Oxford or York?

Neither city is a place for the beach, but the swimming is different. In Oxford you swim in fresh water, in the Thames at Port Meadow, the Cherwell or the open-air pool at Hinksey, and the south coast is a long trip away.

York has no swimming in the city, but Scarborough's two sandy bays are about an hour away by train, with Whitby and Filey beyond. The North Sea is cold, so it makes a seaside day out rather than a swim.

You will eat about as well in either, and in both the pub is the heart of it. Oxford has more range: Cowley Road brings cheap Middle Eastern, South Asian and Caribbean cooking, Jericho has neighbourhood bistros, and the old Covered Market is good for lunch.

York leans harder on Yorkshire tradition, with tearooms serving afternoon tea and fat rascals, Yorkshire puddings with the roast and local cheese and pies at the Shambles Market. There is less international food, so come for comfort rather than variety.

Both cities fill two or three days with first-rate heritage, but in different ways. Oxford is a university city: honey-coloured college quadrangles, the Radcliffe Camera and the Bodleian, and museums such as the Ashmolean and the Pitt Rivers, which are far better than a city this size would usually have.

York's appeal is its long history, which you can see layer by layer. There is the great Gothic Minster with its medieval glass, walls you can walk along, Viking remains at Jorvik and abbey ruins in the Museum Gardens, and the National Railway Museum adds a strand of history that Oxford has nothing like.

Both are pub towns that go quiet early, so neither suits a big night out. Oxford follows the university year: student-filled taverns in term, riverside pubs in summer and later bars on Cowley Road, though it thins out once term ends.

York's old inns along Micklegate and Stonegate make for a fine ale crawl, but weekends bring stag and hen parties, and race days at the Knavesmire bring dressed-up crowds. For clubbing, people take the short train ride to Leeds.

Oxford's green spaces start right in the centre, with Port Meadow, Christ Church Meadow and the flat towpaths good for walking, cycling and punting. Further out, the Cotswolds, Chilterns and Ridgeway offer pleasant, mild country.

York has more dramatic country nearby. The North York Moors turn purple in late summer and end in high cliffs at Robin Hood's Bay, and the Dales add limestone scars and waterfalls. For serious walking or cycling it is clearly the better base, though a car helps a great deal.

Oxford has the slightly richer choice, and more of the names are famous. Blenheim Palace is about twenty minutes away at Woodstock, and Cotswold villages such as Burford, Bibury and Chipping Campden are within an hour. London's museums are an hour away by train. Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick Castle, Windsor and Bath all fit into a day, at around an hour and a half each.

York's outings are about Yorkshire and the North East. Durham's cathedral and castle, Leeds and the spa town of Harrogate are easy by train, and Castle Howard and Fountains Abbey are under an hour by road. Further out are the ruined abbeys at Rievaulx and Whitby, the Brontë village of Haworth and the steam railway from Pickering. From either city, the country houses and villages are much easier to reach with a car or a tour.

York keeps children busier. They can walk among real locomotives at the free National Railway Museum, Jorvik and the Victorian street at the Castle Museum bring history to life, and walking the walls or going on a ghost tour feels like an adventure.

Oxford has dinosaur skeletons, the Pitt Rivers' curiosities, punting and some Harry Potter recognition at Christ Church. Beyond those, though, most of the city is aimed at adults, and the wildlife park and Blenheim's maze need a trip out.

On foot the two are level. Both centres are flat and small enough to cross in well under half an hour, and in both a car is more trouble than it is worth. The difference is in feel. Oxford is a cycling city, with bikes everywhere and buses out to the residential districts. York's walls make a neat frame, and the walk from the station to the Minster takes about fifteen minutes.

The trains are where they really differ. Oxford's railway is above all a quick link to London, with lines to the Midlands as well. York is a junction for the whole north, so Durham, Harrogate, Leeds and the coast make easy days out without a car. Once you head into the countryside, you need a car or a tour from either city: to the Cotswolds from Oxford, and to the moors and country houses from York.

Oxford has a little more to offer shoppers. The outlet village near Bicester draws designer-label hunters from far and wide, and the city has the great book rooms of Blackwell's, antique map sellers and the small traders of the Covered Market.

York's appeal is its setting, with independent boutiques, jewellers and antiques dealers lining Stonegate and Petergate. The Shambles leans towards souvenirs, fashion is limited, and the Christmas markets are its biggest shopping draw.

Neither is cheap, but York stretches a budget further, mostly because rooms are easier to find. In Oxford central beds are scarce, and university events push rates up, so many visitors stay by the ring road or come from London for the day.

Once there, Oxford has the edge on free sights, as the major museums cost nothing. York charges for the Minster, Jorvik and the castle museums, but its rooms are cheaper midweek and just outside the walls.

Oxford has much more to offer in the evenings. Evensong sung by the Christ Church, Magdalen and New College choirs is a highlight of any trip, and there are orchestral concerts at the Sheldonian, chamber music and jazz in the historic Holywell Music Room, and student drama in the college gardens in summer.

York has the Theatre Royal and its pantomime, an early-music festival and free Evensong at the Minster. Its revived Mystery Plays, performed on wagons in the streets, are its own tradition, but there is less to see night after night, and bigger touring shows go to Leeds.

Neither city has a bathing culture, and both offer quiet more than treatments. Oxford's version is the Botanic Garden, the deer park at Magdalen, Addison's Walk and a slow afternoon on a punt.

York has the Museum Gardens, the walls early in the morning and long afternoon teas. Its advantage is Harrogate, half an hour away by train, whose Victorian Turkish baths offer the proper steam and plunge pools that Oxford cannot match.