Dusseldorf or London?

Neither city works for a beach vacation, but London gets you to salt water more easily. Brighton's pebble beach is about an hour by train, and Margate and Whitstable offer sandier shores in Kent. In town, the lidos at Brockwell Park and Parliament Hill and the Hampstead Heath ponds give London a real outdoor swimming culture.

Düsseldorf's Rhine is unsafe for swimming, so locals go to Unterbacher See or the region's gravel-pit lakes. The nearest coast is the cool Dutch North Sea, a long day away.

London eats far more widely. It has Bangladeshi cooking on Brick Lane, Turkish grills in Green Lanes, Caribbean and West African food south of the river, and Borough Market and the weekend yards for grazing. Fine dining and modern British cooking sit on top of all that.

Düsseldorf offers two strong threads rather than breadth. One is hearty Rhineland food in the Altstadt brewhouses, with Altbier and spicy local mustard. The other is the Japanese quarter's ramen counters, izakaya and bakeries, which are among the best in Europe.

London's depth is hard to match. Its great national museums and galleries are mostly free, and its landmarks run from the Tower and Westminster Abbey to Wren's St Paul's and Greenwich. A week there still leaves a long list unseen.

Düsseldorf is an art city above all. Klee at K20, the net under K21's glass dome and the Kunstpalast are the highlights. Wartime bombing left little old fabric, so beyond the galleries the main historic visit is the pink rococo Benrath Palace.

London offers many separate nights out: Soho's late bars and gay scene, warehouse parties in Hackney and Dalston, and big venues in Brixton and Peckham, with thousands of pubs underneath it all. Clubbers in particular will find far more there.

Düsseldorf's night is concentrated in one place. The Altstadt's few hundred brewhouses and bars turn into a loud street party at weekends, and calmer cocktail bars are found in Carlstadt and the Medienhafen. Its big moment is Carnival, when the whole city goes out in costume.

London is the greener of the two inside its own limits. Richmond Park's deer and ancient oaks, the hilltop views from Hampstead Heath and Kew's gardens give real open space. The Chilterns and South Downs are an hour or so away by train.

Düsseldorf's outdoors is flatter and quieter: grassy Rhine meadows with long cycle paths to Kaiserswerth, Grafenberg forest and the wooded Neandertal. It suits an easy ride by the river more than a day of serious walking.

Both are excellent bases, and London has the slightly longer list. Oxford, Cambridge, Windsor, Bath, Canterbury and Stonehenge make very different days out across southern England.

Düsseldorf's strength is how close everything is. Cologne Cathedral is under half an hour away, and Bonn, the Brühl palaces, the Zollverein colliery and Aachen are all a short train ride. Even Dutch Maastricht and the castles of the Middle Rhine are within a day's reach.

London gives children more to do, and much of it is free. There are the dinosaur halls of the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum's hands-on galleries, the pirate ship playground in Kensington Gardens and the zoo in Regent's Park. Legoland Windsor and the Harry Potter studio tour are close by. The downside is crowds, long distances and Tube stairs with a buggy.

Düsseldorf is smaller in what it offers but easier day to day. Short tram rides take you to the Aquazoo Löbbecke Museum, the Rheinturm's tilted windows and the free game park in Grafenberg, and Phantasialand is about an hour away.

London's network is the more complete. The Tube, the Elizabeth line, buses and riverboats reach nearly everywhere, and one contactless card pays for all of it. The cost of that reach is scale, with long journeys and packed, hot trains at rush hour.

Düsseldorf is compact and flat, so the Altstadt, Königsallee and the Japanese quarter are a stroll apart and the airport is minutes away by train. Its fare zones take some figuring out, but the regional network also covers Cologne and the Ruhr.

Düsseldorf keeps its shopping within a short walk, while London spreads it across whole districts. In Düsseldorf, the Kö's jewellers and arcades sit a few minutes from Schadowstrasse and the Kö-Bogen, and the trade-fair fashion business shows in its big department stores. Flingern's design shops, stationery and homeware in the Japanese quarter and the stalls of Carlsplatz add some character, but there is no crafts or market tradition to speak of.

London's appeal goes well beyond its luxury streets. You can spend a day among the bookshops of Charing Cross Road, the vintage and design shops of Shoreditch and Spitalfields, Camden's alternative stalls and Greenwich market at the weekend, or browse Marylebone High Street and Seven Dials. Each district feels different, so several shopping days need not repeat themselves.

Düsseldorf is the cheaper of the two, though it is not a bargain. Hotel rooms jump during the big trade fairs, so check the fair calendar before booking. Otherwise brewhouse meals and noodle bars keep daily costs reasonable.

In London, small central rooms, rounds in the pub and theatre seats all cost a lot. Its saving grace is that the great museums, the parks and many markets cost nothing to visit.

London leads by a wide margin. It has the West End's historic playhouses, the National Theatre, the Globe and the pub fringe, plus the Royal Opera House, five major orchestras and the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. Much of it is in English, so visitors can follow everything.

Düsseldorf has a solid programme for its size, including the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the domed Tonhalle on the river. Its distinctive draw is its place in music history as the home of Kraftwerk and early German electronic music. Its leading theatre plays mostly in German.

The two are about equal here, and both are better for a city break than for rest and recovery. Düsseldorf has a relaxed pace, long walks in the Rhine meadows and the Japanese garden in Nordpark. Its saunas are the German kind, mixed and without swimwear, and large thermal complexes and Aachen's hot springs are within reach.

London's bathing is more historic: Victorian Turkish baths in Bayswater and Islington, grand hotel spas and cold dips at the Hampstead ponds. For proper thermal waters, Bath is about an hour and a half away by train.