Ghent or Saint-Malo?

Ghent has no coast of its own. Swimming in town means the lake shore at the Blaarmeersen, and the North Sea resorts are a train ride of about an hour away at Ostend.

Saint-Malo is the beach town of the two. The Grand Plage du Sillon runs for about 3km from the walls, and the tidal pool at Bon-Secours means you can still swim at low water. The Channel is just as cold as the North Sea, though, so expect to spend more time on the sand than in the water.

Ghent eats and drinks better. You get waterzooi and beef stewed in beer in the Patershol lanes, long lists of Trappist and lambic beers in the old brown cafés, and a meat-free habit that makes it unusually easy for vegetarians.

Saint-Malo has fine raw materials, such as galettes with dry cider and oysters eaten by the harbour wall at Cancale. Inside the walls, though, the cooking is uneven, because many places cater to day visitors. Good meals take some looking for in Saint-Servan or along the coast, and there is little beyond Breton and seafood menus.

Ghent is in another league here. The van Eyck altarpiece in St Bavo's is one of the founding works of European painting. Around it are the moated Gravensteen, the guildhalls of the Graslei and Korenlei, and museums ranging from Flemish masters at the Museum of Fine Arts to contemporary art at the SMAK.

Saint-Malo's appeal is the place itself. You walk the full circuit of the ramparts above the granite town, which was rebuilt after 1944, and cross to the Grand Bé at low tide to see Chateaubriand's grave. Its history of corsairs and shipowners shows in statues and street names rather than in collections, and a day covers it.

Ghent has the nightlife. Its students keep the Overpoort loud and late in term time, the cafés around the Vrijdagmarkt and Oudburg are made for long evenings over beer, and the July Gentse Feesten turns the centre into a street party for ten days.

Saint-Malo's evenings rarely go beyond a drink after dinner in the pubs and wine bars inside the walls. Summer weekends stay up a little later, but the town goes quiet early for most of the year, and the nearest clubs are in Rennes.

Saint-Malo wins easily. The GR34 coastal path leads east to Pointe du Grouin and west to the cliffs of Cap Fréhel. Low tide uncovers huge flats where seabirds feed and seals haul out off the islands, and the Rance estuary is good for kayaking.

Ghent's countryside is flat, farmed and gentle. Cycling along the Leie to Sint-Martens-Latem, birdwatching at the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetlands or rowing at the Blaarmeersen make pleasant half-days, but none of it is a reason to choose the city.

Both make good bases for excursions, but Ghent's are closer together and easier to reach. Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp are all within an hour on frequent trains, and the Ypres battlefields and Lille are within range too, so you never need to plan around a car.

Saint-Malo's best outing is Mont-Saint-Michel. Medieval Dinan, Dinard across the estuary and the oyster port of Cancale are all near, and ferries cross to Jersey in summer. Apart from the boat to Dinard and the train to Rennes, most of these trips are much easier by car.

Saint-Malo gives children more to do. There are wide beaches, the sea pool at Bon-Secours to jump into, island forts to walk out to at low tide and the Grand Aquarium for wet days. The one caveat is the tide, which comes in fast over the causeways.

Ghent is safe and largely car-free, and the Gravensteen and the House of Alijn go down well. Once those and a canal boat trip are done, little in the city is aimed at children, and the cobbles are hard on pushchairs.

Ghent is easier on every count. The flat centre is mostly closed to cars, trams link the main station, and cycling is the normal way to get about. Frequent trains also take care of day trips.

In Saint-Malo, the walled town and the promenade to Paramé are easy on foot, and a passenger boat crosses to Dinard. Further afield, buses are thin, and most people end up driving to Mont-Saint-Michel or Cancale.

Ghent has more variety. Independent fashion and design shops line the Serpentstraat and the Onderbergen, the student quarter has vintage shops, and there are weekend markets at Sint-Jacobs and on the Kouter. The best things to take home are chocolate, cuberdons and mustard.

Saint-Malo's shops lean almost entirely on Breton specialities, such as striped sailor tops, salted-butter caramels, cider and faience. They make good souvenirs, but for clothes or department stores you go to Rennes.

The two cost much the same overall. What differs is when the money goes. In Ghent, prices hold steady most of the year apart from the July festival, and the expensive part is sit-down dinners with several Belgian beers.

Saint-Malo's prices follow the seasons. Rooms by the beach and inside the walls are expensive in July and August and much better value in spring and autumn. Galettes and set lunches keep eating cheap until you order a seafood platter.

Ghent has a year-round season. The opera house is home to half of the Flemish national company, NTGent is known abroad for its theatre, though most of it is in Dutch, and De Bijloke stages early and classical music in a medieval hospital.

Saint-Malo's town theatre offers a modest programme of touring shows and the cathedral hosts the odd concert. The draw is a handful of festivals, such as La Route du Rock for indie music and Étonnants Voyageurs for books, so it is worth timing a visit to them.

Ghent offers rest but no real treatments. Saint-Malo builds whole weekends around the sea, while Ghent has only a handful of hotel spas and private saunas. What it does well is slow down: Sundays are quiet, evenings away from the student streets end early, and that makes a calm base after long days of sightseeing or train trips around Flanders.

Saint-Malo has the real thing, the French seawater cure. A large centre on the seafront of the Sillon pipes in sea water for heated pools, hydrotherapy and treatments, and Dinard, across the estuary, has the same tradition, so you can book treatments on either shore. Timing matters more than in Ghent. August brings crowds and noise to the walls and beaches, but from autumn to spring the town settles down and locals keep up their cold morning swims in the sea pools.