Bethany Beach or Newport, Rhode Island?

Bethany Beach is built around its beach, a long run of pale sand with moderate surf and lifeguards all summer. Its water gets warmer than Newport's, so you can swim into mid-September. The undeveloped dunes of Delaware Seashore State Park and the calm Inland Bays for small children add to the choice.

Newport's beaches are smaller but more varied. There is Easton's Beach below the Cliff Walk, the wilder Second Beach, sheltered Third Beach and the little cove at Gooseberry. They are pleasant for a swim between other plans, but the water stays cool and the season is short.

Both towns live on seafood, but each has its own tradition. Bethany Beach is Mid-Atlantic crab country, with steamed blue crabs eaten off paper, crab cakes, boardwalk fries and taffy. For more choice you drive to Rehoboth Beach.

Newport has more within walking distance: lobster rolls, Rhode Island clear chowder and clam cakes, raw bars with local oysters on the wharves, smarter dining rooms on Bellevue Avenue and wineries on the island. Neither town gives you a wide choice for a week of meals out, but Newport holds your interest for longer.

This is where the two differ most. Bethany Beach has its carved totem pole, a small local history collection and the Second World War watchtowers along the shore, and very little else.

Newport has the Gilded Age mansions of Bellevue Avenue and one of the country's largest groups of colonial houses on the Point and Historic Hill. Add Touro Synagogue, the Redwood Library and Fort Adams, and there is enough for two or three full days of sightseeing.

Neither town is made for a big night out, but Newport at least has some nightlife of its own. Bethany Beach calls itself the Quiet Resort and has no bar district, so anyone who wants a late drink drives to Dewey Beach or Ocean City.

In Newport, the pubs and waterfront decks around Thames Street and the wharves fill with sailing crowds and wedding parties on summer weekends, all within walking distance. There are few clubs, though, and the night still ends early.

Bethany Beach's shore is soft and low: a sandy barrier island of dunes, salt marsh and shallow bays, made for kayaking, crabbing and easy cycling. The wild ponies of Assateague are under an hour away.

Newport sits on rock instead, which gives it the 5km Cliff Walk, the wave-cut ledges at Brenton Point and good seabird walks at Sachuest Point. It is also one of North America's great sailing towns, and that puts it ahead for time outdoors.

Day trips from Bethany Beach are to small places along the coast: historic Lewes, the bigger resorts of Rehoboth and Ocean City, Victorian Berlin, and the ferry across the bay to Cape May. They make pleasant outings, but none is a major sight.

Newport has much more within reach. Providence is under an hour away and Boston about an hour and a half by car. New Bedford's whaling museum, Mystic's seaport and the ferry to Block Island each fill a good day.

Bethany Beach is made for children's summers. The beach has lifeguards, the town is quiet enough to cycle around, children can go crabbing off the docks, and the bandstand puts on free evening events. There are mini-golf courses and water parks along the coast road.

Newport has some good things for children too: the carousel at Easton's Beach, the touch tanks at the Save The Bay aquarium and the ramparts of Fort Adams. But its main sights are long mansion tours, and its narrow streets are crowded on summer days.

In both towns you can walk around the centre, but you need a car for nearly everything else. Bethany Beach is small and flat enough to cycle, and a seasonal bus runs along the coast road. Supermarkets, restaurants outside the centre and every day trip still mean driving.

Newport is better on foot and by public transport. The harbour, Thames Street and the colonial streets are close together, and buses, a summer trolley and a harbour ferry reach the mansions and beaches. The drawback is summer traffic on the island bridges and very little parking.

Bethany Beach's own shops are a short row of surf, gift and book stores. Its real draw is the tax-free outlet malls outside Rehoboth Beach, a short drive north.

Newport has more to browse on foot, with galleries and sailing clothes on the wharves, smarter boutiques on Bellevue Avenue and antiques on Spring and Franklin Streets. Neither town has a department store or much in the way of fashion.

Bethany Beach is the easier of the two to keep to a budget, though summer is expensive in both. Weekly beach-house rentals with a kitchen, free beach access and Delaware's lack of sales tax all help, and prices fall sharply in June and September.

Newport's room rates stay high from summer into early autumn, and mansion tickets, seafood dinners and parking add to the bill. There are few budget beds in the centre. The usual ways to spend less are staying in Middletown or coming in late autumn or winter.

Live music in Bethany Beach means the free summer concerts at the boardwalk bandstand, with cover bands and brass groups playing to families on blankets.

Newport has a real place in music history: the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals at Fort Adams, and chamber music in the mansion ballrooms each July. Outside those summer weeks the two are much closer, with a few bar bands in Newport and little else in either town.

The two are broadly level here, and neither has spas worth travelling for. In Bethany Beach the rest comes from residential quiet: leafy streets and a boardwalk that goes almost silent in spring and autumn.

Newport has hotel spas and yoga studios. Its calm comes in May, June, September and October, when the Cliff Walk is empty, because the town is anything but restful in high summer.