Cape May or Newport, Rhode Island?

Cape May is the stronger beach destination. A single long strip of sand runs the length of the oceanfront below the promenade, with lifeguards and mostly gentle surf, and the sea is a couple of degrees warmer at its August peak, so long swims are a pleasure. Cape May Point adds quieter stretches, and Sunset Beach has its quartz "diamonds".

Newport's beaches are more scattered and more varied: Easton's Beach under the Cliff Walk, the longer, wilder Second and Third Beaches in Middletown, and the sheltered cove at Gooseberry. They are good for a swim, but the cooler water and short season make them part of a stay rather than its purpose.

The two eat at a similar level and on similar lines, both built on local seafood, but the flavour differs. Cape May leans on its working fishing fleet, with scallops and flounder in dockside shacks and Victorian dining rooms, and makes breakfast on the porch part of the ritual.

Newport is classic New England: lobster rolls, chowder, stuffed quahogs and Rhode Island clam cakes on the wharves off Thames Street. It also has the advantage of Providence's wider restaurant choice under an hour away. In both, kitchens shorten hours in winter.

Newport is the richer place for sightseeing. The Vanderbilt-era mansions on Bellevue Avenue, The Breakers and Marble House among them, can be toured with rooms intact, and the colonial streets of the Point and Historic Hill add Touro Synagogue, Trinity Church and the Redwood Library. That fills two or three days.

Cape May's appeal is the townscape itself: hundreds of gingerbread-trimmed Victorian houses in a landmark district, best enjoyed on a walking or trolley tour. Beyond the Physick Estate and the lighthouse climb there is little to go inside, and a day or two covers it.

Neither is a party town, but Newport has more to it. Thames Street and the wharves fill on summer weekends with sailing crowds moving between waterfront decks, pubs and cocktail bars, and it can get loud, even if there are hardly any clubs.

Cape May's evenings are quieter still: a few old pubs and hotel bars near the mall, a cover band, and most people in bed by midnight. Anyone wanting more drives to the Wildwoods' boardwalk bars.

Both are good for the outdoors and both are flat, but the draw is different. Cape May is about wildlife: its peninsula tip funnels autumn hawks, songbirds and monarch butterflies through Higbee Beach and the state park, and summer dolphin boats rarely come back without sightings.

Newport is about the rocky shore and the water. The Cliff Walk and Ocean Drive follow wave-cut ledges, and as one of North America's great sailing towns it offers charters, lessons and autumn surfing at Second Beach. Birders find seabirds at Sachuest Point too.

Newport is much better placed for outings. Providence and its RISD Museum are under an hour away and Boston is about an hour and a half, while Bristol, Block Island, New Bedford's whaling museum and Mystic's seaport give a week of varied days.

From Cape May the highlight is the ferry across Delaware Bay to colonial Lewes, plus the Wildwoods and Atlantic City up the coast. Philadelphia is possible but makes for a long, tiring day.

Cape May suits young children better. Lifeguarded sand, slow streets, surrey bikes on the promenade, crabbing on the bay and a free zoo twenty minutes north keep a week simple, with the Wildwoods' piers and water parks close by for rides. Just check, as some historic-district B&Bs turn away small children.

Newport has pleasant extras in the Easton's Beach carousel, the ramparts of Fort Adams and the touch tanks at Save The Bay's aquarium, but its main sights are long mansion tours, and summer traffic makes busy days harder work.

Newport is a little easier to manage. Its walkable centre is backed by local buses, a summer trolley and a harbour ferry, so the mansions and some beaches can be reached without driving, though the island bridges and narrow streets clog in summer.

Cape May is compact and flat, ideal for bikes, but there is no train and few buses, so the Point, the zoo and the Wildwoods mostly mean a car.

Newport offers a bit more to browse. Bowen's and Bannister's Wharves have galleries and sailing clothes, Bellevue Avenue has smarter boutiques, and Spring and Franklin Streets are known for antiques.

Cape May's shopping is concentrated in the three pedestrian blocks of Washington Street Mall, with bookshops, home stores, fudge and taffy, a pleasant rainy-afternoon stroll rather than a reason to visit.

Both are expensive in summer, with very little to choose between them. Cape May adds beach tags and minimum stays at Victorian B&Bs, while Newport's mansion tickets and parking mount up. The ways to save are similar: stay next door, in the Wildwoods or Middletown, or come outside the peak season.

Newport has the bigger name in music. The Jazz and Folk Festivals at Fort Adams are among the most storied in the country, and July brings chamber concerts into the mansion ballrooms. Outside those weeks the town is quiet.

Cape May's strength is theatre, with a long season of plays in a converted church and historic American drama, plus a long-running spring chamber festival and summer band concerts in Convention Hall: good evenings, if smaller in scale.

The two are much alike: neither has a bathing tradition, both have hotel spas, and both are at their calmest in spring and autumn. Cape May's rest is porch-bound, with rocking chairs, parlour teas and bay sunsets, while Newport's is a quiet walk along the Cliff Walk once the summer crowds have gone.