Colmar or Ghent?

Neither is a swimming destination, but Ghent at least has a way to reach the sea. Ostend is about an hour away by train, and from there the coast tram runs past wide sand and dunes. The North Sea is cool and often windy, though, and the Blaarmeersen lake on the edge of the city is the easier swim on a hot day.

Colmar sits as far from any coast as you can get in France. Your only options are the municipal pools or a cold mountain lake up in the Vosges.

Both cities eat equally well, and both lean on hearty regional cooking, but they pour different drinks. Colmar is about wine: Riesling and Gewurztraminer next to choucroute and baeckeoffe in panelled winstubs, with cellar tastings a short drive away and a small fine-dining tier along the wine route.

Ghent is about beer, with Trappist and lambic lists in the old cafés next to waterzooi and beef stewed in dark beer. It also has frites stands and cuberdon carts, and it is the easier of the two for vegetarians.

Each city centres on one great altarpiece, Grünewald's in the Unterlinden in Colmar and the van Eycks' in St Bavo's in Ghent, but Ghent has more to see around its masterpiece. Colmar's painted half-timbered streets and Petite Venise make a beautifully complete townscape, but the set of sights is small and two days covers it.

Ghent adds a moated castle in the middle of town, UNESCO-listed beguinages and a belfry, and the classic view of three towers from St Michael's Bridge. Its museums also reach past the old masters, from the SMAK's contemporary art to the Design Museum, so it rewards a longer stay.

Ghent is far livelier after dark. The university fills the Overpoort's bars until late, the old cafés around the Vrijdagmarkt keep beer drinkers going, and the Gentse Feesten turns July into a ten-day street party. Even so, its clubs are few and small.

In Colmar a night out means dinner and a glass of wine on a summer terrace, and the streets go quiet early. Those wanting more take the train to Strasbourg.

Colmar has much the better outdoors. Within half an hour you can be walking through the vines between wine villages. Further up are the forested Vosges, with the Hohneck and Grand Ballon, glacial lakes, dense networks of waymarked trails and some modest winter skiing.

Ghent's surroundings are flat and farmed, and they are good for gentle riverside cycling along the Leie or birdwatching in the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetland, but there is nothing to climb.

Both make excellent bases, but you use them differently. From Colmar the best outings are the small walled wine villages, Riquewihr, Eguisheim and Kaysersberg, which are easiest by car or bike, along with Strasbourg by train and border crossings to Basel and Freiburg.

From Ghent, short and frequent trains reach big historic cities: Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp, plus Ypres and the First World War battlefields. You will never need a car.

Colmar suits families better, though largely because of what lies outside the town. Within it you get flat streets, boat rides through Petite Venise and storks on the roofs. Within a short drive are animal parks, the Montagne des Singes, Haut-Koenigsbourg and Europa-Park.

Ghent is safe and car-free in the centre, and children love the Gravensteen and the House of Alijn. Beyond those, the attractions made for children are elsewhere in Belgium, and the cobbles are hard going with a pushchair.

Ghent is the easier place to manage without a car. Its centre is kept largely free of traffic, trams cover the wider city, bikes are everywhere, and trains go all over Flanders.

Colmar's old town is just as easy on foot, and trains reach Strasbourg quickly, but buses to the wine villages and the Vosges are sparse. For the best of the region you will need a car or a bicycle.

Ghent has the wider range of shops. It has a main high street for chains, independent fashion and design on the Serpentstraat, vintage shops in the student quarter, and weekend flea and flower markets.

Colmar's shopping is mostly regional goods to take home: wine bought from the grower, Soufflenheim pottery, Alsatian linen and gingerbread. The Christmas markets are its high point, and there is little fashion.

Colmar is somewhat cheaper day to day. Set lunches, regional wine and village tastings are reasonable, although rooms in the small town are expensive in summer and during the Christmas market weeks.

Ghent's sit-down dinners and beer-heavy café bills add up faster. Its hotel rooms stay moderately priced for most of the year, though, apart from the July festival.

Ghent has a real performing arts scene of its own. Opera and ballet play at the nineteenth-century opera house, NTGent's productions are known well beyond Belgium, and De Bijloke stages early and classical music in a medieval hospital.

Colmar has a small Italian-style theatre and festivals in summer and autumn, but outside those weeks serious opera or orchestral music means a trip to Strasbourg or Basel.

Neither has a spa culture, and in both, wellness means a hotel spa at most. The calm comes from different settings: canal-side evenings and walks through the vines in Colmar, and the enclosed beguinage gardens and slow Sundays along the Leie in Ghent.