Dusseldorf or Haarlem?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Haarlem at least has the sand on its doorstep. Zandvoort is a short train ride away and the dune-backed strand at Bloemendaal aan Zee is reachable by bike, so a beach afternoon fits easily into a stay, even if the cool, windy North Sea limits it to walking and a quick dip.

Düsseldorf has no coast at all, and the Rhine is unsafe for swimming. A summer swim there means Unterbacher See or one of the region's outdoor pools and gravel-pit lakes.

Düsseldorf gives the hungry traveller more to work with. Beyond the brewhouse classics of sauerbraten, pork knuckle and Halve Hahn with the city's sharp mustard, it has one of Europe's largest Japanese communities, with ramen, izakaya and bakeries around Immermannstrasse, plus Carlsplatz market and a decent tier of fine dining.

Haarlem eats well but simply. Market herring and kibbeling on the Grote Markt, brown cafés and a strong craft-beer culture make for pleasant meals, but there is little street food and only a small top tier.

The two are close in depth but very different in character. Düsseldorf is an art city in the modern sense, with Klee and twentieth-century work at K20, contemporary installations under K21's glass dome and the wide-ranging Kunstpalast, but its bombed Altstadt is largely rebuilt, so the finest historic site is Benrath Palace out in the suburbs.

Haarlem is the opposite: the old town itself is the attraction. The Gothic St Bavo, the almshouse courtyards, the Frans Hals Museum and the eighteenth-century oval room of Teylers Museum make it a place to walk through history rather than visit it in galleries.

Düsseldorf is far livelier after dark. Its Altstadt packs a few hundred pubs and brewhouses into a few streets, with crowds drinking outside until well past midnight, and Carnival turns the whole city out in costume for days. Calmer cocktail bars sit in Carlstadt and the Medienhafen.

Haarlem's evenings are sociable but brief, centred on the terraces of the Grote Markt and Botermarkt, and there is almost no clubbing. Its trump card is that Amsterdam is a short train ride away.

Haarlem has the better landscape close to hand. The dunes, pine woods and small lakes of Zuid-Kennemerland begin at the western edge of town, with Highland cattle and wild ponies, tame fallow deer in the water-supply dunes, long beach walks and the striped bulb fields in spring.

Düsseldorf's outdoors is gentler and more river-bound: the Rhine meadows and their cycle paths, Grafenberg forest and the wooded Neandertal. For proper hills you head out to the Bergisches Land or the Siebengebirge.

Both are superb bases, and Haarlem has a slight edge simply because of what lies close. Amsterdam is about fifteen minutes away and Leiden twenty, with The Hague, Delft, Alkmaar's cheese market, Zaanse Schans and Keukenhof all within easy reach.

Düsseldorf's range is broader in character: Cologne's cathedral within half an hour, Bonn and the palaces at Brühl, the industrial heritage of Zollverein, and further out Aachen, Münster, Maastricht and the castles of the Middle Rhine.

Both are safe, easy cities with children, but Düsseldorf has more aimed at them. The Aquazoo Löbbecke Museum, the tilted windows of the Rheinturm, the free game park in Grafenberg and two theme parks within about an hour give plenty of set-piece outings.

Haarlem's appeal for families is its car-free centre and the freedom of the dunes and beach, along with Teylers Museum's fossils. With no zoo, aquarium or theme park in town, bigger outings mean a trip to Amsterdam.

Getting about is equally easy in both, and in neither do you need a car. The difference is the mode: Düsseldorf adds trams and underground light rail to its walkable centre, while Haarlem is small enough to cross on foot in about twenty minutes and is best seen by bike, with dedicated paths running out to the dunes and the sea.

Düsseldorf is the stronger shopping city, thanks largely to the Königsallee, a canal-side boulevard of luxury flagships and jewellers, backed by department stores on Schadowstrasse and the Kö-Bogen. The Japanese quarter and Flingern's design shops add something less expected.

Haarlem's charm lies in its independents. The lanes around Gierstraat and Kleine Houtstraat are full of boutiques, bookshops and delis, and market days bring flowers and cheese to the main square, but there is no luxury street or big department store.

Neither is cheap, but Düsseldorf stretches a budget a little further. Brewhouse meals, Japanese noodle bars and fairly priced transport keep daily costs manageable, as long as you avoid the trade-fair weeks, when hotel rooms soar.

Haarlem's hotels are few and fill early in tulip season and summer, and rooms tend to be small for the price. Market stalls and bakeries help, but regular train fares to Amsterdam and Leiden add up.

Düsseldorf offers the fuller programme. The Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the symphony orchestra in the domed Tonhalle and the Schauspielhaus give it a big-city calendar, and its place in electronic music as Kraftwerk's home town adds a distinctive layer.

Haarlem's speciality is the organ: St Bavo's great instrument, which Mozart played as a boy, features in regular concerts and a long-running international festival. For opera or a major orchestra, visitors there go to Amsterdam.

Both offer a similarly quiet kind of rest, with no thermal springs in either town and saunas as a local habit. Düsseldorf is better placed for a proper spa day, with the hot springs of Aachen and several large thermal complexes within reach. Haarlem relaxes you through its pace instead, with silent canals at night and the dunes for a restorative ride.