Cologne or Haarlem?

Haarlem has a real beach on its doorstep. Zandvoort's long sands are a short train ride away, and quieter Bloemendaal aan Zee is reached by bike through the dunes. The North Sea stays cool and windy, though, so most beach days are for walking and sitting out of the wind, with a quick swim at most.

Cologne has no coast at all and cannot swim in the Rhine. Its summer swimming happens at the gravel-pit lakes on the city's edge, such as Fühlinger See, which are warmer than the North Sea but make an afternoon out rather than a beach.

Cologne gives you more to choose from. The beer halls around the cathedral serve heavy Rhineland plates such as Himmel un Ääd, black pudding with apple and mash, or sauerbraten. Beyond them there is a second layer: bistros in the Belgian Quarter, Turkish and Middle Eastern kitchens along Ehrenfeld's Venloer Strasse, and a few ambitious fine-dining rooms. A week of dinners need not repeat itself, even if few people come here just to eat.

Haarlem eats in a narrower, more homely register. Dutch cooking is plain by tradition, so the pleasure lies more in the setting than on the plate: a terrace on the Grote Markt, a dark-panelled brown café, a glass from one of the town's craft brewers. The most memorable bite is often at the Saturday market, standing with a raw herring or a paper cone of fried fish. Where Cologne puts German, Turkish and modern cooking side by side, a longer stay in Haarlem tends to circle back to the same few good bistros.

Cologne has the bigger individual sights. The cathedral with its Shrine of the Three Kings, the ring of Romanesque churches, the Roman remains and museums of the calibre of Museum Ludwig and the Wallraf-Richartz could fill several days. The catch is a mostly post-war townscape, so you go from one landmark to the next through plain streets.

Haarlem works the other way round. Its pleasure is the intact old town itself, with canals, hofjes and the Grote Kerk with Mozart's organ, plus two fine museums in the Frans Hals and Teylers. It is smaller in scale and easily seen in a couple of unhurried days.

Cologne is a city that goes out. Evenings run from the Altstadt brewhouses to the Belgian Quarter's bars, the packed Zülpicher Strasse and late clubs in Ehrenfeld's old factories. It also has one of Germany's largest gay scenes around Rudolfplatz, and Carnival turns the whole city into a street party.

Haarlem's nights are sociable terrace evenings in the bars around the Grote Markt and Botermarkt, and they end well before dawn. Anyone wanting a club goes to Amsterdam.

The two are broadly level, but the landscapes differ. Haarlem's countryside begins at the town edge, with the dunes, woods and grazing ponies of Zuid-Kennemerland, deer in the water-supply dunes and spring bulb fields, all flat and best seen by bike.

Cologne's own green belt and Rhine meadows are good for runs and rides, and it has hills within reach: the Siebengebirge and Drachenfels, the Bergisches Land and the Eifel's crater lakes offer proper day hikes with some climbing.

Both are excellent bases, and Haarlem has a slight edge. Amsterdam is close enough to visit on a whim, and Leiden, The Hague, Delft, Utrecht and Rotterdam are all short hops on a dense network, with Keukenhof, Alkmaar and Zaanse Schans close too. Because the distances are so short, you can fit several outings into one stay.

Cologne's outings are spread over a wider area and vary more in kind. You can choose between Brühl's palaces, Bonn and Aachen, the castle towns of the Rhine Gorge, and a cross-border trip to Maastricht or Brussels.

Cologne has far more that is built for children: a big zoo with an elephant park, the Chocolate Museum's working production line, the cable car to the Rheinpark playgrounds and Phantasialand a short trip south. The one period to avoid with small children is Carnival.

Haarlem is relaxed and car-free in the centre, with Teylers' fossils and the dunes and beach to run in. Beyond that, families have to travel for zoos and science museums.

Neither city needs a car, but they work differently. Haarlem is a small place for walking and cycling: you can cross the centre on foot in about twenty minutes, and bike paths run straight out to the dunes and the sea.

Cologne's sights are also walkable from the station beside the cathedral, but reaching Ehrenfeld, the zoo or the suburbs means its trams and Stadtbahn. That network is larger, but it is less intuitive and sometimes crowded.

The two are about equal for shopping, but in different ways. Cologne is a high-street city, with Schildergasse and Hohe Strasse full of chains and department stores, plus Eau de Cologne from its historic perfume houses and the Advent Christmas markets.

Haarlem is better for an afternoon of small independents in Gierstraat and Kleine Houtstraat, among boutiques, design shops and delicatessens, with flower and cheese stalls on market days.

Cologne is the easier one on the wallet. Brewhouse meals are good value and the cathedral and many churches are free to enter. Hotel rooms only become scarce and expensive during trade fairs and Carnival, so check the dates before booking.

Haarlem is priced like the prosperous Dutch northwest. It has few hotels for the demand, and the rooms are small for what they cost. Train fares for regular outings and museum tickets add up over a stay.

Cologne has a much bigger stage life. There is an opera house and theatre on Offenbachplatz, and the Philharmonie by the cathedral is home to the Gürzenich and WDR orchestras. There is also jazz, electronic music and gigs most nights in Ehrenfeld and the Südstadt, plus the Carnival sessions, which you will not find anywhere else.

Haarlem has a respectable programme for its size, and its speciality is the organ: concerts on St Bavo's great instrument and a long-running international organ festival. For opera or a major orchestra, Haarlem visitors head to Amsterdam.

Cologne has more to offer for formal unwinding. It has large German sauna landscapes, a thermal bath in the Rheinpark fed by mineral springs and facing the cathedral, and Aachen's hot springs within easy reach. The centre itself is busy, though.

Haarlem relaxes you through its pace instead. There are quiet canals after dark, long café afternoons and rides in the dunes. It has no thermal springs, and its larger day-spas are out in the wider region.