Rotterdam or The Hague?

The Hague comes out ahead because its beach is part of the city. Scheveningen, with its pier, promenade and summer pavilions, is about a quarter of an hour from the centre by tram, and Kijkduin offers a quieter stretch backed by dunes. A warm afternoon there is easy to fit around sightseeing.

Rotterdam's beach is at Hoek van Holland, nearly an hour away by metro. It is a wide strand where big ships pass close by, and it makes a good outing rather than part of the day. The water is the same cold North Sea at both, so it is a beach for walking and sunbathing, not swimming.

The two are broadly level, but they feed you differently. Rotterdam offers more range: Surinamese roti, Turkish bakeries, Moroccan and Cape Verdean kitchens, the food stalls under the painted vault of the Markthal, dense restaurant streets around the Witte de Withstraat, and good local craft beer on waterside terraces in Katendrecht.

The Hague's speciality is Indonesian food, from a full rijsttafel to simple plates of rendang, and it is better here than almost anywhere in Europe. Add the small Chinatown, seafood by Scheveningen harbour and brown cafés on the Denneweg. If you have one dish in mind, The Hague does it best. If you want variety, Rotterdam does.

The Hague has the richer collections. The Mauritshuis alone, with Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring and Rembrandt's Anatomy Lesson, justifies the visit. Around it are the medieval Binnenhof, the Peace Palace, the world's largest Mondrian collection, Escher in a former palace and the huge circular Panorama Mesdag.

Rotterdam's culture is mainly found outdoors. After the bombing of 1940 the city rebuilt itself with bold modern architecture, so the sights are the Erasmus Bridge, the Cube Houses and the mirrored Depot Boijmans. Its museums are solid rather than essential, and the old city survives only in Delfshaven and the Old Harbour.

Rotterdam is clearly the better night out. This is the city where gabber was born, and its warehouse and harbour venues hold techno and house nights that people travel across the country for. The Witte de Withstraat and the Oude Haven by the Cube Houses provide the bars beforehand.

The Hague's evenings are mostly café terraces. Civil servants fill the Plein after work, there are weekend bars around the Grote Markt, and in summer the beach pavilions at Scheveningen turn sundowners into dancing. For anything bigger, locals catch the train to Rotterdam.

Both cities are flat, but The Hague has more real landscape close by. The protected dunes of Meijendel, with their sand hills, woods and ponds, are on the northern edge, the old Haagse Bos forest almost reaches the centre, and a dune path runs along the coast towards Wassenaar and the bulb fields.

Rotterdam's outdoors means mostly water and polder: the lake and woods of the Kralingse Bos, cycling along dykes, and the tidal creeks of the Biesbosch national park about forty minutes away, which are good for canoeing and birdwatching.

Both sit on the same dense rail network and are almost equally well placed, so the difference is in what lies closest. The Hague has Delft and Leiden about fifteen minutes away, Keukenhof and the spring bulb fields on its doorstep, and Rotterdam itself under half an hour off.

Rotterdam reaches further south. Antwerp is about an hour by train, and Bruges and Ghent are possible on a long day. Kinderdijk's windmills can be reached by water bus, and Dordrecht and Gouda are short rides.

The Hague is the easier choice with children. Madurodam's miniature Netherlands is in the city rather than a train ride away, and Scheveningen adds a sandy beach, a pier and a large sea aquarium. Museon suits school-age children, and an amusement and water park lies just outside town in Wassenaar.

Rotterdam is good too. Blijdorp is one of the country's best zoos, the Maritime Museum has a hands-on harbour area for children, and water taxis and the Euromast go down well. Its beach is further out, though, and the bigger theme parks need a car.

Both cities are equally easy to get around without a car, with good public transport and cycle lanes almost everywhere. The difference is in the layout. In The Hague the sights around the Binnenhof are a few minutes' walk apart, and frequent trams run out to Scheveningen and Madurodam.

Rotterdam's postwar centre is more spread out, with wide, windy roads between the sights, so you use the tram more often. In return you get a metro that runs to the beach and water taxis that make crossing the Maas part of the outing.

There is little to choose between them, but they make for different afternoons. Rotterdam is easier for practical shopping. The Lijnbaan and the sunken Beurstraverse put the familiar Dutch and international chains and a big department store within a few minutes' walk of one another. When you have had enough of those, the Meent and the Nieuwe Binnenweg have second-hand clothes, records and independent design, and the Binnenrotte market fills the square on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

The Hague is better for slow browsing than for a long shopping list. The streets around the Noordeinde palace and along the Denneweg sell more antiques, art and furnishings than fashion, and the Passage, a nineteenth-century covered arcade, is a good place to be on a wet day. Its Haagse Markt is a sprawling everyday market, with textiles and food from the city's many communities. If you want designer labels or a local craft to take home, neither city has much to offer.

Neither city is cheap, and eating and drinking out cost about the same in both. Rotterdam's hotels are slightly easier on the budget, because the city sees less tourist pressure and its many business-district rooms empty at weekends.

In The Hague, central rooms are also easier to find at weekends, when government travellers leave, but seafront hotels in Scheveningen charge more in summer. Both have cheap meals: the Markthal counters and Surinamese snack shops in Rotterdam, and Indonesian eateries and market picnics in The Hague.

Rotterdam is the city for music and The Hague the city for dance. Rotterdam has a first-rate philharmonic at De Doelen and, each July, the North Sea Jazz Festival, one of the world's major jazz gatherings.

In The Hague the highlight is seeing Nederlands Dans Theater on its home stage, with the Residentie Orkest and early-music concerts from the Royal Conservatory alongside. Neither city has a resident opera company, and in both much of the theatre is in Dutch.

Both offer the same thing at their best: large Dutch sauna complexes on the outskirts, made for spending a whole day, where nudity is the norm in the sauna areas. The real difference is the pace of the city. The Hague's quiet embassy streets and lack of late-night noise make it an easy place to wind down.

Rotterdam is a busy working port. Calm there means a walk in the Kralingse Bos or an hour on a waterside terrace.