Charleston or New York?

Charleston is much the better beach destination. Its barrier islands each have their own feel: Folly Beach is surfy, Sullivan's Island is quiet with old forts behind the dunes, and Isle of Palms is more of a resort. The sea is warm from late spring into October, though the water is tidal and murky rather than clear.

New York's beaches come as a real surprise to many visitors, but they are a summer side trip. Coney Island and the Rockaways have the advantage of being on the subway, while Charleston's beaches need a car. Still, New York's water is cooler, the season lasts barely ten weeks and summer weekends are packed.

Charleston does one kind of cooking exceptionally well. Its Lowcountry food draws on Gullah Geechee and West African roots, from shrimp and grits and she-crab soup to winter oyster roasts and whole-hog barbecue. You can eat it in restored townhouse dining rooms or at the fried seafood shacks on Shem Creek. What it lacks is range. There is little street food or cheap international cooking, and the best tables need booking well ahead.

New York is strongest exactly where Charleston is thin: range and cheap eating. Fujianese cooking in Flushing, Tibetan in Jackson Heights, Polish in Greenpoint and Italian on Arthur Avenue sit alongside one of the world's deepest fine-dining scenes. Pizza by the slice, bagels and halal carts mean you can eat well without spending much, which is where it pulls far ahead.

Charleston's culture is one compact subject, presented with care. There are the Georgian and antebellum streets south of Broad, and house museums such as the Aiken-Rhett, which show the enslaved people's quarters alongside the grand rooms. Add Fort Sumter and the International African American Museum, and two or three days covers it all.

New York works on a different scale. The Met, MoMA, the Natural History museum and the Cloisters could each be the main reason for a trip, and landmarks from Ellis Island to Grand Central are part of any walk. Its history is younger and more industrial, seen in brownstones and tenements rather than in the piazza houses of Charleston.

In Charleston, going out mostly means drinks rather than dancing. Upper King Street has rooftop and cocktail bars that fill with students and weekend groups, and the French Quarter has quieter taverns. There is little club life, and most places close by about 2am.

New York is in another class entirely. It runs from East Village dive bars and West Village wine bars to warehouse parties in Bushwick that last past dawn. Whatever kind of night you want, there is somewhere for it, and the trains keep running to get you home.

The two are evenly matched outdoors, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Charleston's nature is wet and flat: tidal creeks, spartina marsh and live oaks. It is best seen from a kayak with dolphins alongside, or on the ACE Basin trails among alligators.

New York's nature is city parkland with hills not far away. Central Park, the High Line and Jamaica Bay are all inside the city, and a train up the Hudson reaches the steep, rocky climbs of Breakneck Ridge. That kind of hiking is something the flat Lowcountry cannot offer.

New York has a slight edge, mostly because you can do its day trips by train. Philadelphia, Princeton, the Hudson Valley estates and Dia Beacon are all reachable without a car. There is also more variety, from art museums to Long Island wine country.

Charleston has fewer outings, but each has a strong theme. The Ashley River plantations, with McLeod and Drayton Hall telling the history of slavery, are close by. Savannah's squares are about two hours away, and there is Gullah culture around Beaufort. You need a car for every one of them.

Children can climb through an aircraft carrier in both cities, but New York has far more besides. There are the dinosaur halls and planetarium, the Bronx Zoo, the free Staten Island Ferry, and the carousel and boating in Central Park. The downsides are subway stations with only stairs, small hotel rooms and tiring crowds.

Charleston is easier going, with the aquarium on the waterfront, the boat out to Fort Sumter and gentle beaches. However, there is no zoo or theme park, house tours bore younger children, and summer afternoons are hard going in the heat.

New York is much easier to get around. The subway runs all night across four of the five boroughs, Manhattan's grid is simple to walk, and ferries and Citi Bike fill the gaps. You never need a car, even if the express lines are confusing and the stations get stuffy in summer.

Charleston's historic peninsula is flat and walkable within about 3km, with pedicabs and a free shuttle to help. Beyond it, though, you need a car or ride-hailing to reach the beaches and plantations, and parking downtown is tight.

Charleston is a place for a slow browse rather than a serious shopping trip. A walk up King Street takes you past antiques, galleries and small independent boutiques in a handsome old setting. The one thing you can only buy here is a sweetgrass basket, woven by Gullah artisans at the City Market. If you want high-end luxury labels, you will find very little.

New York goes well beyond Charleston on every count. Madison Avenue and grand department stores such as Bergdorf Goodman cover the top end that King Street lacks. SoHo and the vintage and record shops of Brooklyn spread across whole districts, where Charleston has one street. Charleston's speciality is a single local craft, but New York has dedicated shops for almost anything, from rare books to sneakers and cameras.

Neither city is cheap, but Charleston is easier on the wallet. Inns on the peninsula and the best-known restaurants charge big-city prices, and paid house tours and taxis add up. Still, the old streets, the Battery and the beaches cost nothing.

New York is more expensive again, with small, costly hotel rooms, tax and a tip on every meal, and steep tickets for theatres and observation decks. It does have better ways to save, though: cheap pizza slices, the restaurants of Queens, a flat subway fare, and cheaper rooms in Brooklyn or Queens. Unlike Charleston's cheaper suburbs, you can reach those without a car.

Nowhere matches New York for performance. Broadway, Off-Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, the Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall run all season. There is jazz in Village basements and Harlem, gospel on Sundays, and free Shakespeare in the parks in summer.

Charleston comes alive each late spring for Spoleto Festival USA, when opera, dance and jazz fill the town for more than two weeks. For the rest of the year there is the Dock Street Theatre, the symphony at the Gaillard Center and Gullah storytelling. It is pleasant, but on a modest scale.

Neither city is a wellness destination, and they fall short in different ways. Charleston offers calm rather than treatments: shaded gardens, quiet church courtyards and evenings at White Point Garden. Its spas are limited to hotels and the Kiawah resorts.

New York is the reverse. Its streets are anything but restful, but it has a real bathing culture. There is the East Village bathhouse dating from the late 1800s, with its ice-cold plunge pool, as well as the banyas of Brighton Beach and Korean-style spas in Queens.