Boston or Myrtle Beach?

Boston does have beaches, from Revere Beach on the Blue Line to the dunes of Crane Beach on the North Shore. But the Atlantic off Massachusetts stays cold even in high summer, so a swim is a bracing extra on a hot day.

Myrtle Beach is built on its sand. The Grand Strand's wide, flat beach has small waves and water warm enough to stay in for hours all summer, and that is the reason to go. If the central blocks feel too crowded, Surfside and the state parks have calmer stretches backed by dunes.

Both cities lean on seafood, but Boston does far more with it. There are Duxbury oysters at Seaport raw bars, chowder and lobster rolls, the cannoli and red-sauce dining rooms of the North End, and chef-led cooking in Cambridge and the South End.

On the Myrtle Beach strip, eating means buffets, pancake houses and chains, and the better meals are a drive away in Murrells Inlet or over the state line in Calabash. A couple of evenings covers the best of it. Boston rewards a week of eating, though at a steep cost.

Culture is where the two differ most. Boston keeps the Revolution on its streets along the Freedom Trail, has the preserved brownstones of Back Bay and Beacon Hill, and holds two outstanding museums in the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner, with Harvard across the river.

Myrtle Beach is a twentieth-century resort, and you can see its sights in a single day. Brookgreen Gardens sets sculpture among live oaks and tells the story of the people enslaved on the old plantation, and the Moorish-style Atalaya stands next door.

Neither city is made for nights that run until dawn, but they go out in different ways. Boston's evenings are spent in pubs: Irish bars by Faneuil Hall, crowds around Fenway on game nights, and student bars in Allston and Cambridge. They are busy all year but close by 2am, and the subway stops even earlier.

Myrtle Beach is louder and more seasonal. In summer there are beach bars along the boardwalk, rooftop decks, and dance clubs in the entertainment complexes that stay open late, plus the shag clubs of North Myrtle Beach. Out of season most of it closes early.

Boston has the more varied outdoors: Olmsted's Emerald Necklace of parks, kayaks on the Charles, ferries to the Harbor Islands and whale-watching trips out to Stellwagen Bank. Autumn foliage within an hour of the city is the highlight of the year.

Myrtle Beach's coastal plain is flat and gentler. It is best for birdwatching on the marsh boardwalks of Huntington Beach State Park, paddling the cypress swamps of the Waccamaw River and playing golf, though the summer heat pushes everything into the early morning.

Boston has the longer list of day trips, and several are reachable by train. Salem is half an hour away, Lexington and Concord are close by, Plymouth and the North Shore fishing towns are not far, and Newport and Providence are further out.

From Myrtle Beach, Charleston is the one outstanding outing, about two hours each way. Georgetown, Pawleys Island and Wilmington round out the list, and every one of them needs a car.

Both cities work well with children, but Myrtle Beach comes out ahead for a pure family vacation. It has gentle surf, resort pools with lazy rivers, an aquarium, water parks, a wooden roller coaster and endless themed mini-golf. The downsides are summer heat, heavy traffic and rowdy spring-break weeks.

Boston suits children who enjoy learning something. They get the Museum of Science, the Children's Museum, the swan boats in the Public Garden and the decks of the USS Constitution, all in a compact, flat centre.

Boston is a city for walking. Beacon Hill, the North End and the waterfront sit close together, and the T reaches Cambridge, the airport and Revere Beach. A car is more trouble than help here, though some lines are slow and service stops around midnight.

Myrtle Beach is the opposite. Attractions, outlet malls and golf courses are strung along highways over about 100km with few pavements, buses are sparse, and walking only really works along the boardwalk or on the sand itself.

Boston has Newbury Street, with fashion flagships and boutiques in Back Bay brownstones, plus antiques on Charles Street and bookshops in Harvard Square. Myrtle Beach shopping is outlet bargains, entertainment complexes and huge beachwear stores, and the one real local craft is the sweetgrass baskets sold along the coast road to the south.

Myrtle Beach is far easier on the wallet. There is a huge supply of motels and condos, and many come with kitchens. July and long weekends push prices up sharply, though, and a car is a cost you can't avoid.

Boston is expensive in every respect, from hotel rooms to a casual plate of clams, and it costs the most in foliage season and graduation weeks. Free sights such as the Freedom Trail and the parks help, but only a little.

Boston has a full cultural calendar: the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Symphony Hall, the Pops, Boston Ballet, serious drama at the American Repertory Theater and jazz from Berklee students. Myrtle Beach's evening shows are polished variety, with country and gospel revues and pirate dinner shows. They are good fun with children, but there is no orchestra or serious theatre.

Neither city is a place to go for rest, and neither has a bathing tradition, so relaxing in both comes down to hotel spas. The difference is where the quiet is. In Boston it is the Arnold Arboretum, the shaded Esplanade and Beacon Hill in the evening. In Myrtle Beach it is Pawleys Island and the spring and autumn months, when the strip slows down.