Charleston or Pittsburgh?

Charleston is a real beach city. Folly Beach has surf and a pier, Sullivan's Island has quiet sand backed by dunes and old forts, and Isle of Palms is wider and more resort-like. All are about half an hour from the old town. The water is tidal and greenish rather than clear, but it is warm for months, and many visitors split their stay between town and the coast.

Pittsburgh has nothing like this. Nobody swims in its rivers, and the nearest swimming is at the small freshwater beaches of Lake Arthur. The Lake Erie sand at Presque Isle is two hours away.

Charleston is the stronger food destination. It has a cuisine of its own: shrimp and grits, she-crab soup and Carolina Gold rice, rooted in Gullah Geechee cooking. It is served in restored townhouse dining rooms, whole-hog barbecue joints and seafood shacks on Shem Creek. Its weak spots are cheap eats and variety, and the best tables need booking ahead.

Pittsburgh eats more heartily and for less. Pierogies and haluski come from its Eastern European families, and the Strip District's grocers and stalls make a fine morning of grazing. The chef-led kitchens in Lawrenceville are worth seeking out, though the city's cooking is less of a draw in its own right.

Charleston is the stronger sightseeing trip because the whole peninsula is the sight. The Georgian and antebellum streets around Rainbow Row, the Battery and south of Broad are among the best-kept historic townscapes in the country, and the houses, the Old Slave Mart and the boat to Fort Sumter tell an important story, including its uncomfortable chapters, right where it happened. Because it is all gathered in one walkable quarter, every hour of sightseeing adds to the same picture.

Pittsburgh has fine individual institutions, among them the Carnegie Museums, the Warhol and the Mattress Factory, and the view of the bridges from Mount Washington is memorable. Its sights are spread across Oakland, the North Side and Point Breeze, though, and the streets between them are a working city rather than a historic one.

The two are evenly matched: both are bar towns with little club scene, where most places close at 2am. The difference is the setting. In Charleston, nights out centre on the rooftop and oyster bars of upper King Street, with quieter taverns in the French Quarter and sandy bars out at Folly. Pittsburgh's drinking is split between neighbourhoods, from the cocktail and dive bars of Lawrenceville to the student crawl on East Carson Street, with bars full of sports fans on game nights.

These are two very different kinds of outdoors, with Pittsburgh slightly the more active. Charleston's countryside is flat, watery Lowcountry, best seen by kayak through spartina marsh where dolphins surface, or along quiet trails in the ACE Basin with alligators and wading birds.

Pittsburgh has hills, forest and fast water. There are ravine trails in Frick and Schenley parks, and the Great Allegheny Passage cycle trail starts in town. Ohiopyle's whitewater gorge is about an hour and a half away. Autumn colour on the ridges has no equivalent on the flat coast.

Charleston has more to fill a car's worth of days. Middleton Place, Magnolia, Drayton Hall and McLeod Plantation are all within half an hour, and Savannah and the Gullah sea islands around Beaufort make full days further out.

Pittsburgh has one standout outing: Fallingwater, paired with Kentuck Knob and a stop in Ligonier. The Flight 93 memorial and Old Economy Village round out the list, but beyond them the surrounding country is mostly farmland. In both cities you need a car.

Pittsburgh gives children more variety. The North Side alone has the science centre's submarine and planetarium, the Children's Museum and the free-flying birds of the National Aviary. Add the zoo, the Carnegie dinosaurs and Kennywood's roller coasters, and a week passes easily, although the hills make a car useful.

Charleston is calmer and works well in short bursts: the aquarium, climbing through the carrier at Patriots Point and the boat to Fort Sumter. The beaches are its trump card. House tours and the summer heat test younger children's patience.

Both have a walkable core and depend on cars beyond it, but the cores differ. Charleston's peninsula is flat and compact, with pedicabs and a free shuttle, though the beaches and plantations need a car or a ride-hail.

Pittsburgh's downtown links by bridge to the North Side and the Strip, and the T light rail and inclines add some charm. Its outer neighbourhoods are a steep or slow bus ride away, so ride-hailing fills the evenings.

Charleston makes the better shopping trip. King Street is a single handsome street that runs from antiques dealers through fashion brands to independent boutiques, and the French Quarter adds art galleries. At City Market, Gullah artisans weave sweetgrass baskets, the city's signature craft. There is no true luxury end, though.

Pittsburgh's shopping is mostly local browsing. There are food and kitchen stalls in the Strip, vintage shops on Butler Street and boutiques on Walnut Street, while the big brands are out in the suburban malls.

Pittsburgh stretches a budget much further. Hotel rooms, including those downtown, cost far less than on Charleston's peninsula, and beer and casual meals are fairly priced, though tipping and rides between neighbourhoods still add up.

Charleston charges big-city rates for its inns and well-known restaurants, especially on spring and autumn weekends. Staying out in Mount Pleasant saves money but means driving in every day. The free walks through the old streets and the beaches help balance the bill.

Pittsburgh has the steadier year-round programme. The Pittsburgh Symphony plays at Heinz Hall, the Benedum Center stages opera, ballet and touring musicals, and theatre runs all year. Its jazz heritage from the Hill District, the setting of August Wilson's plays, survives in smaller clubs.

Charleston has one great fortnight: Spoleto Festival USA in late spring, when opera, dance and jazz fill the town. For the rest of the year, its programme is the Dock Street Theatre, the symphony at the Gaillard and Gullah song and storytelling.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, but Charleston is the easier place to slow down. Its walled gardens, church courtyards and waterfront evenings at White Point Garden set an unhurried pace, and resort spas on Kiawah Island are close by.

Pittsburgh's calm spots are Phipps Conservatory's glasshouses and the paths of Frick and Schenley parks. A proper spa stay means driving about an hour and a half to the Laurel Highlands.