Ghent or Manchester?

Neither city is for a beach vacation, but Ghent comes closer. Ostend is about an hour away by train, and the coast tram links wide sandy resorts from De Panne to Knokke. On hot days the Blaarmeersen lake on the city's western edge has supervised swimming from a sandy shore.

From Manchester the Irish Sea at Formby or Blackpool is a seaside walk rather than a swim, because the water stays too cold for most people. An indoor pool is the realistic option.

Ghent has the more distinctive table. Waterzooi, beef stewed in dark beer and grey shrimp croquettes give it a real regional cooking, the restaurants have a long meat-free habit that suits vegetarians, and the brown cafés of the Patershol and Vrijdagmarkt pour Trappist and lambic beers by the long list.

Manchester's strength is range rather than a cuisine of its own. It has the curry houses of Rusholme, one of Britain's larger Chinatowns and food halls in Ancoats mills, and the craft breweries under the railway arches are its best match for Ghent's beer.

Ghent has the deeper sights. Its medieval centre is still lived in. From St Michael's Bridge you see three towers in one line, a twelfth-century castle stands in the middle of town, and St Bavo's holds the van Eyck altarpiece, one of the founding works of European painting.

Manchester tells a later and narrower story, that of the first industrial city. The neo-Gothic Town Hall, the John Rylands Library and the Science and Industry Museum make a fine two days for anyone curious about cotton, railways and Victorian ambition, and most of the galleries are free. Nothing here matches the altarpiece, though.

Manchester is the place for a proper night out. The warehouse bars and DJ rooms of the Northern Quarter, the long-established Gay Village on Canal Street and the autumn warehouse raves give it a range Ghent cannot match, and weekend nights run very late.

Ghent's evenings are smaller and slower, mostly long sessions over strong beer in old cafés, with the student bars of the Overpoort for something louder. The exception is July, when the ten-day Gentse Feesten turns the whole centre into a street party.

Manchester has real hill country on its doorstep. The gritstone edges of the Peak District start on the eastern fringe, Kinder Scout and the Mam Tor ridge are under an hour away by train, and Heaton Park is one of Europe's largest municipal parks. Expect low cloud and mud on the moors.

Ghent's outdoors is flat and gentle: riverside cycling along the Leie to Sint-Martens-Latem, birdwatching in the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetland and the Zwin reserve near the coast. It is pleasant, but there is nothing to climb.

Both cities make excellent bases, but Ghent's outings are closer and more concentrated. Bruges is under half an hour away and Brussels about the same, Antwerp is under an hour, and the First World War sites around Ypres and Lille across the border are within easy reach. Many visitors stay in Ghent precisely to see Flanders.

Manchester's outings are more spread out but still rich. Liverpool and Chester are about an hour away, York takes a little longer across the Pennines, and Chatsworth, Haworth and the Lake District towns make good longer days.

Manchester has more for children, largely because so much of it is indoors and free. There are working engines at the Science and Industry Museum and dinosaurs at the Manchester Museum. The Trafford Centre has an aquarium and an indoor real-snow slope, and Chester Zoo is about an hour away.

Ghent is the calmer and safer-feeling city to walk with children, thanks to its car-free centre. The Gravensteen's battlements and the canal boats are the highlights, but little else is designed for children, and the cobbles are hard going with a pushchair.

Ghent is the easier city to get about. With cars kept out of the flat medieval core, the cathedral, the Graslei and the Patershol are minutes apart on foot, and the city is built around the bicycle, with bike streets and rental bikes everywhere. The main station is a twenty-minute walk or a short tram ride from the centre.

Manchester's centre is also compact, and the yellow Metrolink trams reach Salford Quays, Old Trafford and the airport. Rain, crowded trams on event days and a confusing road layout make it a little less smooth.

Manchester is the better shopping city. It is the commercial capital of northern England, with department stores around Exchange Square and designer labels on King Street. The Northern Quarter adds record shops, vintage clothing and the stalls of Afflecks, and the huge Trafford Centre sits on the city's edge.

Ghent is better for browsing. Independent design shops line the Serpentstraat, the flea market at Sint-Jacobs and the flower market on the Kouter are worth a morning, and the best things to take home are edible: cuberdons, chocolate and the local mustard.

Costs are broadly similar, and neither is a budget city. They differ in where the money goes. In Ghent, Belgian restaurant and café bills are the main expense, while getting around the walkable centre costs little and the cathedral is free, though the Gravensteen and the main museums charge.

In Manchester most of the major museums are free, and curry houses and food halls keep meals cheap. Hotel rooms jump when a home football match or a big arena concert is on, so your dates matter there in the way July's festival matters in Ghent.

Manchester's stage and music life is broader and better known. The Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic both play at the Bridgewater Hall, the gig circuit runs from tiny Northern Quarter rooms to one of Europe's largest arenas, and the Royal Exchange stages theatre-in-the-round inside the old cotton trading hall.

Ghent holds its own for its size. Its nineteenth-century opera house is home to half of the Flemish national company, De Bijloke is known for early music in a medieval hospital, and NTGent is admired far beyond Belgium, although most of its productions are in Dutch.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, but Ghent is the more restful place to spend time. Its enclosed beguinage gardens, canal walks along the Coupure and quiet Sundays slow the pace once the day-trippers have left.

Manchester stays loud and busy, especially at weekends, and Victoria Baths is a heritage building to tour rather than a place to swim. People who want quiet there usually take the train to the old spa town of Buxton.