Baltimore or Virginia Beach?

Virginia Beach is the beach destination of the two by a wide margin. It has a long, pale Oceanfront strand with lifeguards, surf near the fishing pier, calm bay water around First Landing for small children and the dunes of Sandbridge to the south.

Baltimore's harbour is for boats, not bathers. The nearest sand is Sandy Point, about forty minutes away on the brackish bay, where sea nettles drift in during high summer, and the Atlantic surf is a three-hour drive.

Both cities eat blue crab with Old Bay, but Baltimore makes far more of it. Brown-paper crab feasts, lump crab cakes, Lexington Market and the Cross Street and Broadway halls sit alongside Little Italy, pit beef stands and chef-led kitchens in Hampden and Harbor East.

Virginia Beach's best eating is Lynnhaven oysters and she-crab soup at dockside places around the inlet. The Oceanfront itself leans on chains and buffets, and locals drive to Norfolk when they want more choice.

Baltimore offers several full days of sightseeing: the Matisse holdings at the free Baltimore Museum of Art, the Walters, the star-shaped Fort McHenry and the roundhouse of the B&O Railroad Museum, along with the brick streets of Fells Point and Mount Vernon.

Virginia Beach has history in one spot: Cape Henry, where the 1607 colonists landed, with its 18th-century lighthouse and the Adam Thoroughgood House nearby. After that comes King Neptune on the boardwalk, and serious history means driving up the peninsula.

Neither city is built around clubs, but Baltimore's bars have more character and last all year. There are old taverns around the cobbled square in Fells Point, rooftops in Federal Hill after Orioles games and dive bars with an artistic crowd in Station North.

Virginia Beach goes out on Atlantic Avenue in summer, with beach bars and decks full of vacationers and sailors, plus a few cocktail lounges at Town Center. Off-season the strip goes quiet early.

The two are broadly level outdoors, but the settings differ. Baltimore has wooded river gorges and mountain-bike trails in Patapsco Valley, trout streams on the Gunpowder and Appalachian hills about an hour and a half west. Virginia Beach is flat coastal plain with no hills, but it has cypress swamp and dunes at First Landing, the empty barrier spit of False Cape, surfing and kayak trips out to watch dolphins.

Baltimore is the better hub, mainly because of the train. Washington's monuments and Philadelphia's Independence Hall are each about an hour away by rail, and by car you can reach Annapolis, Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry and the Eastern Shore villages.

Virginia Beach has one superb outing in Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, about an hour's drive, plus Norfolk's battleship and Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks. Nearly all of it needs a car.

Virginia Beach is made for a family week. Gentle bay beaches suit toddlers, and the Virginia Aquarium has sea turtles and otters, with a water park, mini-golf and boardwalk bikes on top. There is also a large theme park near Williamsburg, and the hotels and rental houses are set up for children.

Baltimore's Inner Harbor packs the National Aquarium, the Science Center and Port Discovery into a short walk, which makes for two or three excellent days. Beyond the harbour the city is patchier.

Baltimore is easier without a car. Its harbour neighbourhoods, from Fells Point to Federal Hill and Little Italy, link up along a waterfront promenade and by water taxi, and fast trains run to Washington and Philadelphia, although Hampden and the zoo still need a taxi.

At Virginia Beach, only the boardwalk and the summer trolley on Atlantic Avenue work on foot. Everything else, from Sandbridge to Town Center, means driving through suburban sprawl.

Browsing is the most either city offers, and the kind of browsing differs. Baltimore has vintage and kitsch on the Avenue in Hampden, plus antique and record shops in Fells Point. Virginia Beach has malls, national chains at Town Center and surf shops with real local roots.

Costs come out about even, but they bite in different ways. Baltimore's hotels undercut Washington's and its two great art museums are free, though taxis add up. Virginia Beach is costly in summer and drops sharply out of season, and the beach and state parks cost little but a car is close to essential.

Baltimore has its own season. The Symphony plays the Meyerhoff, the Peabody Institute gives frequent concerts in Mount Vernon, touring Broadway shows come to the Hippodrome, and there are indie and punk clubs in Station North.

Virginia Beach offers summer concerts at the amphitheatre and free stages on the boardwalk. Its opera, symphony and spring arts festival are in Norfolk, half an hour away.

Baltimore's pace is gritty and urban, and apart from a few hotel spas there is little for a restful stay, so people looking for rest tend to leave for the Eastern Shore. Virginia Beach is the easier place to unwind. Its spas are also mostly in hotels, but early mornings on the boardwalk and the quiet beaches of spring and autumn are calm, even if high summer is loud.