Bristol or London?

Neither city works for a beach vacation, but London gives swimmers more to do. Brighton's pebble beach is about an hour away by train, and Margate and Whitstable have sandier shores. In the city itself, the lidos at Brockwell Park and Parliament Hill and the Hampstead Heath ponds are well loved.

Bristol faces a muddy, silty estuary with one of the world's largest tidal ranges. The best it offers is a cold dip in a tidal pool such as Clevedon's marine lake, or careful tide-timing at Weston-super-Mare.

London is on another level for eating. You can have Bangladeshi cooking on Brick Lane, Punjabi food in Southall, Turkish grills on Green Lanes and Caribbean and West African food south of the river, as well as a large fine-dining scene and Borough Market. It is a city to plan meals around.

Bristol is good for grazing rather than seeking out food. St Nicholas Market, the container kitchens on the harbourside and the bakeries and roasters of Gloucester Road and North Street make easy eating. Its most local pleasure is in the glass: West Country cider and taprooms set in old warehouses.

London has one of the deepest sets of museums and landmarks anywhere, from the British Museum and the V&A to the Tower, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's and Greenwich. Most of the major collections are free, and a week still leaves plenty unseen.

Bristol's sights tell the more focused story of a trading port and Victorian engineering. They include the SS Great Britain, the Clifton Suspension Bridge, St Mary Redcliffe and M Shed, along with Banksy's early street art. They are rewarding, but two or three days cover them.

London offers the bigger night out. Soho is the late, crowded centre, Shoreditch, Hackney and Dalston hold the warehouse and club scene, Brixton and Peckham have the big venues, and thousands of pubs fill in everywhere. Choosing a district is half the plan.

Bristol's scene is smaller but has its own sound, rooted in trip hop, drum and bass and dubstep. Its clubs sit in railway arches near Temple Meads and on the harbour, and Stokes Croft is scruffy and creative. A large student population keeps it busy all year.

Bristol has the edge for getting outdoors, mainly because the wild-feeling places are so close. The limestone cliffs of the Avon Gorge are popular with climbers, Leigh Woods and Ashton Court have walks and mountain-bike trails, and the railway path cycles out towards Bath. Cheddar Gorge, the Mendips and the Wye Valley are within an hour, and Exmoor and the Brecon Beacons are within two.

London's green space is mostly parkland: Richmond Park's deer, Hampstead Heath and Kew's gardens. Proper walking country such as the Chilterns or the South Downs means a train ride out.

Both are excellent bases, but London's rail hub gives it more range. Oxford, Cambridge and Windsor are each about an hour or less away, and Canterbury, Brighton, Portsmouth's dockyard and the castles of Kent spread the options in every direction, so a week can include several outings with different themes.

Bristol's day trips are fewer but very close. Bath is a quarter of an hour away by train, Wells, Glastonbury and Cardiff are about an hour, and Stonehenge, Avebury and the southern Cotswolds are easy drives.

Bristol is the smaller, calmer choice. The SS Great Britain, the hands-on We The Curious science centre and the aquarium sit close together on the harbourside, and the little ferries between them are part of the fun. The wildlife park on the northern edge and the deer at Ashton Court add more. Its steep hills are hard work with a pushchair, though, and there is no large theme park nearby.

London gives families far more to fill the days. The dinosaur halls of the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Young V&A are all free to enter, and so are the park playgrounds, including the pirate ship in Kensington Gardens. The zoo is in Regent's Park, and Legoland Windsor and the Harry Potter studio tour are within reach outside the city. The downsides are long distances, crowds when schools are out and Tube stairs that are hard with a buggy.

In London, the Underground, the Elizabeth line, the Overground, buses and riverboats all run on one contactless card, so a car is never needed. The only catches are the city's size, packed trains at rush hour and long station corridors.

Bristol's centre is small enough to walk, and yellow ferries cross the Floating Harbour. There is no metro or tram, though, so buses stuck in traffic serve everything further out, and the climb up to Clifton is steep.

London is a shopping destination in its own right. It has the luxury houses of Bond Street and Sloane Street and the bespoke tailoring of Savile Row and Jermyn Street, and its department stores are sights in themselves. Portobello Road, Camden, Spitalfields and the bookshops of Charing Cross Road add character.

Bristol makes a pleasant afternoon instead. There are chain stores at Cabot Circus and Broadmead, independent and vintage shops along Gloucester Road, and galleries in Clifton Village's Georgian arcades.

Bristol is the cheaper stay, although it is still not a bargain by British standards. Hotel rooms cost more at weekends, and eating out costs much what it does elsewhere in England. Free museums and a walkable centre help.

London is expensive at almost every turn: small central rooms, pub rounds, theatre seats and fares. Its free national museums and parks are a big saving, and staying out along a good Tube line keeps costs down, but it never feels cheap.

London ranks among the world's great stage cities. It has the West End playhouses, the National Theatre, the Globe and the Royal Court, the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum for opera and ballet, five major orchestras and the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall. There is a serious choice every night.

Bristol's strengths are more intimate. The Georgian Old Vic is the oldest continuously working theatre in the English-speaking world, and there is fringe Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and chamber music at St George's. Most of all, it has small music venues in Stokes Croft and Old Market with bands most nights.

Neither city is restful, and both send serious spa-goers to the hot springs at Bath. Bath is much closer to Bristol, a quarter of an hour away by train rather than an hour and a half from London.

Otherwise the options differ in kind. Bristol has the heated Victorian lido behind Clifton's terraces, along with tidal pools for cold-water swimmers and the quiet of the Downs. London has surviving Victorian and Edwardian Turkish baths in Bayswater and Islington, full spas in the grand hotels of Mayfair and Knightsbridge, and the Hampstead ponds.