Atlantic City or Newport, Rhode Island?

Atlantic City has the bigger and warmer beach. A single broad, flat strip of free sand runs the whole length of Absecon Island beneath the Boardwalk, and in late summer the open Atlantic here is a couple of degrees warmer than at Newport. Surf and rip currents mean you should swim between the flags.

Newport has variety instead of scale. There is Easton's Beach below the Cliff Walk, the longer and wilder Second Beach, and the calmer water of Third Beach and the Gooseberry cove, which suit paddling children better than Atlantic City's surf. The sea stays cool and the season is a few weeks shorter.

Neither town is worth the journey for food alone, and they eat at much the same level, but in different styles. Atlantic City's cooking is Italian-American and boardwalk food: red-sauce restaurants in Ducktown, outsized subs, pizza and fried seafood, with casino steakhouses and buffets alongside and saltwater taffy for afters.

Newport is a New England seafood town. Expect lobster rolls, Rhode Island's clear chowder, stuffed quahogs and local oysters on the Thames Street wharves, plus a few smart dining rooms and wineries on the island. The choice narrows if you stay several days or come in winter, though Providence is close.

This is where the two differ most. Atlantic City's heritage is the American seaside resort itself: the original Boardwalk, the streets that gave the Monopoly board its names, Art Deco Boardwalk Hall with its giant organ, and Lucy the Elephant down in Margate. You can see all of it comfortably in a day.

Newport has two whole layers of American history. The Vanderbilt-era cottages of Bellevue Avenue, The Breakers and Marble House among them, are open to visitors with their rooms intact. The Point and Historic Hill keep a rare run of colonial houses, along with Touro Synagogue and Trinity Church. Fort Adams and the Tennis Hall of Fame stretch a visit to several days.

Atlantic City stays up much later. The casinos never close, their bars and lounges run through the night, and on summer weekends the big resorts add nightclubs and pool parties that draw crowds from Philadelphia and New York. The catch is that it all happens indoors. The streets between the resorts are empty and uneasy after dark, and winter weekdays are flat.

In Newport a night out is a round of bars, not a club night. You move between waterfront decks, Irish-style pubs and cocktail bars around Thames Street, among sailors and wedding parties. It is loud on a July Saturday but finishes early.

Newport has the more striking shoreline. The Cliff Walk runs between mansion lawns and surf, and Ocean Drive loops round the wave-cut ledges of Brenton Point. Its harbour is one of the great sailing bases of North America, with charters, lessons and kayaks, and Second Beach gets surf in the autumn swells.

Atlantic City sits on flat barrier island and salt marsh. Its strength is the birdlife at the Forsythe refuge just to the north, along with crabbing and kayaking in the back bays and canoeing on the Pine Barrens rivers about an hour inland. It is pleasant, but not scenery to travel for.

Both towns have good excursions within easy reach, and you need a car for most of them. What differs is the kind of trip. From Atlantic City the big outing is Philadelphia, with Independence Hall and its museums, which you can also reach by train. Victorian Cape May lies to the south, and the boardwalk towns of Ocean City and Wildwood are close by.

Newport looks towards New England. There is Providence and the RISD Museum, Boston about an hour and a half away, the ferry to Block Island, New Bedford's whaling museum and Mystic's seaport, so you can mix colonial towns, an island and two cities.

Newport is better with children. It is small and safe, and Third Beach and Gooseberry have calm water for little ones. Around the beach, the ramparts of Fort Adams, the carousel at Easton's Beach, the touch tanks at Save The Bay and harbour boat trips fill the days, even if the mansion tours bore them.

Atlantic City has a wide beach with lifeguards, the Steel Pier rides and the climb up Lucy the Elephant. Beyond those, the city is built for adults: under-21s cannot go onto the casino floors and some blocks are rundown. Many families stay in Ocean City instead.

Newport's centre is compact and easy on foot. The harbour, Thames Street and the colonial streets sit close together, and a summer trolley climbs to Bellevue Avenue and the beaches. The hard part is arriving, because summer traffic on the bridges and narrow streets is heavy and parking is scarce.

Atlantic City works well in a straight line. Jitneys run along Pacific Avenue around the clock and a rail line links the city to Philadelphia. Away from the Boardwalk, though, the streets are unpleasant to walk, and anything off the island needs a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Newport has more character. Galleries, sailing clothes and jewellery fill Bowen's and Bannister's Wharves, and Spring and Franklin Streets are good for antiques. Atlantic City has brand outlets and casino arcades, and the one truly local thing to buy is a box of saltwater taffy from the Boardwalk.

Atlantic City is the far cheaper base, as long as you avoid summer weekends. Casino hotels cut their rates heavily midweek and out of season, the beach and Boardwalk are free, and boardwalk food is cheap. Resort fees, parking and tips still add up.

Newport is expensive through the warm months. There are few budget rooms in the centre, and mansion tickets and seafood dinners mount up quickly. Staying in Middletown or coming in late autumn or winter softens the cost a good deal.

The two are close here, but the shows are very different. Atlantic City's entertainment is on an arena scale and spread across the calendar: touring pop and rock acts, comedians and boxing in the casino showrooms and Boardwalk Hall, plus free beach concerts in summer.

Newport's fame is packed into a few summer weeks. That is when the Jazz and Folk Festivals play at Fort Adams with the harbour behind the stage, and chamber music fills the mansion ballrooms. Outside those weeks there is little beyond bands in the waterfront bars.

Newport is the more restful of the two, especially in spring and early autumn when the Cliff Walk is quiet and the harbour slows down, and it has hotel spas and yoga studios as well. In Atlantic City, wellness means the spas inside the casino resorts, and the flashing, sleepless setting around them makes it hard to unwind; the town is calm only on an empty winter Boardwalk.