Detroit or Salem, Massachusetts?

Neither is a beach destination, but Salem has the better sand within reach. Its own harbour beaches at Salem Willows and Winter Island are only good for paddling, but the North Shore offers Singing Beach and the long dunes of Crane Beach, about forty minutes away.

Detroit has Belle Isle's small river beach and the grassy shore of Lake St. Clair Metropark. The lake is calmer and noticeably warmer than the Atlantic off Salem, so a swim there is gentler, but it makes a lawn-and-lake afternoon rather than a day on a real coastline.

Detroit has far more to eat, and much of it you won't find anywhere else: chilli-heavy Coney dogs at diner counters, crisp-edged square pizza, Saturdays at Eastern Market and, above all, the Arab American bakeries and grills of Dearborn. Mexicantown and the Polish bakeries of Hamtramck add more, but the best meals are spread out and often need a drive.

Salem sticks to New England staples like chowder, fried clams, lobster rolls and North Shore oysters, served in bistros and brewpubs a short walk apart. It is pleasant but narrow, and serious eaters save their big dinner for Boston.

Detroit has the deeper list of museums, led by the Detroit Institute of Arts, a grand Beaux-Arts building where Diego Rivera's Detroit Industry murals fill an entire courtyard. The Motown Museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum and a full day at the Henry Ford and Greenfield Village in Dearborn add to it. The Guardian Building downtown and the gilded Fisher Building in New Center show off early skyscraper glamour, but long, dull stretches of sprawl lie between the highlights.

Salem is smaller and closely focused on two parts of its past: the witch trials of 1692 and the seafaring fortune that followed. The Witch House and the trials memorial, the maritime wharves and custom house, and the Federal mansions of Chestnut Street are all a short walk from the Peabody Essex Museum, where a rebuilt Chinese merchant's house is a highlight. Two days on foot covers the lot.

Detroit has a real night scene, and Salem barely has one. In Detroit the techno heritage lives on in small, serious clubs and after-hours parties, with cocktail bars, dive bars and brewery taprooms across Corktown, Midtown and downtown, though you will be taking taxis between them.

Salem offers taprooms and a drink in an old building before an early night, and it has no clubs at all. The Halloween season in October fills the streets, but even then it feels like a festival rather than a late night, and anyone wanting more takes the train to Boston.

Salem's outdoors are the more rewarding because it has a sea coast. There are headland walks at Marblehead and Halibut Point, sea kayaking among the harbour islands, fine birding on Plum Island and whale-watching boats from Gloucester out to Stellwagen Bank.

Detroit is flat, and its nature means parkland and fresh water: Olmsted's Belle Isle, cycling on the RiverWalk, and sailing or fishing on Lake St. Clair. Both put on good autumn colour, and neither has hills of any size nearby.

Salem is much the better base. Boston is about half an hour away by train, Gloucester and Rockport on Cape Ann sit on the same line, and Concord, Lexington, Newburyport and Portsmouth round out a varied list, much of it reachable without a car.

From Detroit the outings are pleasant but not essential: leafy Ann Arbor, Bavarian-styled Frankenmuth, Toledo's excellent art museum and a hop across to Windsor with a passport. Almost all of them mean driving, and the roller coasters at Cedar Point make for a long day.

Detroit has more for children: the large Detroit Zoo with its polar bear tunnel, the hands-on Michigan Science Center, Belle Isle's historic aquarium, and the steam trains and horse-drawn rides at Greenfield Village. The price is a lot of time in the car.

Salem is small, flat and simple to manage on foot, and older children enjoy the replica tall ship and the old arcade at Salem Willows. Little is designed with children in mind, though, and the grim witch-trial material can frighten younger ones.

In Salem you can leave the car behind. The Common, the wharf, Chestnut Street and the museums all lie within a twenty-minute walk, and trains from the station near the centre run to Boston and Cape Ann. Only the beaches, state forests and inland towns really call for a car.

Detroit works on foot only downtown and along the riverfront, where the People Mover and the QLine up Woodward reach the stadiums, theatres and Midtown museums. Beyond them the avenues are wide and the buses slow, and most visitors end up driving.

Detroit's shopping is about things made locally, while Salem's is about the occult. In Midtown and Corktown, independent boutiques sell Detroit-made watches, leather goods and prints alongside vintage clothes, and Eastern Market adds crafts and flowers on market days. For the big brands you drive out to a suburban mall.

Along Essex Street and Pickering Wharf, Salem's shops deal in tarot cards, crystals, herbs and spell books, some of them run by practising witches. Antique dealers and the Peabody Essex Museum shop add something more lasting. Neither town has a shopping street that fills an afternoon, and Salem has no fashion or department stores, so keen shoppers go to Boston.

Detroit is clearly the cheaper place to stay. Its hotel rooms cost less than in most large American cities and casual food is good value, though a hire car, parking, tips and sales tax add up, and downtown rooms jump on game and concert nights.

Salem has few beds and charges Boston-area rates, and in October a fair price is very hard to find. Once you are there, the walkable town and cheap train keep daily costs low, and many visitors save by staying further out.

Here the gap is wide. Detroit has the symphony in the acoustically admired Orchestra Hall, opera in a restored downtown house, touring shows at the Fox and the Fisher, and long-established jazz clubs. There is also the free Detroit Jazz Festival over Labor Day and soul, rock and gospel bands in small venues most nights.

Salem has a modest professional theatre company, occasional concerts at the Peabody Essex Museum and October's street re-enactments. For an orchestra or opera you take the train to Boston and come back late.

Neither city is made for unwinding, and the difference is mostly one of flavour. Detroit offers hotel spas and suburban day spas, and its calmest corners are the RiverWalk and Belle Isle. Salem adds massage studios and a spiritual fringe of tarot readers, crystal healers and meditation, and its Federal streets are restful except in the Halloween season, when they are anything but.