Rotterdam or Stuttgart?

Rotterdam at least has a real beach. Hoek van Holland is a broad stretch of sand backed by dunes at the harbour mouth, under an hour by metro, with huge ships passing close by. The North Sea stays cool and windy even in late summer, though, so most visitors walk it rather than swim.

Stuttgart has nothing like it. Swimming there in summer means outdoor pools, some filled from mineral springs, and Lake Constance is more than two hours away.

Stuttgart has the more distinctive table because it has a regional cuisine of its own. Wine taverns serve Maultaschen, Käsespätzle and roast beef piled with onions, the Trollinger and Riesling come from vineyards inside the city, and there are more serious fine-dining rooms than in Rotterdam.

Rotterdam eats more widely rather than more richly. Surinamese roti, Turkish bakeries and Indonesian and Cape Verdean kitchens make it the better city for cheap, varied grazing, from the Markthal stalls to the Witte de Withstraat. Native Dutch cooking, though, goes little further than herring and bitterballen.

Both cities lost their old centres to wartime bombing and are known today for modern sights, but in different ways. In Rotterdam the city itself is the exhibit: the Erasmus Bridge, the Cube Houses, the Markthal and the mirrored Depot Boijmans, with Delfshaven and the SS Rotterdam for history.

Stuttgart keeps more of its interest inside museums. The Mercedes-Benz and Porsche museums have collections of international standing, the Staatsgalerie holds serious European painting, and the palaces on Schlossplatz give a clearer feel of an old royal capital. Each city fills two or three days.

Rotterdam gives the better night out, mostly because of its clubs. As the birthplace of gabber it has warehouse and harbour venues whose techno and house nights pull in crowds from across the Netherlands. The terraces on the Witte de Withstraat and around the Oude Haven are good places to start.

Evenings in Stuttgart revolve more around bars and wine. Theodor-Heuss-Strasse fills at weekends and the Bohnenviertel suits a quiet glass, but the busiest times are seasonal: the Cannstatter Volksfest beer tents in autumn and the wine village in late summer.

For anyone who wants to walk, Stuttgart is far ahead. Vineyard trails and the deer forest of the Rotwildpark start at the edge of the centre. The cliffs and caves of the Swabian Jura and the ridges of the northern Black Forest are about an hour away.

Rotterdam's landscape is flat and man-made, so being outdoors means cycling along dykes, sailing on the Kralingse Bos lake, kitesurfing off the dunes or canoeing the tidal creeks of the Biesbosch. It has plenty of water and birdlife but nothing to climb.

Both are excellent bases, and the difference is what you find at the end of the line. Trains from Rotterdam run to a close-knit chain of Dutch cities: Delft, The Hague, Leiden, Amsterdam and Utrecht. A water bus goes to the windmills of Kinderdijk, and Antwerp is about an hour across the Belgian border.

Stuttgart's excursions lean towards castles, palaces and small historic towns: baroque Ludwigsburg, Tübingen, Heidelberg, Hohenzollern Castle on its hilltop, Maulbronn monastery and the spire at Ulm, with Baden-Baden and Strasbourg further out. Rotterdam is the choice for art cities and canal towns, Stuttgart for castles and countryside.

Families are equally well looked after, and both cities' best outings are zoos. Rotterdam has Blijdorp with its large ocean section, and Stuttgart has Wilhelma among its Moorish pavilions and botanical gardens. Rotterdam adds boats, from water taxis to harbour tours, and level pavements that are easy with a pushchair.

Stuttgart has the car museums, the miniature railway on the Killesberg and good outdoor pools, but its hills mean some climbing with a buggy. For a big theme park, Efteling is about an hour's drive from Rotterdam, while Stuttgart has nothing comparable close by.

Rotterdam is a little easier to get around. The metro, trams and buses share one tap-in system, cycle paths cover almost all of its flat ground, and water taxis make the Maas part of the network. The main drawback is a spread-out postwar centre with some long, windy walks.

Stuttgart's core is compact and easy to walk, but beyond it the city climbs steeply. There you rely on the Stadtbahn, the S-Bahn, the rack railway and the public stairways known as Stäffele.

There is little to choose between them overall, but they suit different shoppers. Rotterdam's Lijnbaan and the Bijenkorf cover the big chains. The more rewarding browsing is in the independent vintage, record and design shops of the Meent and the Nieuwe Binnenweg, plus the large market on the Binnenrotte.

Stuttgart is the place for labels. Breuninger's designer floors just off Königstrasse, and the outlet town of Metzingen half an hour away, suit brand shoppers more than browsers.

Neither city is cheap, and the overall cost of a stay works out much the same. In Rotterdam the hotels are the easier part and restaurant and bar bills the harder one, while market stalls and Surinamese snack shops keep lunch modest.

Stuttgart is almost the reverse. The generous portions in its taverns are fair value, but hotel rates jump during big trade fairs, so weekends and the quieter months are the time to book.

Stuttgart is the stronger city for the stage by a wide margin. The Staatsoper, known for bold productions, and the Stuttgart Ballet, one of Europe's most respected companies since John Cranko's time, share the state theatre beside the palace gardens. The Liederhalle adds orchestras and a strong Bach tradition.

Rotterdam has a fine orchestra at De Doelen and the North Sea Jazz Festival every July, a major draw for jazz fans. It has no resident opera, though, and much of its theatre is in Dutch.

Rotterdam relaxes the Dutch way, in sauna complexes on the city's edge or in neighbouring towns. A session there is a separate outing, and the sauna areas are usually textile-free.

Stuttgart has a clear lead because its warm water is in town and easy to reach between sights. The Mineralbad Leuze sits by the Neckar a short ride from the centre, with indoor and outdoor pools fed by the city's own springs, and the larger baths have saunas as well. It makes for an unhurried afternoon rather than a full spa retreat, but there is nothing like it in Rotterdam.