Chicago or Memphis?

Only Chicago offers any beach time. Lake Michigan gives the city a long string of sandy shores, from Oak Street Beach in the shadow of the Gold Coast towers to the volleyball courts at North Avenue. From late June to early September the fresh water is warm enough for a swim between sights.

Memphis sits on the Mississippi, which is fast, busy with barges and not for swimming. In summer the only ways to cool off are a hotel pool or a drive out to a lake in the countryside.

Both cities eat heartily, but Chicago covers far more ground. Alongside its own canon of deep-dish, Italian beef and dressed hot dogs, it has serious fine dining on Randolph Street and whole neighbourhoods of Mexican, South Asian, Vietnamese, Polish and Korean cooking.

Memphis is narrower but distinctive. It is one of the great barbecue cities, built on dry-rubbed pork ribs and pulled shoulder, with oddities like barbecue spaghetti, plus fried catfish and Delta tamales. Come here to eat local and heavily, not for range.

Chicago offers more to see and in more forms. The Loop is an open-air lesson in the birth of the skyscraper, best taken in from a river cruise, and Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie houses are close by. The Art Institute's Impressionists and the Museum Campus could fill several days on their own.

The sights in Memphis are fewer but carry great weight. The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel is one of the most moving museums in the country, and Graceland, Sun Studio and Stax tell the story of American popular music where it happened. The historic townscape around them is patchy, so expect a handful of focused visits rather than long wandering.

Chicago goes out later and in more ways. Bars pour until 4am, and each neighbourhood has its own night: cocktail and dive bars in Wicker Park and Logan Square, clubs in River North, Northalsted's gay scene, and dance nights rooted in the city's house-music history.

In Memphis the night mostly happens on Beale Street. It is a loud, walkable party strip where you can carry your drink from bar to bar. Midtown's Overton Square and Cooper-Young are calmer and more local, but there is little club culture, and moving between areas after dark usually means a ride-hail.

Both sit on flat land, and in each a great body of water is the main landscape. Chicago makes more of it. A 29km path follows the lakeshore past beaches and harbours, and Indiana Dunes and the sandstone canyons of Starved Rock are within about an hour or so.

Memphis offers river views rather than open shore. You can walk or cycle over the Mississippi on the Big River Crossing, and Shelby Farms Park on the city's edge has lakes, a bison herd and long trails. Humid summers limit outdoor days to spring and autumn, much as Chicago's winters do at the other end of the year.

Memphis has the better day out, if you have a car. Highway 61 runs south into the Delta, to Clarksdale's juke joints and the Blues Trail markers. Oxford has Faulkner's house, and Tupelo and Shiloh are each about two hours away, a strong list for anyone interested in music and history.

Chicago's outings are pleasant rather than compelling. Milwaukee is an easy train ride and Oak Park's Wright houses are on the city's edge, but the lakeside towns of Wisconsin and Michigan need a car and offer gentle scenery more than anything you would plan a trip around.

Chicago is far easier with children. The Museum of Science and Industry, with its coal mine and U-boat, can fill a day, the Museum Campus puts dinosaurs and dolphins side by side, and Navy Pier, Maggie Daley Park and lifeguarded beaches fill the gaps. All of it can be reached without a car.

Memphis has a fine zoo in Overton Park, the Pink Palace planetarium and the bison at Shelby Farms. Its headline museums, though, suit teenagers better than small children, and sticky summers and long drives make each outing more work.

In Chicago a car is unnecessary. The L runs from both airports into the Loop, and the main sights sit within a flat, walkable downtown, though getting between outer neighbourhoods often means a bus along the long avenues.

Memphis works the other way round. Downtown, with Beale Street, the riverfront and the Civil Rights Museum, is walkable and served by heritage trolleys. Graceland, Midtown and Shelby Farms are spread far apart, though, the buses are of little use to a visitor, and most people hire a car or rely on ride-hailing.

Chicago is a real shopping destination, with the flagships of the Magnificent Mile, luxury labels on Oak Street and the Tiffany ceiling of the old Marshall Field's store on State Street. For independent shops, head to Wicker Park, Andersonville and Logan Square.

In Memphis shopping is an extra. The best finds are vintage vinyl and blues or Elvis memorabilia, with a few boutiques in Cooper-Young and on Broad Avenue, while mainstream stores sit in suburban malls you drive to.

Memphis is the cheaper of the two. Hotels away from the busiest downtown weekends are reasonable and the local food is cheap and filling, though car hire and full-price admission at Graceland eat into the savings.

Chicago is costlier across the board. Downtown hotels are dear in summer, and steep taxes on top of tips raise every bill. Its cheap taquerias, the good-value L and the free lakefront, zoo and Millennium Park soften the blow.

Chicago has the broader stage. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Lyric Opera are among the best in their fields, the theatre runs from the Goodman and Steppenwolf to small storefront companies, and Second City's improv plays nightly. On top of that come late jazz sets and electric blues clubs.

Memphis has less depth but a sound you won't find elsewhere. House bands on Beale Street play blues, soul and Southern rock from the afternoon on, and the Levitt Shell, where Elvis played an early show, has free summer concerts. It has its own symphony and ballet, but the evenings to remember are the roots-music ones.

Neither city is somewhere to rest, but Chicago gives you more ways to slow down. Its old Russian-and-Turkish bathhouse in Wicker Park still runs steam rooms and cold plunges, and the warm glasshouses of the Lincoln Park and Garfield Park conservatories are a calm escape in winter.

Memphis has no bathing tradition beyond hotel and suburban day spas. Its quiet moments come outdoors instead, on an early walk in Overton Park or watching the sun go down over the river from the bluffs.