Chicago or Houston?

Chicago has the better of it because its beaches are right in the city. Sandy Lake Michigan strands run from Oak Street, beneath the Gold Coast towers, to the volleyball courts at North Avenue and the quieter stretch at Montrose, all an easy hop from the sights. The fresh water is clear on calm days but cool, and swimming only makes sense from late June to early September.

Houston has no shore of its own. Its beaches are on Galveston Island, an hour's drive away, where the Gulf is much warmer and shallow but usually cloudy with river sediment. Neither city is a beach destination, but in Chicago a swim fits easily into a summer afternoon between museums.

The two cities are equally good places to eat, but in very different ways. Chicago's appeal is its own food: deep-dish and tavern-cut pizza, Italian beef and the dressed hot dog, plus serious tasting-menu restaurants along Randolph Street. Its Mexican food in Pilsen and South Asian food on Devon Avenue can be reached by train.

Houston's cooking comes from Texas and the Gulf: Tex-Mex enchiladas in chilli gravy, breakfast tacos, smoked brisket, Gulf oysters and the Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish boils of spring. Its greatest range is out on Bellaire Boulevard and in the south-west, where Nigerian, Pakistani and Salvadoran kitchens are scattered along the highways. To eat well there you will need a car.

Chicago is well ahead, chiefly because the city itself is the exhibit. A river cruise through the Loop shows how the skyscraper grew up after the fire of 1871, and on foot you can step into the Rookery's light court or stand beneath Mies van der Rohe's glass towers. Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House in Hyde Park and his early Prairie houses in Oak Park carry the story further, and the Art Institute's Impressionist wing alone justifies a morning.

Houston's culture is mostly indoors and spread out. The Museum of Fine Arts, the Menil Collection's quiet galleries and the Rothko Chapel reward a visit, and at Space Center Houston you can look into the mission control room that guided the Apollo flights. Beyond these and a few blocks of old downtown, the streets have little history to show, so Houston suits a trip planned around a handful of museums more than a day of wandering.

Chicago nights go on much longer. Many bars pour until 4am, and Wicker Park, Logan Square and the West Loop are dense enough to move between bars on foot. River North has the dance clubs, and the house music born here still shapes them. Northalsted is a gay district on a large scale.

Houston's evenings are easygoing and spent outdoors: icehouses and wide patios in Montrose, lounges on Washington Avenue, and bars near the stadiums in EaDo. Last orders come at 2am, though, and moving between districts usually means a ride, so a night out is less spontaneous.

Both cities sit on flat land, but Chicago makes better use of its own. The 29km lakefront path, with the skyline on one side and open water on the other, is a fine day on foot or by bike. The dunes of Indiana Dunes and the sandstone canyons of Starved Rock are within reach.

Houston's green spaces are the bayous and the woods of Memorial Park, and Brazos Bend's alligators make an unusual outing. Its standout is the spring bird migration along the coast near Galveston. Summer heat limits all of this to early mornings, just as Chicago's winter shuts the lakefront down.

Neither city has a strong list of outings, and they differ more in how you get there than in quality. From Chicago, Milwaukee is an easy train ride and Oak Park is on the city's edge. Lake Geneva and the orchard and harbour towns of south-west Michigan need a car.

From Houston, everything is by road. Galveston gives the best single day, with an afternoon on the beach and the iron-fronted Strand and Victorian East End. Further out, Washington-on-the-Brazos and Round Top offer Texan history and spring wildflowers along the back roads.

Chicago is the easier city with children, because so much sits together and needs no car. The Museum of Science and Industry can fill a day, while dinosaurs, belugas and the planetarium share the Museum Campus. Lincoln Park Zoo is free and Navy Pier's Ferris wheel is close by.

Houston has the single attraction children remember most: the real spacecraft at Space Center Houston. Hermann Park's zoo, miniature train and museums also make a good base. Still, long drives between sights and summer heat make the days harder work, much as Chicago's deep cold does in winter.

This is where the two cities differ most. In Chicago a visitor never needs a car. The L runs in from both airports and loops the downtown, and the flat, gridded centre is easy to walk. Crossing between outer neighbourhoods may take a bus, and January wind makes walking tough.

Houston is built for the freeway. Its one useful light-rail line runs from downtown to the Museum District and the medical centre, and everything else means hiring a car or using ride-hailing, with rush-hour traffic to plan around. Missing pavements and heat make walking beyond a few districts unpleasant.

Chicago has the better street shopping. The Magnificent Mile's flagships, Oak Street's luxury labels and the old Marshall Field's store under its Tiffany ceiling can all be walked in an afternoon. Wicker Park, Bucktown and Andersonville add independent fashion, records and vintage.

Houston shops indoors and at a large scale. Its huge Uptown mall draws buyers from across Latin America, and River Oaks has open-air boutiques. Boots, hats and western wear are the one thing to take home that Chicago cannot match.

Houston is the cheaper trip. Hotels are plentiful and reasonably priced, the best taquerias and barbecue cost little, and several major museums are free. What eats into the savings is the city's shape, because car hire, fuel, parking and rides add up.

Chicago costs more for a bed downtown, and high hotel and sales taxes push bills up further. It does recover some ground because no car is needed: the L is good value, and the lakefront, Millennium Park and Lincoln Park Zoo are free.

Both are serious cities for the stage, but Chicago goes deeper. The Chicago Symphony and the Lyric Opera rank with the best, Steppenwolf and the Goodman lead dozens of small storefront companies, and Second City improv and electric blues clubs fill the nights all year.

Houston's strength is its compact downtown Theater District, home to a respected Grand Opera and Ballet, the Houston Symphony and the long-established Alley Theatre. Its season runs from autumn to spring. In summer there are free shows at Miller Outdoor Theatre, and smaller rooms play zydeco, country and local hip-hop.

Neither city is a place to slow down, but Chicago has a bit more to offer. Its old Russian-and-Turkish bathhouse in Wicker Park still runs scorching steam and cold plunges, and the warm glasshouses of the Lincoln Park and Garfield Park conservatories are a calm escape in winter.

Houston has no bathing tradition beyond hotel spas and suburban Korean bathhouses. Its quiet moments come from the city's art instead: an hour in the Rothko Chapel, or on the Menil lawns before the heat builds.