Bethany Beach or Pittsburgh?

This is where the two cities are furthest apart. Bethany Beach is built around its sand. There is a broad pale beach with lifeguards on the main stretch, moderate surf, and a choice of wild dunes, quiet Fenwick Island or busy Ocean City within half an hour. Small children can use the calm water of the Inland Bays.

Pittsburgh is a river city where nobody swims in the rivers. The nearest beach is a small strip of sand on Lake Arthur, about 45 minutes away, and the real lakeshore at Presque Isle is two hours north.

Pittsburgh is the better place to eat. It has pierogies and haluski from its Central and Eastern European families, sandwiches with the fries stacked inside, the Strip District's grocers and roasters to browse, and chef-led kitchens in the old industrial buildings of Lawrenceville and East Liberty.

Bethany Beach is about seaside pleasures: blue crabs cracked on paper at picnic tables, fried clams, taffy and ice cream. Much of it closes outside summer, and for more choice you drive to Rehoboth Beach.

Pittsburgh has real sightseeing. Its steel fortunes paid for the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History, the Cathedral of Learning's Nationality Rooms and the Frick estate, and the North Side adds the Andy Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory. Riding an incline up Mount Washington to look over the bridges and three rivers is a sight in itself.

Bethany Beach has its carved totem pole, a small collection on its church-camp beginnings and the Second World War watchtowers along the shore. That is an hour at most, and anything more means a drive.

Neither is a clubbing destination, but Pittsburgh at least has nights out within the city. Butler Street in Lawrenceville has cocktail bars and breweries, East Carson Street is loud and full of students, and game nights fill the bars with fans in black and gold.

Bethany Beach calls itself the Quiet Resort, and evenings end early after a stroll on the boardwalk. Anyone wanting late beach bars has to drive to Dewey Beach or Ocean City.

Pittsburgh offers more, and more energetic, time outdoors. There are ravine trails in Frick and Schenley parks and kayaks under the downtown bridges, and further out the Laurel Highlands have whitewater and waterfalls at Ohiopyle and the long Great Allegheny Passage cycle trail. Autumn colour on the ridges is a draw of its own.

Bethany Beach's landscape is flat and gentle: paddling on the Inland Bays, crabbing off docks, ospreys over the salt marsh. The wild ponies of Assateague Island, under an hour south, are its standout outing.

The two are evenly matched, but the outings differ in kind. From Bethany Beach you hop between seaside and small-town places: historic Lewes, Victorian Berlin, Chincoteague, and the ferry across Delaware Bay to Cape May.

From Pittsburgh the drives are longer and fewer, and they lead to one outstanding piece of architecture, Fallingwater, paired with Kentuck Knob. On the same side of the city are Ligonier's fort and the Flight 93 memorial.

Both are easy with children, in very different ways. Bethany Beach gives a simple, safe week of guarded beach, bikes, crabbing and free bandstand evenings. It has no zoo or aquarium, and much shuts out of season.

Pittsburgh is all attractions: the Science Center's submarine, the National Aviary, dinosaur halls, a zoo and aquarium, and Kennywood's wooden roller coasters. It works in any weather, but the hills and distances make a car almost essential with small children.

Pittsburgh is somewhat easier without a car, at least in its core. Downtown is walkable, bridges lead over to the North Side, and the T light rail and the inclines carry visitors further. Outer neighbourhoods such as Oakland and Lawrenceville rely on buses and ride-hailing.

Bethany Beach is perfect on foot or by bike inside town, but that is as far as it goes. There is no rail link, only a seasonal coast bus, and summer weekends clog the coast highway.

Pittsburgh has a bit more to browse within the city. There are the Strip District's food stalls and street vendors, independent and vintage shops on Butler Street, and Shadyside's boutiques on Walnut Street, though nothing luxurious.

Bethany Beach itself has only a short row of surf shops and gift stores. Its real shopping is the outlet malls outside Rehoboth Beach, where Delaware's lack of sales tax is a genuine pull.

Pittsburgh is the cheaper vacation. Hotel rooms, even downtown, cost well below coastal-city rates, and casual meals and beer are fairly priced, though tips and rides still add up.

Bethany Beach in July and August is expensive. Visitors mostly rent beach houses by the week near the ocean, and eating out costs what it does at any American resort. Going in June or September and cooking for yourself makes a big difference.

Pittsburgh is in another league here. Its Cultural District has the Pittsburgh Symphony at the gilded Heinz Hall and opera, ballet and touring musicals at the Benedum Center, with plays all year round. There is jazz heritage from the Hill District that August Wilson wrote about, and indie bands in Lawrenceville.

Bethany Beach's stage is the boardwalk bandstand, with free summer concerts by cover bands and brass groups.

Neither has a spa or bathing tradition, so the difference is in mood. Bethany Beach is the more restful place, with leafy quiet streets, a boardwalk where the surf is the loudest sound at night, and an almost silent off-season.

Pittsburgh's calm comes in pockets, such as Phipps Conservatory's warm glasshouses and the park trails. A proper spa stay means driving to the Laurel Highlands resorts.