Lubeck or Rotterdam?

Lübeck has the better seaside. Travemünde's sandy beach with its hooded wicker chairs sits on the calm, tideless Baltic, and the resorts of the Bay of Lübeck line the coast within half an hour.

Hoek van Holland, Rotterdam's beach, is wilder and more striking, with dunes behind it and huge ships passing close offshore. The North Sea there is windy, though, and few visitors go in. In both places the water stays cool, so the beach is an outing rather than the reason to come.

Rotterdam has the wider range of food, thanks to its port and its immigrant communities. You can eat Surinamese roti, Cape Verdean and Moroccan dishes and Turkish bread, or browse the stalls under the Markthal's painted vault. Restaurants run in long rows along the Witte de Withstraat and the Nieuwe Binnenweg.

Lübeck eats in a more traditional, regional way. It has centuries-old marzipan, smoked herring, plaice and Rotspon wine, and the long tables of the Schiffergesellschaft are an experience of their own. Beyond that the choice is limited, the way you would expect in a provincial town.

Lübeck has the richer historic townscape. Its island old town has seven church spires, the leaning Holstentor and the Marienkirche, and almost all of it is a World Heritage site. It is very much a city to wander through.

Rotterdam lost its old centre in 1940, so its interest is modern. It has the Erasmus Bridge, the Cube Houses, the mirrored Depot Boijmans and the towers of the Kop van Zuid. Its history survives only in pockets such as Delfshaven.

Rotterdam is the one for a night out. The bar streets around the Oude Haven and the Witte de Withstraat fill up on summer evenings, and the city's hard electronic heritage lives on in harbour and warehouse clubs that draw crowds from across the country.

Lübeck's evenings are spent over a glass of wine by the Obertrave or a beer in an old town pub, with a little more going on along the Travemünde promenade in summer. For anything more, people take the train to Hamburg.

Neither city has dramatic scenery, so the outdoors means water and bikes in both. Lübeck's landscape is softer and more varied. You can canoe the reed-lined Wakenitz, walk the clay cliff of the Brodtener Steilufer, or head for the lakes of Holstein Switzerland.

Rotterdam's countryside is man-made polder crossed by dykes. Its highlight is the Biesbosch, where you can canoe through tidal creeks and watch birds, and there is also kitesurfing at Hoek van Holland and a lake in the Kralingse Bos park.

Rotterdam is far better placed for day trips. Delft and The Hague are a short ride away, Amsterdam, Leiden and Utrecht take about an hour, Kinderdijk's windmills can be reached by water bus, and even Bruges and Ghent are possible in a long day.

Lübeck has one major trip in Hamburg, plus Wismar and Schwerin's island castle about an hour away. After that it is mostly small lake towns such as Ratzeburg and Eutin.

Rotterdam keeps children busy all year. Blijdorp zoo has its ocean hall, the Maritime Museum has a hands-on harbour area, and harbour boats and water taxis are fun on their own. Madurodam is a short train ride away.

Lübeck is mainly a summer choice for families. Travemünde's shallow, calm water suits toddlers, and Hansa-Park is about half an hour up the coast. Outside the warm months there is much less aimed at children.

Lübeck hardly needs transport. Its sights sit on an island about 2km long that you cross on foot, the main station is just over the river from the Holstentor, and a regional train gets to Travemünde in about twenty minutes.

Rotterdam is the easier city to get around overall, because its network does more. The metro, trams and buses share one tap-in system, and the metro runs all the way to Hoek van Holland. Water buses cross the Maas and go upriver, and separate bike paths run almost everywhere. You will rely on them, because the spread-out postwar centre means some long, windy walks between sights.

Rotterdam is the better place to shop. The Lijnbaan and the Bijenkorf cover the high street, and the Meent and the Nieuwe Binnenweg add independent fashion, vintage and record shops. The big Binnenrotte market is worth a visit too.

Lübeck has a shorter chain-store spine along Breite Strasse. The more interesting finds are craft shops tucked into its courtyard passages, and boxed marzipan is the classic thing to take home.

Lübeck is the cheaper stay. Its old town guesthouses are moderately priced, fish kiosks and bakeries keep meals reasonable, and only the beach resorts get expensive, mainly in July and August.

In Rotterdam, hotels are fair for the Netherlands because many rooms are in business districts. Restaurant meals, beer and coffee are expensive, though. The cheap way to eat is the Markthal counters and the Surinamese snack shops.

Rotterdam offers more to hear. The Rotterdam Philharmonic plays at De Doelen, the city has a steady small-venue jazz and pop scene, and the North Sea Jazz Festival takes over a July weekend. It has no opera house, though.

Lübeck has opera at its Art Nouveau theatre, and organ music at the Marienkirche, where Buxtehude was once organist. The Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival comes in summer, but you will find little rock or pop.

Neither city is a spa destination, and they relax in different ways. Lübeck draws on Travemünde's long seaside-spa history, with wellness hotels and the seawater pool at Scharbeutz, and its old town is calm.

Rotterdam offers big Dutch sauna complexes on the city's edge, often textile-free. Its own pace is brisker, so for calm, locals go to the Kralingse Bos.