Baltimore or Boston?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Boston has more sand within easy reach. Baltimore's nearest proper beach is Sandy Point, forty minutes' drive away on the brackish Chesapeake, where the water is warm in August but sea nettles and closures after rain can spoil the plan.

Boston puts Revere Beach on the Blue Line and the dunes of Crane Beach and Singing Beach on the North Shore within a commuter-rail ride. The catch is the cold Atlantic, so expect a quick bracing swim rather than long afternoons in the water.

Both cities eat from the water, but Boston has the wider table. Baltimore's identity is the blue crab: steamed and dusted with Old Bay, cracked with mallets over brown paper in summer and early autumn, plus crab cakes all year and snacks in the old market halls such as Lexington Market.

Boston spreads its seafood across oysters, fried clams, lobster rolls and chowder, then adds the North End's Italian pastry shops, late dim sum in Chinatown and chef-led cooking in Cambridge and the South End. Both have a red-sauce Italian quarter, but Boston gives more range for a longer stay, at a higher bill.

Boston has the deeper set of sights. The Freedom Trail strings the colonial and Revolutionary landmarks together on foot, Beacon Hill and Back Bay are preserved nineteenth-century streetscapes, and the Museum of Fine Arts, the Gardner and Harvard's museums can fill several more days.

Baltimore surprises in a smaller way: the Cone Collection's Matisse works and the Walters are free, Fort McHenry tells the story behind the national anthem, and the rowhouse streets of Fells Point and Mount Vernon carry the history. It rewards two or three days, where Boston rewards a week.

These two are evenly matched bar towns where last call comes at 2am and clubs barely feature. Baltimore's evenings cluster in old taverns around the cobbled square in Fells Point, rooftops and sports bars on Federal Hill, and arty dives in Station North, though some streets beyond them are best crossed by taxi.

Boston leans more on Irish pubs, cocktail lounges in the South End and the Seaport, and student bars in Allston and Cambridge that keep weeknights busy. The subway stopping around midnight means a late night there also ends in a taxi.

Boston weaves more green space and coast into a visit. Olmsted's Emerald Necklace, sailing and kayaking on the Charles, ferries to the Harbor Islands and whale-watching for humpbacks at Stellwagen Bank are all easy from the centre, with Cape Ann and Walden Pond within an hour.

Baltimore's outdoors is quieter and wooded: the river gorges of Patapsco Valley, trout streams at Gunpowder Falls and the urban forest of Leakin Park, plus sailing on the sheltered Chesapeake from Annapolis among ospreys and eagles. Its humid summers make spring and autumn the time to go.

Baltimore wins here because two major cities are on its doorstep by train. Washington's museums and monuments are about an hour away and Philadelphia's old city a little more, with Annapolis, Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry and the Eastern Shore villages close by car.

Boston's day trips are smaller and more of a piece: the old New England towns of Salem, Concord, Plymouth and the North Shore fishing ports, with Newport's mansions further south. It is a lovely list, but nothing on it matches a day in the national capital.

Both cities have a big aquarium on the waterfront, but Boston is the easier place to spend a week with children. Beyond the New England Aquarium it has the Museum of Science, a dedicated children's museum, the swan boats and duckling statues in the Public Garden and whale-watching trips, all in a flat, safe centre you can walk.

Baltimore's National Aquarium is a highlight in its own right, and the Science Center and Port Discovery sit right beside it, with the B&O locomotives and Fort McHenry's cannon further out. Away from the harbour, though, families usually need a car or taxi.

Boston is far easier to get around. Downtown, the North End, Beacon Hill and Back Bay are a short walk apart, and the T, ageing as it is, reaches Cambridge, Fenway and the airport, so a car is more burden than help.

Baltimore's walkable stretch is the waterfront from the Inner Harbor to Fells Point, best enjoyed by water taxi on a fine day. Beyond it, one metro line and one light rail line leave Hampden, the art museum and the zoo to buses or taxis, although both cities have excellent rail links along the coast.

Boston offers a proper shopping day. Newbury Street runs for eight blocks of boutiques and flagships through Back Bay, Copley Place and the Prudential Center cover department stores and luxury labels, and clothing is spared sales tax up to a limit.

Baltimore has no luxury street or department store at all. Its appeal is quirkier: vintage and kitsch along the Avenue in Hampden, antiques and records in Fells Point, and Old Bay souvenirs from the markets.

Baltimore is the cheaper of the two by some distance. Its hotel rooms cost noticeably less, which is why many visitors to Washington stay there, and its main art museums are free, although restaurant tips and the taxis you will lean on still add up.

Boston is one of the most expensive cities in the country to visit, with costly rooms that peak in foliage season and meals priced well above average. Free sights such as the Freedom Trail and the parks help, and a walkable centre saves on taxis, but it never becomes cheap.

Boston is the stronger music city, above all for classical. The Boston Symphony Orchestra in the acoustically famous Symphony Hall, the Pops, the Handel and Haydn Society and Boston Ballet make a full season, and the American Repertory Theater and students from Berklee add serious drama and jazz.

Baltimore holds its own on a smaller scale, with its symphony at the Meyerhoff, frequent free concerts from the Peabody Institute and touring shows at the Hippodrome. Its edge is grittier: indie, punk and experimental gigs in Station North's small clubs.

Neither city is built for rest, and both send people out of town to properly unwind, but Boston offers more ways to slow down within its limits. The Public Garden, the shaded Esplanade by the Charles and the Arnold Arboretum make easy quiet afternoons, and inns on Cape Ann or Cape Cod are close by.

Baltimore has little beyond hotel spas and yoga studios in Harbor East and Hampden. The calm moments come from a morning on the harbour promenade or under the trees of Druid Hill Park, and visitors who want more head across the bay to the Eastern Shore.