and Craigtoun Park's miniature railway. The weather can cut beach days short, and there is no single big outing to match Duxford.

Cambridge has its own railway station, which makes it the easier place to arrive in and move around. From there the flat, largely pedestrian core is a short bus ride or a longish walk away, and with so many people cycling, a hired bike is the natural way to reach Grantchester or the outlying colleges.

St Andrews is a few parallel streets with everything close together, but the nearest trains stop at Leuchars about 8km away, so arriving means a bus or taxi. The inland sights really call for a car.

Cambridge offers more choice: high-street names in the Grand Arcade, independent shops on Green Street and Trinity Street, a daily market and, above all, academic and second-hand bookshops. St Andrews makes a pleasant afternoon along its three streets, with golf gear, cashmere, tartan and delis the things worth buying, but serious shoppers head to Edinburgh.

Both are expensive places to sleep, with limited rooms pushed up by graduations and, in St Andrews, golf tournaments. Where they differ is in what saves money. In Cambridge it is the free Fitzwilliam and university museums, free evensong and a college room out of term.

In St Andrews it is cheap fish and chips, walking everywhere and lodgings in the East Neuk villages, though golfers playing the famous courses face a large extra bill.

Cambridge is much the richer for live performance. Choral evensong at King's, St John's and Trinity is a world-class experience open to anyone in term, and the Arts Theatre, the ADC's student comedy and drama, concerts at the Corn Exchange and the long-running Folk Festival keep the calendar full.

St Andrews has the Byre Theatre, university chapel and chamber concerts and the odd pub folk session, a modest programme that thins out in summer. Opera and orchestras mean a trip to Edinburgh.

Neither has a bathing tradition, so both come down to hotel spas plus a quieter kind of rest. In Cambridge that means a punt on the river, the Botanic Garden or tea in the orchard at Grantchester, though the streets around King's Parade fill with tour groups in summer.

St Andrews is calmer overall, with long sea walks on West Sands, resort spas open to non-residents and a cold-water dipping habit off East Sands for anyone who wants it.