Bethany Beach or Salem, Massachusetts?

Bethany Beach is built around its beach: a long strip of pale sand in front of the town, lifeguards all summer and moderate surf that is warm enough for real swimming from July into September. Within a short drive there are the wild dunes of Delaware Seashore State Park and Fenwick Island's quieter sands, and calm bay water for toddlers on the Inland Bays.

Salem's own shores at Salem Willows, Forest River Park and Winter Island are harbour edges for a paddle and a picnic, not for a day on the sand. The good beaches, such as Crane Beach's dunes in Ipswich or Singing Beach, mean a drive, and the cold northern water makes even a summer swim brief.

Neither town is a food destination, and both lean on seafood. The difference is in style. Bethany is crab-shack country, with steamed blue crabs on paper, boardwalk fries and taffy, many places shut outside summer and the wider choice and craft breweries of Rehoboth Beach a drive away.

Salem eats more like a small New England town, with chowder, lobster rolls and North Shore oysters plus a cluster of bistros, brewpubs and cafés within walking distance of each other all year. For a memorable meal, though, Salem's visitors head into Boston.

This is where the two part company most sharply. Bethany Beach offers a carved totem pole, a small collection on its church-camp origins and the wartime observation towers along the shore, and anyone wanting museums has to drive.

Salem has two layers of history to explore on foot: the witch trials of 1692, from the Witch House to the sober memorial and the Charter Street burying ground, and the merchant wealth that followed, seen in the maritime wharves, the House of the Seven Gables and the McIntire district. The Peabody Essex Museum, with its Asian art and rebuilt Chinese merchant's house, alone is worth the trip.

Both are early-to-bed towns, but Salem has a little more going on. Its pedestrian centre has taprooms and cocktail bars in old buildings, October's Halloween season keeps the bars busy, and the train makes a night out in Boston simple.

Bethany Beach is proudly the Quiet Resort, with evenings spent on the boardwalk and no bar district at all. A livelier night means driving to the late-running beach bars of Dewey Beach or to Ocean City.

Both offer gentle coastal outdoors rather than anything rugged, but the scenery differs. Bethany sits on a flat barrier island of dunes, marsh and shallow bays, ideal for kayaking, crabbing and cycling, with Assateague's wild ponies the highlight and heat and mosquitoes the cost of high summer.

Salem's coast is rocky, with granite shoreline walks on Cape Ann and the Marblehead headlands, whale-watching boats out of Gloucester and fine birding on Plum Island. Its high point is autumn colour, which flat, marshy Bethany cannot match.

Salem is by far the better base for outings. Boston's Freedom Trail, Beacon Hill and Harvard are half an hour away by train, the same line runs to Gloucester and Rockport, and Lexington, Concord, Newburyport and Portsmouth add Revolutionary and Federal history within an easy drive.

Bethany's choices are pleasant but smaller: historic Lewes and its maritime museum, Berlin's Victorian main street, Chincoteague and the ferry across Delaware Bay to Cape May. Almost all of them need a car, and none carries the weight of a day in Boston.

Bethany Beach is made for children. Days settle into guarded beach time, bikes and ice cream, the bandstand puts on free evenings for families, and mini-golf, water parks and boardwalk rides are a short drive away, though there is no zoo or aquarium.

Salem works better for older children who enjoy pirates, costumes and climbing aboard the tall ship at the maritime park, and Salem Willows has an old-fashioned arcade by the water. Little else is built for children, and the aquarium and science museum mean a day trip to Boston.

Salem is far easier without a car. The sights, the wharf and Chestnut Street are all within a short walk, and the station near the centre has direct trains to Boston and up the coast to Cape Ann. A car only matters for beaches, forests and inland towns off the rail line.

Bethany is walkable and cyclable inside town, but there is no rail link, the seasonal bus covers only the coast road, and supermarkets, day trips and most restaurants mean driving, often in heavy summer weekend traffic.

Salem's shopping is more distinctive and fits into an afternoon on foot. Essex Street and Pickering Wharf are lined with shops selling tarot cards, crystals and spell books, and there are also antique dealers, independent bookshops and a good museum shop. For fashion, though, you have to go to Boston.

In Bethany itself there is just a row of beach boutiques, surf shops and bookshops. The real draw is the outlet malls outside Rehoboth Beach, a short drive north, where Delaware's lack of sales tax helps.

Both are expensive, but you save in different ways. In Bethany, peak summer weekly rentals are the big cost, and you save by coming in June or September, cooking for yourself and making use of the free beach and the absence of sales tax.

Salem's few hotels carry Boston-area prices for most of the year and are hardest to book in October. Getting around costs little, thanks to the walkable centre and the cheap train, so staying further out or visiting for the day keeps the bill down.

Neither town is a reason to travel for the stage, and the difference between them is mostly one of season and setting. Bethany's music is outdoor, free and tied to summer: an evening on a blanket by the boardwalk with the beach crowd, which stops once the season ends. Beyond that, the only options are Rehoboth Beach's small community stage and its autumn jazz festival.

Salem's offer is indoors and lasts all year, so a cool evening in spring or November can still bring a play from its small resident company or a concert in the museum's galleries. October adds costumed street theatre and re-enactments of the trials. What really sets Salem apart is the train: Boston's orchestra, opera and big theatres are an easy evening out, and you can be back the same night.

Neither has spas worth travelling for, but Bethany is the more restful of the two. Its leafy residential streets and the calm evening boardwalk are made for reading and long walks, and in spring and autumn the town goes almost silent.

Salem's wellness offer leans spiritual, with tarot readers, crystal healers and meditation sessions alongside a few day spas. Outside October it is a quiet harbour town for slow walks, but in the Halloween season the crowds make it anything but calm.