Charleston or Washington DC?

Charleston is a genuine beach destination and Washington is not. All within about half an hour you have Folly Beach for surf and a pier, Sullivan's Island for quiet dunes and old forts, and Isle of Palms for wider, resort-style sand. The water is warm enough to swim from late spring into autumn, though it is greenish and tidal rather than clear.

Washington's rivers are not for swimming. The closest sand is the small, brackish Chesapeake shore around Annapolis, about an hour away. The Atlantic resorts take three hours to reach, so most visitors make do with a hotel pool.

Both cities eat well, but in different ways. Charleston has a cuisine of its own: Lowcountry shrimp and grits, she-crab soup and winter oyster roasts, served in restored townhouses around upper King Street and in seafood shacks on Shem Creek. Its weakness is range, with little cheap or international cooking.

Washington is the reverse. Beyond the half-smoke it has no strong local tradition, but there is far more variety: Ethiopian restaurants in Shaw and around U Street, Salvadoran pupusas in Columbia Heights, and stalls to graze at Eastern Market and Union Market. Go to Charleston to taste one place, and to Washington for choice.

Washington has far more to see. The Smithsonian museums along the Mall, the National Gallery and the Library of Congress are nearly all free. They sit beside the Capitol and the great memorials, and together they can fill a week without repeating yourself.

Charleston's strength is its streets rather than its collections. The Georgian and antebellum houses south of Broad, the Nathaniel Russell and Aiken-Rhett houses, Fort Sumter and the International African American Museum tell one deep story about slavery and the Civil War. Its museums are small, though, and two or three days covers them. The old town is the more handsome of the two, while Georgetown and Capitol Hill are pleasant but plainer.

Neither city is a reason to come for nightlife, but Washington gives you more of an evening. The 14th Street and U Street corridor has cocktail bars and late dance spots, and Adams Morgan is the rowdy late-night strip. Dupont Circle is the centre of the LGBTQ+ scene, and at weekends a few large clubs bring in touring DJs.

Charleston is a bar town with little dancing. Upper King Street fills with students and weekend groups, the French Quarter has quieter wine bars and old taverns, and Folly Beach adds a few sandy beach bars.

Washington has the more varied outdoors. Rock Creek Park and the C&O Canal towpath run right through the city, and Great Falls, half an hour upriver, has a rocky gorge with whitewater. The ridges of Shenandoah are within about two hours.

Charleston is flat Lowcountry and is best seen from the water. You can kayak through the creeks of the spartina marsh, often alongside dolphins, or walk the trails of the Francis Marion National Forest and the ACE Basin to see birds and alligators. It suits paddlers more than hikers, and the summer mosquitoes are a real nuisance.

Washington has more on its doorstep and easier ways to reach it. Old Town Alexandria is a Metro ride away, Baltimore is under an hour by train and Philadelphia about two hours by fast train. Mount Vernon, Annapolis and the battlefields at Gettysburg and Antietam are easy drives.

Charleston's outings centre on the plantations along the Ashley River, such as Middleton Place, Magnolia and Drayton Hall, with Savannah and Beaufort further out. They are rewarding, especially for Gullah history, but you need a car for every one of them.

Washington is easier with children. The dinosaurs at the Natural History museum, the rockets at Air and Space and the National Zoo are all free. The Mall is a huge lawn to run about on, and every Metro station has lifts for buggies.

Charleston is smaller and calmer, with the aquarium, the Children's Museum of the Lowcountry and the aircraft carrier at Patriots Point. Its trump card is the beach, which Washington cannot match. House tours will bore small children, though, and summer afternoons are hard going in both cities.

Charleston is easy only as long as you stay in the old town. The streets south of Broad and the length of King Street are a short, level stroll from one another, but beyond the peninsula you are on your own. For Folly Beach, Sullivan's Island or the Ashley River plantations the buses are little use, so you either drive and then hunt for a parking space, or call a ride.

Washington asks for more walking. Its sights are spread along a Mall about 3km long and across the river, but the Metro covers the distances that in Charleston you would need a car for. It runs to Arlington Cemetery, Old Town Alexandria and the airport, and hire bikes on the riverside paths are a good way to link the monuments. Only Georgetown, which has no station, needs a bus, and you only need a car for the battlefields and countryside further out.

Neither city is a shopping destination, and the difference is in kind. Charleston is one long street that changes as you go, from antiques dealers on lower King Street to independent boutiques further up. It also has a real local craft in the Gullah sweetgrass baskets woven at City Market.

Washington is more spread out. There are Georgetown's M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, the luxury labels at CityCenterDC, big suburban malls, and the Smithsonian and National Gallery shops for books and prints. It has no craft tradition of its own.

Both are expensive places to stay, with central hotels and well-known restaurants charging what you would pay in much larger cities. The difference is in what you pay for during the day. In Washington the main sights cost almost nothing, since the museums, the zoo and the memorials are free and the Metro is reasonable.

In Charleston, walking the old streets and lying on the beaches is free, but taxis, parking and paid house and plantation tours add up. Staying outside the centre saves money in both cities. From Mount Pleasant you have to drive in every day, while from Arlington you can stay on the Metro.

Washington has a full season all year round. For theatre there are Arena Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Ford's Theatre and the Folger, covering both new plays and the classics. The National Symphony and the Washington National Opera give it a proper classical season, the Lincoln and Howard theatres on U Street book the touring bands, and go-go is the city's own sound.

Charleston comes alive in late spring, when Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto bring opera, dance and jazz across the city. Outside the festival, the Dock Street Theatre and the Gaillard Center keep a smaller programme. Gullah storytelling and song performances are worth looking out for.

Neither city has a bathing or spa culture, so rest comes from the setting, and Charleston's is the gentler one. The old town moves slowly, its walled gardens and church courtyards invite you to linger, and Kiawah Island has resort spas.

Washington keeps a working government pace. It has hotel spas and yoga studios, and an early walk around the Tidal Basin or a bench at Dumbarton Oaks or the National Arboretum will help. Otherwise you have to make your own calm.