Ghent or Utrecht?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation, but Ghent has the better access to the sea. Ostend is about an hour away by train, and the coastal tram links wide sandy resorts from De Panne to Knokke. In the city itself, the lake at the Blaarmeersen has a sandy shore and lifeguards in summer.

From Utrecht, Zandvoort and Scheveningen take an hour or more to reach. Swimming closer to home means the Maarsseveense Plassen or the Loosdrecht lakes, which are fine for cooling off on a warm day and little more.

Ghent has a cuisine of its own, and that makes the difference here. Waterzooi, beef stewed in dark beer, grey shrimp croquettes and frites in paper cones give meals a clear Flemish identity. The cafés pour Trappist and lambic beers, and the lanes of the Patershol hold good restaurants. Vegetarians are unusually well served.

Utrecht offers more of a setting than a cuisine. Eating on the old wharves of the Oudegracht, right at the water, is the memorable part. Otherwise the city's strength is varied, casual food: Indonesian and Surinamese kitchens, bistros around the Twijnstraat and Lombok, and herring and cheese at the Vredenburg market.

Ghent has the deeper sightseeing. The Ghent Altarpiece alone draws art lovers, and around it are the Gravensteen, the guildhalls facing each other across the Leie, the UNESCO-listed belfry and beguinages, and a museum line-up running from Flemish masters at the Museum of Fine Arts to contemporary art at the SMAK.

Utrecht's centre is just as well preserved, but there is less inside it. The Dom Tower, standing apart from its choir since the storm of 1674, and the two-level Oudegracht are the highlights. The Rietveld Schröder House and the De Stijl collection give the city a twentieth-century design angle that Ghent does not share.

Both are student towns, but Ghent's nights go further. The Overpoort runs loud and late in term time, the old cafés around the Vrijdagmarkt and Oudburg suit a long evening over strong beer, and a few small electronic clubs add some range. Every July the Gentse Feesten turns the whole centre into a ten-day street party.

Utrecht's evenings centre on terraces and bars around the Neude, the Janskerkhof and the canal edge. They are pleasant on a summer night, but clubs are few, and anyone who wants a big night out takes the train to Amsterdam.

Utrecht has more varied country on its doorstep. The Utrechtse Heuvelrug adds low wooded ridges, heath and sandy trails for walking and mountain biking. Bike routes along the Vecht pass country estates and windmills, and the Loosdrecht lakes offer sailing and canoeing.

Around Ghent the land is flatter and mostly farmed. The best of it is the riverside cycling along the Leie towards Sint-Martens-Latem, birdwatching at the Bourgoyen-Ossemeersen wetland and the Zwin reserve on the coast. Neither city has hills or wild country.

Both cities make excellent bases, and the real question is which country you want to see. From Ghent the trips are Flemish and Belgian: Bruges, Brussels and Antwerp, each within an hour. Further out are Ypres and the First World War cemeteries of the Westhoek, the cobbled Flemish Ardennes and Lille across the French border.

Utrecht is the hub of the Dutch rail network. Amsterdam is under half an hour away, and Rotterdam, The Hague, Delft, Leiden and Gouda are all close. The windmills of Kinderdijk and the Kröller-Müller Museum offer a mix of landscape and art that the Flemish circuit lacks.

Utrecht has more that is made for children. The national Railway Museum, in an old station, is one of the best children's museums in the country, and the Miffy museum is designed for toddlers. Kasteel de Haar makes an easy outing, and Dutch habits mean children are welcome wherever you go. The constant stream of bikes is the main thing to watch.

Ghent is safe and largely free of cars, and the Gravensteen and the canal boats go down well. The House of Alijn and the Blaarmeersen lake fill another day, but beyond them there is little aimed at children, and the cobbles are hard going with a pushchair.

You notice the difference as soon as you arrive by train. Utrecht Centraal opens straight onto the old town and has a vast underground cycle park, and the trams and buses take the same tap-in card as the trains. From Gent-Sint-Pieters, the centre is a twenty-minute walk or a short tram ride away.

Once you are in the centre, the two are much alike. Ghent's traffic plan keeps most cars out, so the cathedral, the Graslei and the Patershol are minutes apart on foot, though wet cobbles need care. In both cities the bike is the local way to travel and a car is only a burden.

The two are much alike: good independent shops in the side streets, high-street chains in one main place, and almost no luxury. Utrecht's small shops are more concentrated, with design and book shops along the Oudegracht wharves and the Twijnstraat, and its chains are gathered in the covered Hoog Catharijne mall beside the station.

Ghent is better for markets and things to take home. The flea market at Sint-Jacobs and the Sunday flower market on the Kouter are worth a visit, and chocolate, cuberdons, mustard and Belgian beer make the best souvenirs.

Neither city is cheap, and the overall cost of a stay is much the same. The difference is in where the money goes. In Utrecht it is the bed, because the historic centre has few hotels and rooms are scarce.

Ghent has a better spread of small hotels and guesthouses at moderate rates, except during the Gentse Feesten. Its sit-down dinners with Belgian beer add up fast, though. In both cities, cheap lunch spots in the student quarters and a centre you can cover on foot keep daytime spending down.

Ghent has the opera house. Its nineteenth-century theatre on the Schouwburgstraat stages opera and ballet for the Flemish national company, and NTGent's bold, often political productions are known well beyond Belgium. During the Gentse Feesten, free stages fill the centre.

Utrecht has no opera. Its focus is TivoliVredenburg, where classical, pop and jazz share one building of stacked halls, sometimes on the same evening. Early music links the two cities, with De Bijloke in Ghent and Utrecht's Festival Oude Muziek, one of Europe's leading festivals of its kind. In both cities, theatre is mostly in Dutch.

Utrecht has a slight advantage for spa-goers. Large Dutch sauna complexes, with steam rooms, outdoor pools and quiet rooms, lie in the green belt a short ride from the centre. Ghent offers only a few private saunas and hotel spas.

For simply slowing down, the two are close. Ghent has the enclosed gardens of its beguinages and walks along the Coupure canal, while Utrecht has the Pandhof cloister beside the Dom and quiet evenings on the canal wharves.