Edinburgh or Liverpool?

Neither city is a beach destination. Both have long sands that locals use for walks rather than swimming. Edinburgh's Portobello is a Victorian promenade a bus ride from the centre, with the wide, handsome East Lothian strands at Gullane and Yellowcraig further on, and it has a hardy cold-water swimming crowd with saunas on the shore.

Liverpool's coast is stranger and wilder: Gormley's iron men gazing out from Crosby, the pine-backed dunes of Formby, and the walled marine lake at West Kirby. Its water is slightly warmer, but the long tides and soft mud make swimming less inviting, not more.

The two eat about equally well, but in different styles. Edinburgh's best meals come from Scottish produce, such as hand-dived scallops, langoustines and autumn game, served in a handful of ambitious dining rooms in Leith and Stockbridge, and its whisky bars are a reason to visit in themselves. The downsides are high prices and little cheap eating.

Liverpool is more casual and more fun on a modest budget. You can eat scouse in a pub, walk Bold Street's run of small international kitchens, try the street-food halls of the Baltic Triangle or head to the old Chinatown. Fine dining is thinner, but the Victorian gin-palace pubs make up for a lot.

Edinburgh has the edge, because the whole centre is the monument. The Royal Mile runs from the castle to Holyroodhouse past medieval closes, and across the gardens lie the crescents of the New Town. On top of that come the National Museum and the National Gallery, mostly free.

Liverpool's heritage is narrower and more focused, telling the story of a port and its people. The Three Graces, the Albert Dock warehouses with the Maritime and International Slavery museums, and the Walker's Pre-Raphaelites are well worth two or three days. Its two great 20th-century cathedrals offer something Edinburgh has nothing like.

Liverpool is the livelier night out. Concert Square and Seel Street fill up every weekend, the Baltic Triangle runs late electronic club nights in converted warehouses, and students keep weeknights busy, with many nights ending well after 2am.

Edinburgh is mostly about the pub, and it does pubs very well: panelled Victorian bars on Rose Street and old dens in the Grassmarket. The Cowgate is its only real late strip. For eleven months it winds down early, and only in August does the festival keep it out all night.

Edinburgh wins easily here. An extinct volcano, Arthur's Seat, rises 251m in the middle of town, the Water of Leith walkway follows a wooded river to the sea, and the Pentlands offer proper ridge walking on the edge of the city. Boats from North Berwick sail out to the gannets of the Bass Rock.

Liverpool's green spaces are gentler and flat. Sefton Park and its palm house, the breezy Mersey promenade and the Wirral Way are its everyday outdoors, and the Formby pinewoods with their red squirrels are the standout. Real hills mean a two-hour drive.

Edinburgh is the better base, because it opens up the heart of Scotland by train from Waverley. Glasgow and Stirling's castle are both under an hour away, Linlithgow Palace is on the way, and St Andrews and the Borders abbeys make full, rewarding days.

Liverpool has one excellent outing in Roman and medieval Chester, plus Manchester and the model village at Port Sunlight nearby. Beyond those, Conwy's castle and the Lake District call for a car and a long day.

Edinburgh has more to offer children within the city. There is the castle with its cannons, Dynamic Earth below Arthur's Seat, the illusions of Camera Obscura, and a zoo on the western hillside. The downsides are steep cobbled closes and the crush of August.

Liverpool is flatter and easy-going for buggies along the waterfront, and the World Museum's planetarium and the Mersey ferry go down well. Its biggest family draws, Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park, lie outside the centre.

Edinburgh is slightly the easier city to get around. A dense bus network that takes a contactless card covers almost everywhere, and the single tram line runs from the airport along Princes Street to Leith, so the outlying districts are as easy to reach as the centre. On foot it asks more of you, because the Old Town and New Town sit on ridges joined by bridges, stairways and steep cobbled closes.

Liverpool is the other way round. Its 2km core, from the Pier Head and the Albert Dock to the two cathedrals, is mostly flat, with only the climb to Hope Street, and Merseyrail runs often out to Crosby, Formby and the Wirral. Within the city, though, there is no tram, and visitors find the buses confusing, so Sefton Park or Anfield usually means a taxi.

Both are fine for shopping without being worth the trip for it, and they sell different things. Edinburgh is where you buy Scotland: cashmere, tweed, kilts from specialist makers and single malts, plus independent shops on curving Victoria Street.

Liverpool is the stronger high-street city, with the open-air Liverpool ONE district and Church Street. Bold Street is the place to dig for vintage clothes and records. Souvenirs tend to be Beatles or football rather than craft.

Liverpool is noticeably easier on the wallet. Rooms cost well below those in Edinburgh for most of the year, and only big match weekends, the Grand National and large concerts push them up. Pub meals are good value, and most visitors walk everywhere.

Both cities keep their national collections free, but in Edinburgh the saving is swallowed by hotels that are dear all year and extreme in August and at Hogmanay. Ticketed sights like the castle also add up. Late autumn and winter are the kindest times to go.

Both cities take live performance seriously, and Edinburgh comes out slightly ahead thanks to August. That month the Fringe, the International Festival and the Tattoo on the castle esplanade turn the city into a stage, and Scottish Opera and Ballet play the Festival Theatre for the rest of the year.

Liverpool is the better city for music on an ordinary week. Bands play most nights around Mathew Street and the Baltic Triangle, the Cavern draws pilgrims, and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic plays its art deco hall on Hope Street. Opera only arrives on tour.

Neither city suits a restful trip, but Edinburgh has a little more to offer. The tiled Victorian Turkish baths at Portobello, the modernist Commonwealth Pool and saunas beside the sea are unusual finds, and outside August the Botanic Garden is a calm place to spend a morning.

Liverpool has no bathing tradition and only hotel spas. Its quiet moments come from a slow ferry crossing or a walk round Sefton Park's lake.