Cape Cod or Outer Banks?

Both coasts face the open Atlantic, but the water sets them apart. On Cape Cod the outer shore of the National Seashore stays cold. Comfortable swimming means the gentler, warmer south-shore beaches on Nantucket Sound, the calm bay flats near Brewster or the kettle ponds around Wellfleet, and the season only runs from July to mid-September.

The Outer Banks make the better beach vacation. The sand runs much further, the sea is properly warm all summer, and Hatteras Island has long empty stretches. The trade-off is surf and rip currents almost everywhere on the ocean side, so the shallow sounds are the only calm water.

Cape Cod's cooking has more range. Wellfleet and Barnstable oysters, steamers, local scallops and chowder are served everywhere from clam shacks with picnic tables to harbourside dining rooms in Chatham. Provincetown, with its Portuguese fishing roots, has the most cosmopolitan choice on either coast, though many kitchens scale back outside summer.

On the Outer Banks the menu is shorter: steamed shrimp, soft-shell crab in season, local tuna and flounder, and fried baskets with hushpuppies. Away from the seafood the choice soon comes down to burgers and pizza. The best meals often come from fish bought at the Hatteras harbour and cooked in your rental house.

Neither is a place to come for sights, and the two are fairly even, but their history is of different kinds. Cape Cod's lies in its villages, with the captains' houses and white churches along the Old King's Highway, and Provincetown's Pilgrim landing and artists' colony at the far end.

The Outer Banks have fewer places but bigger moments: the first powered flight at Kill Devil Hills and the vanished Lost Colony on Roanoke Island. Add lighthouses such as the spiral-striped Cape Hatteras, and expect to drive further between them.

Cape Cod has one real night out, and it is a good one: Provincetown in July and August, with waterfront tea dances, gay and lesbian bars, dance clubs and a crowded Commercial Street. Hyannis adds a few bars and clubs, but most villages go quiet after dinner.

The Outer Banks have nothing like it. An evening means a sunset drink on the sound, a brewery taproom along the bypass or the porch of the rental house, and there are almost no clubs.

Cape Cod has the richer outdoors, and its wildlife is the main reason. Boats from Provincetown reach Stellwagen Bank, where humpback whales are reliably seen from spring to autumn, and grey seals gather in large numbers off Chatham and Monomoy. The Rail Trail and the Shining Sea Bikeway give long, easy rides past marsh and pine woods, and the Province Lands dunes add quiet walks.

The Outer Banks are for getting on the water with a sail or a board. The shallow sounds around Rodanthe and Avon are among the world's best for flat-water kiteboarding and windsurfing, and Cape Hatteras has surf and serious offshore fishing. On land there are the giant dunes of Jockey's Ridge, wild mustangs north of Corolla and migrating birds at Pea Island.

Cape Cod is much the better base for days out. Fast ferries from Hyannis and Woods Hole reach Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and Plymouth and New Bedford are close by across the canal. Boston is within reach too, and in summer you can go by sea from Provincetown.

From the Outer Banks, the one memorable outing is the ferry to Ocracoke. Colonial Edenton and the Norfolk area are pleasant enough, but nothing pulls you off the beach the way the Massachusetts islands do.

Both are classic American family beach vacations, and Cape Cod has a slight edge with small children. The bay beaches at Brewster and Dennis are calm and shallow, the freshwater ponds are warm, and whale-watching boats and the Woods Hole aquarium fill the gaps.

The Outer Banks have their own draws for children: Jockey's Ridge, the aquarium on Roanoke Island, wild-horse tours and lighthouse climbs. Rip currents mean the ocean beaches need close watching, though, so toddlers end up on the sound side.

In both places you more or less need a car, and the bridges jam on busy summer weekends, so neither is easy. The difference is the shape of the place. Cape Cod is compact, about an hour and a quarter from the canal to Provincetown, and the summer ferries and a walkable Provincetown make a well-planned car-free trip possible.

The Outer Banks stretch along one long highway. It takes a couple of hours to drive from Corolla to Hatteras village, there is no useful public transport, and Ocracoke can only be reached by ferry. Bikes work well within the central towns.

Cape Cod has the more rewarding browsing: galleries along Provincetown's Commercial Street and in Wellfleet, antique shops on Route 6A, and neat main streets in Chatham and Falmouth. On the Outer Banks, shopping is mostly surf and beachwear stores along the highway. The Duck boardwalk, Manteo's waterfront and Ocracoke's craft shops are the pleasant exceptions.

Neither is cheap in summer, but the Outer Banks are a little easier on the wallet. For a big family, a large shared rental with your own cooking, free beaches and the free ferry to Ocracoke keep a week reasonable.

Cape Cod costs more at every turn: weekly cottage rentals near the best beaches, island ferry fares and daily beach parking all add up. Plainer motels around Hyannis and Yarmouth help, and so does coming in June or September.

Cape Cod has a proper summer theatre season. There is the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, repertory companies across the lower Cape, nightly drag, cabaret and comedy in Provincetown, and touring acts at the Hyannis tent.

The Outer Banks have one tradition worth planning around: The Lost Colony, an outdoor drama staged on summer nights on Roanoke Island since 1937. Beyond that, there are bands on bar decks and the odd community festival.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and on both coasts rest comes from the slow pace more than from treatments. Cape Cod has more to support a restful stay: spas at resort hotels in Chatham, Brewster and Falmouth, easy-to-find yoga and massage in Provincetown, and quiet cottage weeks in Truro in September and early October.

On the Outer Banks, a few day spas in Duck and the central towns are all there is. The calm comes instead from the villages of Hatteras Island and Ocracoke once the summer crowds have gone.