Austin or Chicago?

Chicago has actual beaches. There is sand along Lake Michigan inside the city, from Oak Street right below the Gold Coast towers to the volleyball crowds at North Avenue, and from late June to early September a swim in fresh water fits easily between sights.

Austin has nothing like that, since the Gulf coast is hours away. What it offers instead is spring water and lakes: the bracing cold of Barton Springs on a hot August afternoon, and boat days in the warmer coves of Lake Travis. Neither city is a beach vacation, but only Chicago gives you sand with a skyline behind it.

Austin eats brilliantly within a narrow range. Post-oak brisket, breakfast tacos from trailers and Tex-Mex are the reasons to come, with a barbecue run to Lockhart if you want more, and most of the best meals are casual.

Chicago covers far more ground. Alongside its own deep-dish pizza, Italian beef and hot dogs, it has tasting-menu kitchens along Randolph Street in the West Loop and whole neighbourhoods built on other cuisines: Mexican in Pilsen, South Asian on Devon Avenue, and Vietnamese on Argyle Street. A week of eating stays varied here in a way it does not in Austin.

Austin's sights make a short, respectable list. The pink granite Capitol, taller than the one in Washington, anchors downtown, and the best museums sit around the university campus, where the Harry Ransom Center keeps a Gutenberg Bible and the LBJ Library covers a presidency. Beyond those there is little historic architecture, and a long weekend covers it all.

Chicago works on a different scale, as the city where the skyscraper grew up after the fire of 1871. The river cruise shows the towers from the water, while a walk through the Loop takes you inside the Rookery to its light court and past the glass towers of Mies van der Rohe. Add Wright's Robie House, the Impressionist rooms of the Art Institute and the lakefront museums, and there are days of serious sightseeing, even though nothing is older than the 19th century.

Both are good cities for going out, but Chicago goes later and covers more. Bars can pour until 4am, River North has proper dance clubs drawing on the city's house music roots, and Northalsted is a large gay district.

Austin's nights are more about hopping between bars than staying out until dawn. You choose between the crowded shot bars of Sixth Street, the bungalow yards of Rainey Street and the dives and mezcal bars on the east side, with last orders at 2am and only a small club scene. During its spring and autumn festival weeks, though, the whole centre turns into one long party.

Austin's outdoors starts at the edge of downtown, which Chicago's does not. The Barton Creek Greenbelt gives you a wooded limestone canyon with climbing walls and swimming holes, Mount Bonnell looks over the Colorado River, and the bat flight at dusk is a sight in its own right. Within two hours are the granite dome of Enchanted Rock and the falls at Pedernales.

Chicago's nature is mostly its 29km lakefront path, along with birding in the lakeside parks. The dunes of Indiana Dunes National Park are an hour away. The land is flat in both directions, and the catch is the season: Austin's summer heat pushes activity into early mornings, while Chicago's winter shuts much of it down.

Austin has the better day trips by a margin. San Antonio's Alamo and its UNESCO-listed Spanish missions, German-founded Fredericksburg with wineries along the road there, and the river towns of Gruene and New Braunfels make several full days out, though all of them need a car.

From Chicago the options are pleasant rather than compelling: Milwaukee's lakefront art museum and breweries, Lake Geneva's mansions, and the Wright houses in Oak Park. Its one real advantage is that Milwaukee and Oak Park can be reached without driving.

Chicago is much easier with children. The Museum of Science and Industry, with its coal mine and U-boat, can fill a day, the Field Museum's dinosaurs sit next to the Shedd Aquarium's belugas, and Lincoln Park Zoo is free.

Austin is relaxed and children fit in easily, but beyond Zilker Park, the Thinkery and the bat flight it has few big draws. The theme parks are an hour's drive away, and summer days have to be planned around water and shade.

Chicago can be done entirely without a car. The L runs from both airports into the Loop, and the flat downtown grid puts the Art Institute, Millennium Park and the Museum Campus within walking distance of one another. Its weak points are travel between neighbourhoods, which often means a long bus ride, and walking in the January wind.

Austin is the opposite. Downtown and Rainey Street are walkable and scooters help in the centre, but the swimming spots, many of the best places to eat and every Hill Country outing are spread out, so you will need a hire car.

Chicago is a proper shopping city. The Magnificent Mile has flagships and vertical malls, Oak Street has the luxury labels, and the old Marshall Field's building on State Street is worth seeing for its Tiffany mosaic ceiling alone. Wicker Park and Andersonville add independent boutiques and vintage shops.

Austin is about character rather than range. South Congress has vintage clothing, antiques, and cowboy boots and hats, and Western wear is the one thing it does better than Chicago. Anyone after big-name fashion will have to drive to a mall on the city's northern edge.

Neither is cheap, and the costs land in different places. In Austin the extras are car hire and parking, and hotel rooms jump sharply in the big music, film and racing weeks. Meals are the easy part, with tacos and food trucks, and the Greenbelt, the Capitol and the bat flight cost little or nothing.

In Chicago you can skip the car and use the L, but the city's hotel taxes are high and sit-down restaurants are costly. Staying outside the Loop and coming outside summer both save a good deal, and the lakefront, the beaches and the zoo are free.

Both are among the best American cities for live performance, but in different ways. Austin is about bands every night of the year: several acts a night in the small clubs of Red River and Sixth Street, often with no cover, honky-tonks where couples two-step to country bands, and festival weeks with hundreds of acts at once. Its symphony and opera seasons are modest.

Chicago has much more range. It has a world-class orchestra, a full Lyric Opera season, theatre from Steppenwolf to small storefront companies, and nightly improv at Second City, along with its own electric blues and late jazz sets. Go to Austin for a music crawl and to Chicago for a programme of performances.

Austin is slightly the better place to slow down. It has an easy pace away from the bar streets and festival weeks, a strong yoga culture, and destination spa resorts with quiet grounds above Lake Austin and in the Hill Country.

Chicago is a busy city rather than a restful one, but it does offer what Austin lacks: real bathing. There is an old Russian-and-Turkish bathhouse in Wicker Park with scorching steam rooms and cold plunges, and a Korean-style jjimjilbang in the suburbs. Its warm conservatory glasshouses are a calm escape in winter.