Charleston or Philadelphia?

This is the widest gap between the two. Charleston has three barrier-island beaches within about half an hour: surfy Folly Beach, quiet Sullivan's Island and the broader Isle of Palms. Most visitors split their days between the old town and the sand. The water is warm, though greenish and tidal rather than clear.

Philadelphia sits on rivers, so a beach day means driving an hour or more to Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood or Cape May, sharing the road with locals heading down the shore. It is a summer outing only, and the sea there is several degrees cooler.

Charleston has the more distinctive table. Its Lowcountry cooking, with shrimp and grits, she-crab soup and roasted oysters drawn from Gullah Geechee roots, runs from dining rooms in restored townhouses to whole-hog barbecue. The range is narrow, though, and good tables need booking well ahead.

Philadelphia's strength is everyday eating: cheesesteaks, roast pork sandwiches and hoagies from corner shops, with Reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market as the places to start. Its bring-your-own-wine dining rooms and the Vietnamese and Mexican cooking in East Passyunk and Fishtown give it more variety and cheaper lunches, but less of a signature cuisine to travel for.

Both cities are about American history, but Philadelphia tells the larger story and has more to see. Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell are a short walk from the rowhouses of Society Hill. The Barnes Foundation, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Penn Museum and Eastern State Penitentiary stretch a visit to four or five days.

Charleston's main sight is the peninsula itself, with its piazza houses, steeples and walled gardens south of Broad Street. Fort Sumter and the International African American Museum deal with the Civil War and the slave trade. Its museums are small, and two or three days covers them.

Neither is a clubbing city, and bars in both close around 2am. Philadelphia simply has more places to go out: warehouse bars and beer halls in Fishtown and Northern Liberties, cocktail rooms around Rittenhouse Square, corner taverns in East Passyunk and the long-established Gayborhood.

In Charleston, going out mostly means upper King Street, where rooftop and oyster bars fill with students and weekend groups. Beyond that there are quieter wine bars in the French Quarter and a few beach bars on Folly.

There is about as much to do outdoors in each city, but the landscapes are very different. Charleston's is wet and flat: kayaking through spartina marsh past dolphins, alligators and birdlife in the ACE Basin and Francis Marion forest, and cycling on Kiawah and Edisto. It is best in spring and autumn, before the summer mosquitoes.

Philadelphia's is greener and inland. The wooded Wissahickon gorge lies inside the city, the Schuylkill River Trail runs out past Boathouse Row, and the Pine Barrens and Poconos are further off for hiking and paddling.

Philadelphia has the clear advantage because it sits on the Northeast rail corridor. New York, Baltimore and Washington are each a train ride away, and so is Lancaster's Amish country. Gettysburg, Valley Forge and Longwood Gardens are easy drives.

Charleston's day trips stay closer to the city, and all of them need a car. The choice is the Ashley River plantations and McLeod Plantation, Savannah about two hours away, and the quieter Gullah country around Beaufort.

Philadelphia has more to fill a family week. The Franklin Institute, the Please Touch Museum for under-eights, the dinosaurs at the Academy of Natural Sciences and the country's oldest zoo are all in the city. The Liberty Bell brings history alive for older children.

Charleston is calmer, and children enjoy different things there: the aquarium, the aircraft carrier at Patriots Point and the boat to Fort Sumter, then easy days on wide beaches. It has no zoo or theme park, and small children quickly get bored on house tours.

Both have a flat, walkable historic core, but only Philadelphia works beyond it without a car. Its Center City grid links Old City, Rittenhouse Square and the Parkway museums on foot. SEPTA's subway, trolleys and regional rail are plain but reach the airport and New Jersey.

Charleston's peninsula is lovely to walk and has a free shuttle and pedicabs. The beaches and plantations mean driving or ride-hailing, though, and parking downtown is tight.

The two are about level for shopping, and in both cities it is about browsing rather than luxury. Charleston's shopping runs along one long street, King Street, which goes from antiques and galleries through chain fashion to independent boutiques. The souvenir worth buying is a sweetgrass basket woven by Gullah artisans at City Market.

Philadelphia's shops are more spread out: Walnut Street around Rittenhouse Square, independent shops in Old City and Fishtown, and the historic Jewelers' Row. The vast King of Prussia mall is half an hour out, and there is no sales tax on clothing.

Neither is cheap, but Charleston is the harder of the two on a budget. Rooms on the historic peninsula cost what they would in far bigger cities, the well-known restaurants charge big-city prices, and taxis, parking and plantation tours add up.

Philadelphia's hotels charge normal American rates, and the sights of Independence park are free. A cheesesteak makes a cheap lunch and bringing your own wine cuts the cost of dinner, though the big art museums charge full admission.

Philadelphia is by far the stronger city for live performance, all year round. The Philadelphia Orchestra plays on the Avenue of the Arts, opera and ballet fill the 1857 Academy of Music, and students of the Curtis Institute give recitals. The Walnut Street Theatre, jazz clubs and indie venues add to the programme.

Charleston comes alive for Spoleto Festival USA in late spring, with opera, dance and theatre across the city. For the rest of the year it has the Dock Street Theatre, the symphony at the Gaillard Center, and Gullah storytelling and song.

Charleston is the easier of the two to unwind in, mostly because rest comes built into an ordinary day. Sightseeing on the peninsula is already an unhurried stroll, and an afternoon on the sand or an evening watching the harbour from the Battery takes no planning at all. For proper pampering, the resorts on the islands have the fuller spas.

In Philadelphia, calm is something you go looking for between busier hours. The Wissahickon gorge gives you a woodland walk without leaving the city. The one thing Charleston can't match is a Korean-style bathhouse in the suburbs, with hot pools and saunas for a long afternoon's soak. Otherwise it comes down to a hotel or day spa near Rittenhouse Square.