Haarlem or Lubeck?

Lübeck has the slight edge because the beach is part of the city. Travemünde's sand, with its hooded wicker chairs, is twenty minutes away by train, and a string of resorts carries on round the bay. The Baltic there is calm, shallow and has no tides, which makes it easy for paddling.

Haarlem's beaches are just as close: Zandvoort is ten minutes by train, and Bloemendaal's dune-backed strand is a bike ride away. The North Sea is greyer and windier, though, so a beach afternoon there is more often a walk than a swim. Neither sea gets properly warm.

Food is a pleasant part of a visit to either town rather than the reason to go. They differ in their specialities. Haarlem's strengths are beer and markets: craft breweries and brown cafés, and herring and fried kibbeling from the Saturday stalls on the Grote Markt.

Lübeck's food is sweeter and more maritime. Marzipan comes in every form around the town hall, there are fish sandwiches at the harbour, and Rotspon wine is aged in the city's cellars. Eating under the ship models in the old sea captains' guild house is a meal you will remember.

Lübeck has the more remarkable townscape. Almost the whole island old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site, with seven brick spires, the leaning Holstentor and the Marienkirche, which brick Gothic churches across the Baltic copied. The Hansemuseum and the houses devoted to Thomas Mann, Günter Grass and Willy Brandt add a strong literary and political strand.

Haarlem's appeal is more intimate. The Grote Kerk of St Bavo, the Frans Hals Museum and Teylers' 18th-century oval room are the big sights, while the quiet hofjes courtyards and the Corrie ten Boom House reward slow walking. Both towns fill two unhurried days.

Neither town is for a big night out, and both send their late crowd elsewhere. Haarlem's terraces around the Grote Markt and the Botermarkt are a little busier, and Amsterdam is only fifteen minutes away by train, so a late night there is easy to arrange.

Lübeck is quieter. It has wine bars and pubs on the island and student bars by the Obertrave, Travemünde's promenade is livelier on summer evenings, and Hamburg is a longer ride back at the end of the night.

Haarlem has more open country right on its doorstep. Zuid-Kennemerland's dunes, pine woods and small lakes begin at the western edge of town, with highland cattle, wild ponies and tame fallow deer in the water-supply dunes. In spring you can cycle among the striped bulb fields towards Leiden.

Lübeck's countryside is softer and wetter: beech woods, the reedy Wakenitz for canoeing, the crumbling Brodtener clay cliff above the Baltic, and the lakes of Holstein Switzerland about an hour away. Both are flat, gentle places for cycling rather than climbing.

This is where Haarlem pulls furthest ahead. Amsterdam is about fifteen minutes away, Leiden twenty, and The Hague, Delft, Utrecht and Rotterdam are all easy on a dense rail network. Add Keukenhof in spring, Alkmaar's cheese market and Zaanse Schans, and a week of outings needs little planning.

Lübeck has one major trip, Hamburg, with Wismar and Schwerin's island castle about an hour away and lake towns such as Ratzeburg closer in. After those the choice runs out quickly.

Both are easy, safe and flat with children, but they work best at different times of year. Lübeck has more built for children, though mostly in summer. The shallow beach at Travemünde suits toddlers, there is an aquarium along the bay, and Hansa-Park is about half an hour away.

Haarlem has no zoo or theme park. It makes up for that with a mostly car-free centre, a family cycling culture, Teylers' fossils and the playgrounds in the dune park. Its attractions depend less on the season.

Both centres can be walked, but Haarlem is easier to use as a base. The station sits at the edge of its flat centre, separate bike paths run out to the dunes and the beach, and one contactless card covers the trains and buses, so you never need a car.

Lübeck's island old town is about 2km long, with cobbled pedestrian streets and buses to fill the gaps, and Travemünde is a short train ride away. If you want to reach the smaller lakes and coastal villages, a car helps.

Haarlem is the better place for an afternoon of shopping. Gierstraat, Kleine Houtstraat and Schagchelstraat are lined with independent fashion, interiors and book shops, and there are flower and cheese stalls on market days.

Lübeck's main shopping streets, Breite Strasse and Königstrasse, are mostly German chains and a department store. It has some galleries and craft shops in the courtyard passages, and plenty of marzipan, but for anything stylish people go to Hamburg.

Lübeck is noticeably cheaper. It has a good spread of moderately priced hotels and guesthouses in the old town and near the station. Taverns, bakeries and fish kiosks keep meals reasonable, and the regional train to the coast costs little. The one exception is Travemünde and the bay resorts in July and August.

Haarlem charges Dutch prices. Its few hotels fill early in tulip season and summer, rooms are small for what they cost, and the regular train fares and museum tickets that make it a good base add up over a stay.

Both towns have a solid year-round programme for their size and a proud organ tradition, but they are strong in different genres. In Haarlem the great Müller organ in St Bavo is the speciality, played in regular concerts and at an international festival that has brought in players for generations. The 19th-century Philharmonie hosts classical and chamber music, and the Stadsschouwburg puts on theatre, dance and cabaret, mostly in Dutch. Haarlem is also the better town for contemporary music, with a long-established pop venue near the centre for touring bands and local acts. For opera or a major orchestra, though, you take the train to Amsterdam.

Lübeck has the opera that Haarlem lacks. Theater Lübeck, in an Art Nouveau building, puts on opera and drama through the season, and the Philharmonic plays in the hall by the river. Buxtehude's old church, the Marienkirche, still holds organ concerts, and in summer the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival brings well-known performers to the city's churches and halls. There is little live rock, jazz or pop beyond a few small venues, so for that people go to Hamburg.

Neither is a spa destination, and in both the calm is the main thing. Haarlem's version is Dutch sauna culture, with large day-spa complexes in the region and dune walks or bike rides to clear the head.

Lübeck's version is by the sea. Travemünde has been a seaside spa resort since the early nineteenth century, and wellness hotels and the indoor seawater pools at Scharbeutz keep that habit alive.