Lille or Maastricht?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Lille at least has the sea within reach. Malo-les-Bains at Dunkirk is about an hour away by train, and the Opal Coast dunes around Wimereux and Le Touquet are a little further. Expect a bracing walk on a windy North Sea shore, with water around 17°C to 18°C, rather than a day of swimming.

Maastricht is much further from any coast. The nearest thing to a beach is the gravel-pit lakes along the Maas, with small sandy shores and lifeguarded areas. They are fine for a hot afternoon, but that is all.

Both cities eat well and both drink Belgian beer, so the difference is one of style. Lille's food is Flemish and hearty: carbonnade, potjevleesch, the welsh and Maroilles in the wood-panelled estaminets of Vieux-Lille, with Meert's waffles and the multi-ethnic Wazemmes market on top.

Maastricht leans towards the refined end, with fine dining that is unusually strong for a city of its size. Alongside that come Limburg zuurvlees, vlaai and white wines from the surrounding slopes. Neither city has much range beyond its regional cooking.

Each city rewards about two days, but in different ways. Lille has the bigger museum in the Palais des Beaux-Arts, with its Flemish masters and Goya. La Piscine and the LaM are a metro or tram ride away, and in the centre there is the Flemish baroque of the Grand Place and the Vieille Bourse.

In Maastricht the appeal is the age of the city itself: two Romanesque basilicas, the Helpoort and the surviving walls, a bridge from the 13th century and the guided tunnels under the Sint-Pietersberg. The Bonnefanten is worth a visit, but no single sight anchors a stay the way the Palais does in Lille.

Lille has the livelier nights. Rue Masséna and Rue Solférino fill with cheap student bars on Thursdays, and the brick cellars of Vieux-Lille hold beer cafés and cocktail bars for a calmer evening. Anyone after serious clubbing still heads over the border into Belgium.

Evenings in Maastricht centre on brown cafés and the squares around the Markt and the Vrijthof. They are sociable but on a smaller scale. The great exception is carnival before Lent, when the whole city parties in the streets for days.

Maastricht is the better place for time outdoors, because this is where the Netherlands stops being flat. The marl cliffs and nature reserves of the Sint-Pietersberg begin at the edge of town, and the orchards and sunken lanes of the Heuvelland are close. Hoge Kempen is just across the border.

Around Lille, French Flanders is level farmland. The Citadel park and the towpaths along the Deûle are pleasant for cycling, and the Monts de Flandre give short walks with wide views. The dramatic cliffs of Cap Blanc-Nez, though, are a long day away.

Both make excellent bases, but Lille has the faster connections and the longer list. Brussels is about half an hour away by fast train and Ghent and Bruges about an hour or a little more. Paris is an hour by TGV, and London is possible by Eurostar. On the French side there are Arras, Amiens and the First World War battlefields.

Maastricht's strength is having three countries close by. Aachen and Liège are each about half an hour away, and Tongeren and Valkenburg are nearer still. The big names, Cologne and Brussels, take an hour and a half or more.

Neither city is built around children, and in both the best family outings are out of town. Lille has more within the city: the small zoo and playgrounds in the Citadel park and a hands-on science centre a metro ride away. The cobbles of Vieux-Lille are hard going with a pushchair, though, and Pairi Daiza and Nausicaá are further off.

Maastricht is the calmer and easier place to walk with a buggy, and the tunnel tour makes a memorable outing. Its main draws for children are about twenty minutes away in Valkenburg, with show caves, a cable car and a fairy-tale park.

Lille is the easier place to arrive in and leave from. Its two main stations, Lille Flandres and Lille Europe, stand right beside the old town. The automated VAL metro and the tram to Roubaix and Tourcoing cover the wider area, so you never need a car.

Maastricht gets around by bike. Almost everything is within a fifteen-minute walk on either bank, riverside paths make cycling easy even if you rarely ride, and the station in Wyck is just over the bridge. For the hill villages, though, a car or bike works far better than the regional buses.

Lille's shopping is about scale and bargain-hunting. There are chain stores on Rue Neuve, the Euralille mall by the stations, and independent fashion and delicatessens in Vieux-Lille. Its highlight is the Braderie at the start of September, when kilometres of streets turn into one huge flea market.

Maastricht is more of a weekend for browsing, and Dutch, Belgian and German visitors come for exactly that. The restored houses of the Stokstraat quarter hold designer boutiques, the Grote Staat has the high-street names, and Wyck has interiors, vintage and food shops. Neither city has the luxury depth of a capital.

Lille is the easier of the two on a budget. Rooms are reasonable outside the Braderie and the trade fairs, and estaminet meals, beer and the metro are fairly priced, though cafés and restaurants cost what they do across urban France.

Maastricht has Northern European prices, and weekend rooms are in demand from short-break visitors. Walking everywhere and staying from Sunday to Thursday narrows the gap.

Lille has the fuller programme. It has the grand Opéra on the Place du Théâtre, the Orchestre National de Lille and the Théâtre du Nord, one of France's national theatres. Roubaix and Tourcoing add contemporary dance, and touring bands play the Zénith and the Aéronef.

In Maastricht most performances happen in the one theatre on the Vrijthof, with organ and choral concerts in the churches and small jazz cafés filling out the week. What sets it apart is the open-air summer concerts on the Vrijthof, which draw crowds from across Europe.

Maastricht is much the better choice for rest. Valkenburg's thermal pools and saunas are about twenty minutes away, Aachen's baths are around half an hour away and the town of Spa is within an hour. The city's own unhurried rhythm suits slow days as well.

In Lille, relaxing means hotel spas, day spas and tea rooms. The one real thermal bath is at Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, a short train ride away.