Atlantic City or Philadelphia?

Atlantic City is a beach town first. A broad, free strip of pale sand runs the length of Absecon Island, with quieter stretches in Ventnor and Margate and a more local feel across the inlet at Brigantine. In summer you can walk from your hotel straight to the water.

Philadelphia stands on rivers, not the sea, and its beach days are spent on this same coast, a drive of an hour and a quarter or more. If you stay in Philadelphia the shore is an outing. If you stay in Atlantic City, it is the whole point of the trip.

Philadelphia is the better place to eat. Cheesesteaks, roast pork sandwiches and hoagies are everyday food from corner delis, and Reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market are each worth a morning. The chef-run dining rooms of East Passyunk and Fishtown, many of them bring-your-own-wine, give the city real depth.

Atlantic City has the Italian-American kitchens of Ducktown, oversized subs on soft local rolls and crab shacks around Gardner's Basin. Much of its eating, though, happens in casino steakhouses and buffets that could be in any gambling town.

This is where the two differ most. Philadelphia is where the United States was founded: Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell stand in Old City, close to the Georgian rowhouses of Society Hill. Its museums carry real weight, from the Barnes Foundation's Impressionists to the Penn Museum and the ruined cellblocks of Eastern State Penitentiary.

Atlantic City's history is that of the American seaside resort: the original Boardwalk, the street names on the Monopoly board, the giant organ in Boardwalk Hall and Lucy the Elephant in Margate. These sights have charm, but they fill a day, while Philadelphia's fill most of a week.

Both offer a decent night out, but of very different kinds. Atlantic City's runs through the casinos, which never close, with resort nightclubs and pool parties on summer weekends and bars on the sand. Away from the resorts the streets are empty, and midweek or in winter the town goes quiet.

Philadelphia has no all-night gaming floors. Instead it has neighbourhood bars: craft-beer halls and dives in Fishtown and Northern Liberties, cocktail bars around Rittenhouse Square and the long-established Gayborhood. Last call is at 2am and the club scene is small, so the city suits drinkers more than dancers.

Neither city has dramatic scenery, but Philadelphia offers more to do outdoors without leaving town. The Wissahickon Valley is a wooded gorge with creekside paths inside the city limits, and the Schuylkill River Trail runs past Boathouse Row towards Valley Forge.

Atlantic City's nature is flat and watery: salt marsh, back bays for kayaking and crabbing, and the herons and shorebirds of the Forsythe wildlife refuge just to the north. The sandy forests of the Pine Barrens lie within about an hour of either city.

Philadelphia sits on the Northeast rail corridor, so New York, Baltimore and Washington each make a full day out by train. Lancaster's Amish country, Princeton and the Brandywine gardens are also close.

Atlantic City's range is shorter but still good. Philadelphia itself makes a city day, Victorian Cape May lies to the south, and the boardwalk towns of Ocean City and Wildwood are close by. New York is too far for a comfortable day trip.

With children, Philadelphia has enough for a week. The Franklin Institute has its walk-through giant heart, the Please Touch Museum is designed for under-eights, and there are the zoo and the dinosaur hall. Older children can see history for themselves at the Liberty Bell and with the costumed guides of Old City.

In Atlantic City the lifeguarded beach, the Steel Pier rides and Lucy the Elephant make good summer days. But under-21s are kept off the casino floors and much of the town is built for adults, so many families stay in nearby Ocean City instead.

Philadelphia's Center City is a flat, compact grid. Old City, Rittenhouse Square and the museums along the Parkway are all within walking distance, and subway lines, trolleys, regional rail and a direct airport train cover the rest.

Atlantic City is easy only along one line: the Boardwalk, and the jitneys that run up and down Pacific Avenue around the clock. The streets behind it are unpleasant to walk, and you really need a car for the wildlife refuge, Cape May and the other shore towns.

Philadelphia has far more variety. There are brand stores and boutiques on Walnut Street, independent shops in Old City and Fishtown, the old diamond district of Jewelers' Row and food gifts from Reading Terminal. The huge King of Prussia mall is half an hour out, and Pennsylvania charges no sales tax on clothing.

Atlantic City offers outlet stores, casino arcades and Boardwalk souvenirs. Its saltwater taffy and fudge are the one truly local thing to take home.

Neither city is cheap, but Atlantic City can work out cheaper if you choose your dates well. Casino hotels cut their rates hard midweek and outside summer, the beach is free and boardwalk food costs little. On summer weekends that turns around, and resort fees and parking add up.

Philadelphia's hotel and restaurant costs stay at typical American levels all year. The free founding sights, filling cheesesteaks and the habit of bringing your own wine to dinner help keep costs down.

Philadelphia is a serious music city. The Philadelphia Orchestra plays on the Avenue of the Arts, opera and ballet are staged at the 1857 Academy of Music, and Curtis Institute students give regular recitals. The Walnut Street Theatre is the oldest working theatre in the country, and there are jazz clubs and indie venues as well.

Atlantic City offers headliners instead: touring pop and rock acts, comedians and boxing in the casino arenas and Boardwalk Hall, plus free beach concerts in summer. Go for a particular show rather than a full season of performances.

Neither city is a place to unwind, and neither has a bathing tradition of its own. In Atlantic City, relaxing means the large spas and indoor pools of the casino hotels, or an empty Boardwalk by the winter sea. In Philadelphia, it means a day spa near Rittenhouse Square, a Korean-style bathhouse in the suburbs or a quiet walk in the Wissahickon gorge.