Utrecht or Amsterdam?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation, but Amsterdam is closer to the coast. The dune-backed sand at Zandvoort and Bloemendaal is about half an hour away by train. From Utrecht the North Sea at Zandvoort or Scheveningen takes an hour or more, so a beach afternoon becomes most of a day.

Swimming in town works much the same way in both cities: Amsterdam has the man-made IJburg beaches and the Sloterplas, while Utrecht has the Maarsseveense Plassen and the Loosdrecht lakes. All of these are for cooling off on a hot day, not a reason to come.

Amsterdam gives you more to eat and drink. The trading-history dishes are the reason to look: Indonesian rijsttafel, Surinamese roti, raw herring from the stalls. Its drinking culture of jenever tasting rooms and the early-evening borrel has more depth than Utrecht's. The places to look are De Pijp, the Jordaan and Oost, not the streets around Damrak.

In Utrecht the setting matters more than the cooking. Eating on a wharf terrace by the Oudegracht at water level is a real pleasure, and the student crowd keeps casual kitchens going around the Twijnstraat and Lombok. Fine dining is thin, though, and few people come here for the food.

Amsterdam is in a different league for museums. Rembrandt's Night Watch, the largest Van Gogh collection anywhere and the Anne Frank House are all within a short walk, and the whole UNESCO canal ring of merchant houses surrounds them. Allow three or four days to do it properly.

Utrecht's appeal is more intimate. You can climb the Dom Tower, look across to the cathedral choir standing apart since the 1674 storm, and walk the split-level Oudegracht, which has no equal elsewhere in the country. Its museums are modest, but the Rietveld Schröder House and the De Stijl holdings give design lovers something Amsterdam does not.

Amsterdam has a far bigger night scene. Clubs with all-night licences fill converted industrial buildings across the IJ in Noord, and the Amsterdam Dance Event takes over the city each October. For a quieter drink, canal-side terraces in the Jordaan and De Pijp are better than the crowded Leidseplein.

Utrecht's evenings are mostly student-driven, in bars around the Neude and the Janskerkhof and on terraces by the canal. They are lively on weeknights too, but clubs are few, and people after a proper night out usually head to Amsterdam.

Both sit in flat, green country best seen by bike, so the difference is in the kind of landscape. From Amsterdam a ferry over the IJ leads to the meadows and wooden villages of Waterland, and the coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland have bison and sea air.

Utrecht offers woodland instead. The Utrechtse Heuvelrug has low wooded ridges, heath and sandy trails good for mountain biking, the Vecht is lined with country estates, and the Loosdrecht lakes are for sailing.

Both are excellent bases, and what differs is which direction is easiest. Amsterdam is better placed for the north and the old Zuiderzee: Haarlem is a quarter of an hour away, and Zaanse Schans, Volendam, Marken and the spring Keukenhof fields are all close.

Utrecht sits at the middle of the rail network, which puts Rotterdam and The Hague nearer and opens up the east and south. From there you can reach Kasteel de Haar, the Kröller-Müller Museum, the open-air museum near Arnhem and Den Bosch, with Amsterdam itself as an easy day out.

Amsterdam has a little more for children. Artis, one of the oldest zoos in Europe, and the hands-on NEMO science museum are the big draws, with canal boats and pancake houses around them. The cost is the unfenced canal edges and the steep stairs of the old houses, so small children need watching.

Utrecht is calmer and smaller. The national Railway Museum, set in an old station, and the Miffy museum for toddlers are both excellent, and Kasteel de Haar makes a good fairy-tale outing. For a zoo you need to take a train.

Both are easy, but in different ways. Amsterdam has a full network of trams, a north-south metro and free ferries to Noord, plus a direct train to Schiphol. You will use them, because the city spreads further than Utrecht does.

In Utrecht, Centraal station opens straight onto the old town, and the Dom, the canals and even the Railway Museum are a short walk away, so many visitors barely use local transport. In both cities the bikes are the main hazard on foot, and a car is a burden.

Amsterdam has the wider range. The Nine Streets are packed with boutiques and vintage shops, PC Hooftstraat carries the luxury labels, and De Bijenkorf anchors Dam Square. The Noordermarkt, Waterlooplein and the floating Bloemenmarkt add markets Utrecht cannot match.

Utrecht's independent shops along the Oudegracht wharves and the Twijnstraat are good for an afternoon of browsing, and Hoog Catharijne handles the chains. With almost no luxury brands, serious fashion shoppers take the train to Amsterdam.

Neither is cheap, but Utrecht is gentler on the wallet. Amsterdam's canal-ring hotels are among the dearest in Europe and carry a hefty tourist tax, which is why sleeping in Haarlem or in Utrecht itself is a common way round them. Utrecht's central rooms are scarce and dearer at weekends and in festival weeks, but they start from a lower point.

In Amsterdam the daily savings come from the street: herring and fries from the stalls, the Albert Cuyp market, and trams that are reasonably priced, though over a few days you will use them often. In Utrecht you can mostly do without local transport, a rental bike covers the outer districts, and the Vredenburg market has cheese and herring for a picnic. A sit-down dinner with drinks costs normal Dutch prices in both.

Amsterdam offers far more on stage. The Concertgebouw and its orchestra are among the best in the world, the Dutch National Opera and Ballet perform on the Amstel, the Bimhuis covers jazz, and Paradiso and the Melkweg host touring bands. The Holland Festival adds international work each June.

Utrecht does well for its size. TivoliVredenburg mixes classical, pop and jazz under one roof, and the Festival Oude Muziek draws early-music lovers from across Europe. There is no opera house, and in both cities most theatre is in Dutch.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both the serious relaxing happens in large, Dutch-style sauna complexes on the city edge. Amsterdam has more hotel spas to fall back on. Its central streets stay crowded, though, so calm means an early canal walk or the Vondelpark.

Utrecht's centre quietens once the day-trippers leave. Evenings on the canal wharves and the cloister garden of the Pandhof beside the Dom make it the more restful place to stay, even though its hotel spas are few.