Dusseldorf or Utrecht?

Neither city is a beach destination, and swimming in either means a lake on the outskirts: Unterbacher See for Düsseldorf, the Maarsseveense Plassen or the Loosdrecht lakes for Utrecht. The real difference is the sea. From Utrecht, Zandvoort or Scheveningen is roughly an hour by train, so a cool North Sea beach day is possible, while from Düsseldorf the Dutch coast is a long day's journey there and back.

Düsseldorf gives you far more reason to plan meals. Its brewhouse cooking, from sauerbraten to the cheese roll called Halve Hahn with the local brown mustard, is a cuisine of its own, and the Japanese community around Immermannstrasse adds a second, quite different side, with Carlsplatz market and some fine dining on top.

Utrecht has no dishes to match. What it offers is atmosphere, eating on the old cellar wharves at the canal's edge, plus cheap and varied student kitchens with Indonesian and Surinamese food. Pleasant, but rarely the point of the trip.

The two are broadly level but appeal in opposite ways. Düsseldorf is about art inside buildings: Klee and classic modernism at K20, the net under the dome at K21, the Kunstpalast, and galleries shaped by its academy. Its streets, though, were largely rebuilt after the war, and the best historic site, Benrath Palace, is out in the suburbs.

Utrecht is the reverse. The Dom Tower standing apart from its choir and the unique wharves of the Oudegracht make the old centre itself the sight, while its museums, from Catharijneconvent to the Rietveld Schröder House, are fine but small.

Düsseldorf has the bigger night out. The Altstadt crams a few hundred pubs and brewhouses into a few streets, and on weekends it turns into a street party lasting past midnight, loud and sometimes full of stag groups. Carnival takes it to another level for days at a time.

Utrecht's evenings are gentler and more student-led, with bar terraces around the Neude and drinks at the canal edge in summer. Clubs are few, and locals wanting a big night take the train to Amsterdam.

Both sit in flat, green country with no mountains, so neither is a reason to travel on its own. In Düsseldorf the Rhine meadows and long riverside cycle paths are the main draw, with the Neandertal and the wooded Bergisches Land for a day's walking. Utrecht leans more on cycling through polders, windmills and estates along the Vecht, with heath and forest in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug and sailing on the Loosdrecht lakes.

Both are superb bases, but Utrecht has the edge because its trains reach a whole country's highlights. Amsterdam is under half an hour, and Rotterdam, The Hague, Delft, Leiden and Gouda are all easy runs, with Kinderdijk and the Kröller-Müller Museum further out.

From Düsseldorf the reach is regional rather than national: Cologne cathedral, Bonn and the Brühl palaces up the Rhine, the industrial heritage of Zollverein in the Ruhr, and Aachen or Maastricht in about an hour and a half.

Both are calm, safe cities with children, so the choice rests on the attractions. Düsseldorf offers the Aquazoo, the tilted windows of the Rheinturm, wild boar in the Grafenberg game park, and Phantasialand within an hour. Utrecht answers with the national Railway Museum, the Miffy museum for toddlers and the fairy-tale Kasteel de Haar. The caution differs too: rowdy weekend nights in Düsseldorf's Altstadt, a constant flow of bikes in Utrecht.

Utrecht is the simpler city to move about. You arrive at Utrecht Centraal on the edge of the old town, nearly everything is a short flat walk away, and a rental bike handles the rest, all on the same tap-in card as the trains.

Düsseldorf's centre is also walkable, but the Medienhafen and some museums need a tram or light rail ride, and the regional fare zones take some working out. Its advantage is that the same network carries you on to Cologne and the Ruhr.

Düsseldorf is the stronger shopping city, built around the Königsallee with its luxury flagships, jewellers and arcades, and big department stores nearby on Schadowstrasse. Flingern's boutiques and the Japanese quarter's stationery and homeware shops add independent character.

Utrecht's appeal lies in small streets and markets: independent fashion and design along the Twijnstraat and Zadelstraat, and the flower market at the Janskerkhof. For luxury labels you would have to go elsewhere.

Neither is cheap, but Düsseldorf is somewhat easier on the wallet. Its rooms are pricey for its size, and they jump sharply during trade fairs, so timing a stay around the fair calendar makes the biggest difference. Brewhouse meals and Japanese noodle lunches keep daily costs reasonable.

In Utrecht the pressure is the scarcity of hotels in the historic centre, which keeps beds dear all year. Visitors save on the ground, though, walking or cycling everywhere and eating in the student cafés.

The two are close, but they differ in form. Düsseldorf has the classic institutions: opera and ballet at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the symphony in the domed Tonhalle, a leading German-language theatre, political cabaret, and a place in music history as Kraftwerk's home.

Utrecht has no opera house but concentrates its music in TivoliVredenburg, where classical, pop and experimental acts may share one evening. Its Festival Oude Muziek is a major draw for early-music lovers.

Neither has much of a spa culture, though Düsseldorf is slightly better placed. Saunas are a routine part of its public pools, and the hot springs of Aachen are within reach. Utrecht's wellness complexes sit out in the green belt and need a bus or a drive. For simple unwinding, Düsseldorf has the Rhine meadows and the Japanese garden in Nordpark, while Utrecht has quiet cloister gardens like the Pandhof and slow evenings by the canal.