Maastricht or Paris?

Both are inland, and neither offers sea swimming. What differs is the kind of water. Maastricht's summer swims are in old gravel-pit lakes along the Maas, with small sandy shores and lifeguards, while Paris offers urban versions: sand laid along the riverbanks, open-air swimming at the Bassin de la Villette and handsome Art Deco public pools, with the cool Channel coast at Deauville about two hours away by train.

Maastricht eats well for its size, but on regional lines: zuurvlees with fries, slices of vlaai, seasonal asparagus and game, Belgian beer and local white wine, taken in brown cafés or on terraces on the Vrijthof. The range is narrow once you have tried the Limburg dishes.

Paris is one of the great food cities of the world, and the gap is wide. Daily life revolves around neighbourhood bakeries, cheese shops and street markets such as the Marché d'Aligre, and the choice runs from zinc-counter bistros and natural wine bars to haute cuisine. Add the North African, Vietnamese and West African kitchens of Belleville and the 13th, plus pastry as an art, and you could eat differently every day for weeks.

Maastricht's history is real and well kept: two Romanesque basilicas, the Helpoort and medieval walls along the Jeker, the tunnels of the Sint-Pietersberg and the Bonnefanten museum by the river. It makes a satisfying two days, but nothing here would bring you on its own.

Paris works on another scale entirely. The Louvre alone outweighs everything in Maastricht, and the Orsay, Orangerie, Rodin and Cluny museums would each headline a smaller city. Notre-Dame, the Sainte-Chapelle and the unified Haussmann boulevards mean the streets themselves are a sight, though the queues at the big names demand booking ahead.

An evening in Maastricht means Belgian beer in a brown café around the Markt or the Platielstraat, kept busy at weekends by students, with little in the way of clubs. Carnival is the one time the whole town parties round the clock.

Paris has far more going on every night of the year. Bars spill into the streets of Oberkampf, Belleville and the Canal Saint-Martin, South Pigalle has its cocktail bars and the Marais its gay scene, and after the bars close the clubs and summer barges carry on with house and techno until dawn. It is chic rather than wild, and doors can be selective.

Maastricht has the edge for anyone who wants real countryside on the doorstep. Paths up the Sint-Pietersberg start at the edge of town, the Jeker valley runs into Belgium, and the Heuvelland's orchards, sunken lanes and short climbs are famous with road cyclists. Hoge Kempen and the Ardennes add heath and forest further out.

Paris offers greenery of a more managed kind: formal gardens, the cliffs of the Buttes-Chaumont and the big woods of Boulogne and Vincennes. Fontainebleau, about forty minutes by train, is the standout, with sandstone boulders that draw climbers.

Maastricht's strength is variety in a small radius: Aachen, Liège, Tongeren and Valkenburg are all close, Cologne and Brussels within an easy day, so you can visit three countries and three languages in one stay.

Paris still comes out ahead because its list is longer and grander. Versailles, Fontainebleau and Chartres are under an hour, Giverny and Auvers-sur-Oise are close by, and fast trains put the Champagne houses of Reims, Rouen's old town and the Loire châteaux within easy range. On a long stay these excursions can fill as many days as the city.

Maastricht is calm, flat and easy with a buggy, but most of what children enjoy lies outside it: the caves, cable car and fairy-tale park at Valkenburg, and the zoo at Kerkrade. In town, the guided tunnel walk is the main event.

Paris gives children much more to do, from Disneyland and Parc Astérix to the Cité des Sciences, the menagerie and skeletons of the Jardin des Plantes, and toy sailboats on the Luxembourg pond. The cost is daily friction: stairs in the metro, small hotel rooms and long queues.

Maastricht barely needs transport: almost everything is a short walk on either bank of the Maas, bikes are easy on the riverside paths, and the station in Wyck links to Liège and Aachen. Exploring the hill villages, though, works best with a car or bike.

Paris handles a far bigger city with remarkable ease. The centre is a superb walk along the Seine, and the dense metro, RER and bike-share reach almost anywhere, including Versailles and the airports. Expect stairs without lifts, packed rush-hour trains and pickpockets on the tourist lines.

Maastricht is a pleasant place to browse, with designer boutiques in the restored houses of the Stokstraat quarter, high-street brands on the Grote Staat and small independents in Wyck. It is good for a weekend, without much luxury depth.

Paris is in a different league. The great fashion houses line Avenue Montaigne and the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché are sights in their own right, and the Marais is full of young designers. Beyond fashion come the covered passages, the vast Saint-Ouen flea market, the bouquinistes along the Seine and specialist food shops.

Maastricht is the cheaper stay, though still at Northern European levels. Rooms and terrace drinks cost about the Dutch norm, bakery lunches and café beer are modest, and you will spend almost nothing on transport. Weekend rooms are in demand, so midweek stays save the most.

Paris costs noticeably more, with small, pricey hotel rooms and full admission at the major museums. It does offer ways round this, such as free permanent collections at the city's own museums, cheap lunchtime set menus, market picnics by the river and lodging in the outer arrondissements.

Maastricht's stage life centres on the theatre on the Vrijthof, home to the regional orchestra and opera, along with conservatory recitals, organ concerts in the churches and big open-air summer concerts on the square. It is solid but provincial.

Paris is one of the world's great performance capitals. The Paris Opera Ballet dances at the Palais Garnier, opera fills the Bastille, and the Philharmonie and Radio France keep a full classical calendar. Add the Comédie-Française, jazz cellars on the rue des Lombards and cabaret in Pigalle, and you can fill every evening, though much of the theatre is in French.

Maastricht is the better place to unwind. It has no spa of its own, but the thermal pools above Valkenburg, Aachen's historic baths and the town of Spa are all within an hour, and the city's slow rhythm of long lunches and river walks does the rest.

Paris offers rest in snatches instead: tiled steam rooms and mint tea at the Grande Mosquée hammam, hotel day spas, or a chair in the Luxembourg gardens. Its crowded, noisy streets work against a real wellness break.