Detroit or Louisville?

Neither is a beach city, but Detroit at least has somewhere to swim. There is the small sandy beach on Belle Isle and the long, shallow shore of Lake St. Clair Metropark, and the water is warm enough from July into early September.

Louisville has nothing comparable. The Ohio is a working river with barges and strong currents, so a summer swim means a pool or a drive out to a reservoir lake in the Kentucky countryside.

The two eat about as well as each other, but in different directions. Detroit's strength is its communities: the Lebanese and Yemeni bakeries and grills of Dearborn, Mexicantown and the Polish bakeries of Hamtramck. Coney dogs, square pizza and a Saturday at Eastern Market are its local signatures.

Louisville's table is built around bourbon, poured by the hundred along Whiskey Row, and Southern plates such as the hot brown and burgoo. Its better kitchens are in NuLu, the Highlands and Butchertown. Go to Detroit for a range of cuisines, and to Louisville for a drinking culture and a regional cooking tradition.

Detroit has the deeper collection. The Detroit Institute of Arts, with Rivera's Detroit Industry murals, is a museum of national weight. The Henry Ford Museum with Greenfield Village, the Motown Museum and the Charles H. Wright Museum fill several more days, and the Guardian and Fisher buildings make the architecture a sight in itself.

Louisville's sights are narrower and tied to what made it famous: Churchill Downs and the Derby Museum, the Muhammad Ali Center and the Slugger museum on Whiskey Row. Old Louisville's Victorian mansions make the best walk, but two or three days covers the city.

Detroit has nights with more character, thanks to the techno it invented. There are warehouse parties and small clubs where the music comes first, and they are busiest around the Memorial Day electronic music festival. The catch is that the bars are scattered, so a night out means taxis.

Louisville is a bar town with few clubs. Bardstown Road gives it one long strip to wander, late licences let evenings run on, and Derby time is the wildest it gets.

Both cities have parks by Olmsted, but Louisville's have more to offer. Cherokee and Iroquois parks climb wooded hills with views over the city, and Jefferson Memorial Forest and Bernheim Forest have real hiking. At the Falls of the Ohio you can walk out on fossil beds, and Mammoth Cave is within reach for a day.

Detroit's outdoors are flat and centred on water: Belle Isle, cycling the RiverWalk, kayaking or sailing on Lake St. Clair and birdwatching in the metroparks. They are good for an easy afternoon, less so if you want hills.

Louisville has the far better surroundings. Bourbon country, around Bardstown and towards Frankfort and Lawrenceburg, is a reason to visit in itself. Lexington's thoroughbred farms and Keeneland, Shaker Village and Lincoln's birthplace give several more good days out.

The outings from Detroit are pleasant but smaller: the university town of Ann Arbor, Bavarian-themed Frankenmuth, Toledo's art museum, and Windsor in Canada if you bring a passport. From either city, you will need a car.

Families do about equally well in both cities, and both need a car. Detroit's best days out are the large Detroit Zoo, with its polar bear tunnel, and the steam trains and horse-drawn rides of Greenfield Village, which suit school-age children who are curious about history.

Louisville leans towards thrills: Kentucky Kingdom's roller coasters and water park, underground ziplines in the Mega Cavern and splash areas on the waterfront. Its drawback is humid summers, where Detroit's is cold winters.

Both are car cities with a centre you can walk. Detroit has a small edge because it has some rail: the People Mover loop and the QLine streetcar up Woodward link downtown, the theatres and the Midtown museums without a car.

Louisville has no rail at all, but distances are shorter and traffic is lighter, so driving to Churchill Downs, the Highlands or the big parks is easy. Beyond the centre of either city, plan on a hire car or ride-hailing.

Neither suits a shopping trip, but Detroit has a little more to browse. Boutiques in Midtown and Corktown sell Detroit-made watches, leather goods and prints, Eastern Market has local crafts on market days, and there is a large upscale mall in the northern suburbs for big brands.

Louisville offers less: a few design shops in NuLu and vintage clothing, records and antiques along Bardstown Road. Its real souvenir is bourbon, with bottles in the distillery shops that are hard to find anywhere else.

Detroit is the cheaper stay. Hotels cost less than in most large American cities outside event weekends, and Coney dogs, pizza and Dearborn's Middle Eastern food make everyday eating cheap, although a hire car and parking add up.

Louisville's rooms are reasonable too, but daily spending climbs faster. Tips, sales tax and ride-hailing add to every outing, and museums and distilleries charge admission, so its free parks and riverfront help. Derby week in spring pushes room rates up several times over, so travellers on a budget should avoid it.

Detroit is the stronger music city. The Detroit Symphony Orchestra in Orchestra Hall, the opera downtown and the lavish Fox Theatre cover the formal side. Long-established jazz clubs, the free Detroit Jazz Festival over Labor Day and the city's Motown, soul and gospel heritage mean live bands on most nights.

Louisville has a full set of companies at the Kentucky Center. Through Actors Theatre it is also strong in local theatre, where Detroit is thin. Bluegrass and Americana in the Bardstown Road bars and summer Shakespeare in Central Park give it a gentler, more outdoor feel.

Neither is a place to unwind, and in both a hotel or day spa is about all there is. In Detroit the calm comes from the RiverWalk or Belle Isle. Louisville's slower pace, with porch afternoons in the Highlands and drives through horse country, suits rest a little better, and for a proper spa break the old mineral-spring resorts of French Lick and West Baden Springs are about an hour and a half's drive away.