Charleston or Williamsburg, Virginia?

Charleston is a beach destination in its own right. Folly Beach, Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms each have their own character, from a surfy pier town to quiet dunes backed by old forts, and Kiawah and Seabrook add long, empty stretches further south. The water is tidal and greenish rather than clear, but it stays warm for a long season.

Williamsburg sits inland between two rivers, so a swim usually means the hotel pool or the water park. The small strip at Yorktown and the Chesapeake shore at Buckroe are calm but modest. The proper Atlantic sand of Virginia Beach is an hour's drive away, a single day out rather than part of the stay.

Food is one of the main reasons to choose Charleston. Its Lowcountry cooking draws on Gullah Geechee and West African traditions and ranges from Carolina Gold rice and she-crab soup in restored townhouses to fried shrimp on Shem Creek. Cheap international food is scarce, though, and the best tables need booking well ahead.

Williamsburg eats more simply. A ham biscuit, Chesapeake crab cakes or bay oysters in season are the high points. The candlelit colonial taverns are more about atmosphere than cooking, and the pancake houses and buffets on Richmond Road exist to feed the theme-park crowds.

These two are close, and each needs about two or three days, but the history feels different. Charleston is a lived-in old city. The streets south of Broad, Rainbow Row and the Battery are original, and the Aiken-Rhett House, the Old Slave Mart and the International African American Museum face the slave trade directly, with Fort Sumter out in the harbour for the start of the Civil War.

Williamsburg is a careful re-creation of the eighteenth century, where costumed printers and wigmakers work along Duke of Gloucester Street between the Capitol and the Wren Building. It is the place to go for the colonial and revolutionary period, and its art museums hold strong collections of folk and decorative art.

Neither is a club town, but Charleston at least gives you a proper night out. Upper King Street fills at weekends with rooftop bars, oyster bars and cocktail rooms, the French Quarter has quieter wine bars, and Folly Beach has a few bars on the sand.

In Williamsburg, a candlelit ghost walk or a tavern supper is usually the end of the evening. Student pubs near the college and a few taprooms on the edge of town are all there is, and anyone wanting more drives to Norfolk or Richmond.

Both sit in flat, humid tidal country with no hills, but Charleston's marshes play a bigger part in a trip. Kayaking the spartina creeks often brings you close to dolphins. The Francis Marion National Forest and the ACE Basin add alligators and birdlife, and Kiawah and Edisto have stretches of wild shore.

Williamsburg's outdoors is gentler and suits cycling best. The Colonial Parkway and the Virginia Capital Trail are easy, flat rides along the James and York rivers, and paddling on the Chickahominy may turn up ospreys and bald eagles. There is less wild coast to explore.

Day trips are a strength of both, and both need a car. From Charleston the classic outings are the Ashley River plantations: Middleton Place, Magnolia and Drayton Hall pair gardens with the story of the enslaved people who worked them, and McLeod on James Island is devoted to that story. Savannah, about two hours away, makes a full day.

Williamsburg's best trips are much closer. Jamestown and Yorktown are each less than half an hour away and complete the Historic Triangle, so each fits into half a day. Richmond is about an hour off, and Monticello sits at the far edge of a day out.

Williamsburg is built around families in a way Charleston is not. Busch Gardens and Water Country USA give children rides and slides. The Historic Area, Jamestown and Yorktown turn history into fife-and-drum parades, musket firing and replica ships to climb aboard.

Charleston is calm and easy with children, with the aquarium, the children's museum, the aircraft carrier at Patriots Point and gentle beaches. But there is no theme park, house tours quickly lose younger children, and it works better as a trip that includes children than one planned around them.

Charleston's walkable centre takes in more of the trip. Most of what visitors come for on the peninsula lies within about 3km of flat streets, and pedicabs and a free downtown shuttle fill the gaps. Only the beaches and plantations need a car or ride-hailing. The drawbacks are tight parking and summer heat that cuts walks short at midday.

Williamsburg's historic district is smaller, about 20 minutes on foot from the Capitol to the college, and Duke of Gloucester Street is closed to cars during the day. The theme parks, the outlets, Jamestown, Yorktown and many hotels are spread along highways, and the buses are too limited to rely on. Amtrak stops near the centre, but you will almost certainly need a rental car.

Charleston gives you more to browse. King Street runs from antiques dealers and galleries on lower King, past national brands, to independent boutiques uptown, and the City Market is where Gullah artisans weave sweetgrass baskets.

Williamsburg's shopping is narrower but has its own character: reproduction pewter, pottery and books printed the old way from the colonial-style shops, Virginia gifts on Merchants Square and the outlet centre on Richmond Road. Neither has a luxury tier.

Williamsburg is the easier town on the wallet. Motels, chain hotels and condos line the main roads and are reasonably priced outside the peak weeks. Admission to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and the theme parks adds up, though, so combination passes are worth a look.

Charleston costs more, with peninsula inns charging big-city rates and well-known restaurants to match. Its best sights are free: the old streets, the Battery and the beaches. Staying somewhere cheaper means driving in every day from Mount Pleasant or the suburbs.

Charleston has more on stage, largely thanks to Spoleto Festival USA, which fills over two weeks each late spring with opera, dance, theatre and jazz. For the rest of the year, the Dock Street Theatre, the Charleston Symphony at the Gaillard Center and Gullah storytelling keep a modest programme going.

Williamsburg's performances belong to its setting: candlelit eighteenth-century recitals, period theatre and the fife-and-drum corps, plus student concerts at William & Mary in term time. For an orchestra or a professional theatre company, you drive to Norfolk or Richmond.

Charleston is the easier place to slow down, mainly because of the old town itself. Walled gardens, quiet church courtyards and long evenings on the waterfront at White Point Garden set the pace, and the resort spas on Kiawah Island are there if you want a treatment.

In Williamsburg, calm depends more on timing. The colonial greens are empty early in the morning. The spas at the historic inn and the golf resorts along the James River are quiet, and the Colonial Parkway is good for a slow drive once the theme-park crowds have gone. Neither town has a bathing tradition.