Oxford or Utrecht?

Neither city is a beach destination, and both are equally poor choices for one. Oxford's swimming is river water at Port Meadow and the Cherwell, or the open-air pool at Hinksey, with the coast well over an hour and a half away.

Utrecht has more choice on a hot day, with recreation lakes such as the Maarsseveense Plassen on the city's edge and real North Sea sand at Zandvoort or Scheveningen, about an hour or more away by train. It is still a cold, short-season sea.

Eating is about equally good in both, and in neither will it be the highlight of the trip. Oxford's meals revolve around the pub: ale, a Sunday roast by the Thames, the old Covered Market, and cheaper international cooking on Cowley Road.

Utrecht's draw is the setting more than the plate, with terraces down at water level on the Oudegracht wharves. Its student kitchens lean towards Indonesian and Surinamese food, and the Vredenburg market supplies cheese, herring and stroopwafels.

Oxford has the richer sightseeing. Its working colleges, Christ Church's hall and cathedral, the Bodleian with its Divinity School and the Sheldonian are packed into a few honey-stone streets. The Ashmolean, the Pitt Rivers and the Natural History Museum add more than Utrecht's museums do.

Utrecht's old centre is well preserved and has its own distinctive sights: the freestanding Dom Tower to climb, the two-level Oudegracht, and the Rietveld Schröder House for lovers of modern design. Its museums are good but on a smaller scale.

Utrecht is the livelier of the two after dark. Students keep the bars and terraces around the Neude, the Janskerkhof and the canal busy on weeknights too, and there are a few clubs, with Amsterdam a short train ride away for a bigger night.

Oxford's evenings are calmer and depend more on the university term. They centre on old taverns and riverside pubs, with Cowley Road as the one late strip. It suits a drink after dinner more than a night out.

The countryside is about equally pleasant around both cities, gentle and green, but you explore it in different ways. Around Oxford you walk: across Port Meadow, along the Thames Path, and further out on the Cotswold footpaths, in the Chiltern beech woods and on the Ridgeway, with punting as the local pastime.

Around Utrecht you cycle, along the Vecht past estates and windmills and into the polders. The Utrechtse Heuvelrug offers heath and forest trails, and the Loosdrecht lakes are good for sailing.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference lies in how you travel. Utrecht's position at the centre of the Dutch rail network means Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Delft and Gouda are all simple train rides, with no car needed.

From Oxford, London is about an hour by train and Blenheim Palace is close, but the Cotswold villages, Stratford and Bath are easier with a car or a tour.

Utrecht is the easier city with children. The national Railway Museum, set in an old station, and the Miffy museum for toddlers are made for them, and Kasteel de Haar gives a fairy-tale day out. The main thing to watch is the bike traffic.

Oxford manages well for a day or two, with free dinosaur skeletons, the Pitt Rivers' curiosities, punting and Harry Potter settings at Christ Church. After that, much of what it has to offer is aimed at adults, and the bigger outings mean leaving town.

Utrecht is the simpler of the two. The busiest station in the country sits right at the edge of the old town, and buses, trams and trains all take the same tap-in card. Hiring a bike is as natural as walking.

Oxford is nearly as easy on foot. Its small, flat centre takes about twenty minutes to cross, and several streets are closed to traffic. Buses serve the suburbs, but drivers face scarce parking and are better off using the park-and-ride.

There is little to choose between them, and both are best away from the chain stores. Oxford's character is in the Covered Market, Jericho, antique map and print dealers, Blackwell's vast book room and university clothing. Shoppers after luxury labels go to the Bicester outlet village nearby.

Utrecht's independent fashion and design shops line the canal wharves and streets such as the Twijnstraat. It adds flower, textile and general markets but has little luxury.

Neither is cheap, and in both the cost of a bed is the main expense, because hotels in the historic centre are few. Oxford's prices rise further around graduations and conferences, and many visitors stay out by the ring road or come for the day from London. Once there, its free museums help, although college entry fees add up.

Utrecht is a shade easier on the budget once you have a room. Local transport costs almost nothing in so compact a centre, and student lunch cafés and snack bars are plentiful. Its café terraces and sit-down dinners, though, charge normal Dutch prices.

The two are evenly matched but offer different kinds of performance. Oxford's great draw is choral: Evensong sung by the choirs of Christ Church, Magdalen and New College, plus concerts at the Sheldonian and the historic Holywell Music Room. Its theatre is mainly touring shows.

Utrecht's strength is range under one roof at TivoliVredenburg, from the Radio Philharmonic to pop and jazz. Its festival calendar, with the Festival Oude Muziek at its head, is stronger, but its theatre is mostly in Dutch.

Utrecht offers a little more for a restful break, mainly because of the Dutch sauna complexes in the green belt around the city, with steam rooms, outdoor pools and quiet rooms. Calm evenings on the wharves and the Pandhof cloister garden add to that.

Oxford has hardly any spas, so relaxing there means quiet places instead: the Botanic Garden, walled college gardens, Addison's Walk past Magdalen's deer park, or a slow afternoon on a punt.