Cape May or Savannah?

In Cape May the beach is part of the town: a continuous run of sand along the oceanfront, backed by the promenade, with lifeguards and usually gentle surf. There are quieter stretches at the Point, and at Sunset Beach people hunt for Cape May diamonds. The catch is a short swimming season and cooler water.

Savannah has no beach of its own. Tybee Island, half an hour's drive away, has wide, flat sand and much warmer water. But the sea there is greenish-brown from the marshes, and for most visitors Tybee is one day out rather than the centre of the stay.

Savannah gives a food lover more to explore. Lowcountry cooking runs through everything, from shrimp and grits and she-crab soup to family-style Southern dining rooms and oyster roasts in the cooler months. A handful of serious chef-led restaurants sit around the historic district.

Cape May's strength is narrower: fresh catch from its working fishing port, scallops and local oysters especially, and slow breakfasts on the porch. Beyond seafood the choice soon runs to fudge and taffy, and in winter many kitchens close.

Both towns are their own main sight, but Savannah's is richer and more varied. Oglethorpe's grid of garden squares, the Federal and Greek Revival houses, Factors Walk and the cathedral reward days of walking. The Telfair Museums and the Owens-Thomas House add art collections and a harder history.

Cape May has one concentrated and lovely theme: a whole landmark district of gingerbread Victorian cottages and hotels with long porches, along with the Emlen Physick Estate and the lighthouse climb. It is charming, but a day or two covers it.

Savannah has a real night out and Cape May mostly does not. In Savannah you can carry a drink in a to-go cup on the street, so evenings move from River Street's cobbled bars to the taverns around City Market and quiet cocktail rooms in old townhouses. Art students keep a few dive bars and dance nights busy, though there are few clubs.

In Cape May a night out means a pub or hotel bar near the mall with a cover band, and bed by midnight. Anyone who wants more drives to the boardwalk bars in the Wildwoods.

Cape May has the edge because it sits on a major bird-migration route. In autumn, hawks, songbirds and monarch butterflies pour through Cape May Point State Park and Higbee Beach. Summer dolphin boats nearly always find dolphins, and whale trips run in the cooler months.

Savannah's Lowcountry is similar country: flat marsh, tidal creeks and wading birds. It is best seen by kayak, along the avenue of oaks at Wormsloe or on the trails of Skidaway Island. But summer heat and insects there make long outings hard work.

More worthwhile places lie within reach of Savannah. Charleston makes a fine full day out, Beaufort and Hilton Head are each about an hour away, Fort Pulaski is on the road to Tybee, and Jekyll and St Simons islands lie down the Georgia coast.

Cape May's best outing is the ferry across the bay to colonial Lewes in Delaware, with the Wildwoods and Atlantic City up the shore. Philadelphia can be done as a day trip, but it is long and tiring. In both places you need a car for nearly every outing.

Cape May is the stronger choice for families, especially with younger children, because a whole day can be built around the town's beach without getting in the car. The lighthouse climb and the nature centre's programmes give a break from the sand. When children want rides and arcades, the amusement piers and water parks of the Wildwoods are a few minutes up the coast. Check before booking, though, as some B&Bs in the historic district do not take small children.

Savannah works better with older children than with toddlers. Ghost walks, the forts and the open-air trolley tours appeal to them, and many families come to see the birthplace of the Girl Scouts' founder. Tybee adds a gentle beach and a sea-turtle centre, but getting there means a drive. With no large zoo, aquarium or theme park, much of the day is spent walking, and in summer heat that wears small children out quickly.

Savannah's historic district is the better place to be on foot. It is a compact grid where most hotels, restaurants and sights are a short walk apart, and a free shuttle and the river ferry cover the rest. Bonaventure, Wormsloe and Tybee are outside that core and need a car.

Cape May is just as easy within town, being flat and made for bicycles, but it is harder to reach. There is no passenger rail, buses are few and summer parking is tight, so most visitors drive in or come on the ferry from Delaware.

Neither is a place to come for shopping, but Savannah keeps you browsing for longer. Broughton Street's restored storefronts mix boutiques and home shops with a few chains, and shops selling work by the art school's students and graduates give it a character of its own.

Cape May's three-block Washington Street Mall has boutiques, bookshops and fudge, with antique dealers and galleries scattered through the Victorian streets. That is enough for a rainy hour or two.

Neither is cheap, but Savannah makes a budget go further. Its best pleasures cost nothing: the squares, Forsyth Park, the riverfront and the cemeteries. Visiting midweek in summer or staying in motels by the highway brings costs down.

Cape May in summer is expensive. B&Bs charge premium rates with minimum stays, the better dinners cost as much as in a big city, and you pay for beach tags and parking on top. Spring and autumn are kinder, and many beachgoers on a budget stay in the Wildwoods instead.

Savannah has more worth planning a visit around. The spring Savannah Music Festival brings chamber music, jazz, blues and Americana to historic theatres and churches, and the Lucas and Trustees theatres host touring shows. There is also a local philharmonic and an autumn jazz festival in Forsyth Park.

Cape May's offer is gentler. It rests on a small professional theatre in a converted church, a company staging historic American drama and a long-running chamber music festival in late spring, plus summer concerts in Convention Hall.

The two are close here, and in both the rest comes from the slow pace rather than spas. Cape May's calm is found on Victorian porches, over afternoon tea in guesthouse parlours and watching sunsets over the bay, and it is at its best in spring and autumn.

In Savannah you find it on shaded benches in the squares and in the courtyards of the old inns, ideally on a quiet southern square midweek. There the summer humidity is the main drawback, while in Cape May it is the crowds on summer weekends.