Juneau or Seattle?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Seattle at least gives you somewhere to swim in summer. Alki Beach and Golden Gardens are real sandy strips for bonfires and sunsets over the Olympics. In July and August Lake Washington warms enough for the city to staff lifeguarded beaches at Madison Park and Matthews Beach.

Juneau's shore is gravel, rock and tidal flats, so the sea is out of the question for swimming. Sandy Beach and Eagle Beach are good for a walk at low tide with eagles overhead, but anyone who wants to swim will end up in an indoor pool.

Both cities eat from cold northern water, and wild salmon and Dungeness crab turn up in each. Juneau serves its catch close to the boats, in fish-and-chips shacks by the harbour and at outdoor salmon bakes, with halibut and spot prawns in summer. Beyond that the choice narrows quickly, and some waterfront places close for winter.

Seattle turns the same ingredients into a much wider table. Pike Place Market's fishmongers and counters, oysters from the Sound and geoduck are only the start. Neighbourhood coffee roasters, Washington wines and the Vietnamese, Korean and Japanese cooking of the International District can carry a week of eating.

Each city has a good way into Northwest Coast Indigenous art. Juneau's Sealaska Heritage Institute and the Alaska State Museum cover it close to its source, alongside the Russian Orthodox church and the Treadwell mine ruins. That is a satisfying day or two, and then it's done.

Seattle has much more to see. It has the Space Needle grounds with Chihuly's glass and the Museum of Pop Culture, the Seattle Art Museum, the Burke Museum, and the Museum of Flight with one of the world's largest aviation collections. Pioneer Square's rebuilt brick blocks add some history to what is mostly a modern city.

An evening in Juneau means a beer in a sawdust-floored saloon on South Franklin Street, and most places close well before late. It's pleasant after a day on the water, but it doesn't add up to a night out.

Seattle has an actual scene. Capitol Hill's Pike and Pine strip is full of cocktail bars, dives and dance floors, and it's the centre of the city's LGBTQ+ life. Belltown draws a club crowd and Ballard has a run of brewery taprooms. The night still ends at a 2am last call.

This is the one area where the two are evenly matched, but the scenery works very differently. In Juneau the wilderness starts at the edge of town. Mendenhall Glacier is about 20km from downtown, helicopters land on the icefield, trails start almost in the streets, and boats head out to whales and to the ice-filled fjord of Tracy Arm.

Seattle's big landscapes are further off but more varied. The Cascades and the ski areas at Snoqualmie Pass are under an hour away, Mount Rainier is about two, and the Olympic rainforest lies across the Sound, though you'll want a car for all of them. In town you can kayak on Lake Union or walk the bluffs of Discovery Park, and summers are far drier than Juneau's rainforest.

With no road out of Juneau, other towns mean a small plane or a long ferry ride. Skagway's gold-rush main street and quiet Haines are the options. Most people treat glaciers and fjords as their excursions instead.

Seattle gives you easy, varied days out. The half-hour ferry to Bainbridge Island is the classic one, Woodinville's tasting rooms and Tacoma's Museum of Glass are both close, and Port Townsend's Victorian seaport makes a longer outing by water.

Children are better served in Seattle, mainly because it has things to do on a wet day. Woodland Park Zoo, the waterfront aquarium, the Pacific Science Center and the space shuttle trainer at the Museum of Flight are all good bets, and the monorail and ferries count as outings in themselves.

Juneau can be thrilling for older children, with whales, bears below the glacier, the Mount Roberts tram and touch tanks at the hatchery. Toddlers fare worse, because the best experiences are long tours and the town has little made for children when it rains.

Both have compact, hilly downtowns you can walk. Past Juneau's docks and Capitol, everything strings out along one road north. The bus stops short of Mendenhall Glacier, so most visitors rely on tour shuttles or taxis.

Seattle has real transit. Link light rail runs from the airport through downtown to Capitol Hill, and one tap card also covers buses, the monorail and the water taxis. Buses to Ballard or Alki are slow, and the national parks still need a car.

Juneau's shops serve the cruise ships: jewellery and souvenir stores on South Franklin Street that close for winter. The buys worth making are Tlingit and Haida carving and prints from the Sealaska Heritage shop, along with smoked salmon and good rain gear.

Seattle is better for a browse. The large outdoor gear stores show the city's mountain habit, Capitol Hill has vintage clothing and record shops, Fremont has its Sunday market and Ballard has design shops. The department stores are downtown, and there's more luxury across the lake in Bellevue.

Both are expensive, and neither comes out clearly cheaper. The difference is where the money goes. In Juneau, food and rooms cost more because nearly everything is shipped in, but the real expense is the tours: whale-watching, glacier landings and floatplanes are why most people come.

Seattle's costs are in hotels, restaurant bills with tax and tipping added, and high museum admissions. It also gives you more ways to save. Rooms near the light rail in outer neighbourhoods are cheaper, and teriyaki shops and the Pike Place counters make for inexpensive meals.

Seattle has a proper big-city stage calendar. Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet share McCaw Hall, the symphony plays at Benaroya Hall, and touring musicals fill the 5th Avenue and the Paramount. In the city of Hendrix and grunge, clubs in Belltown and Capitol Hill have bands most nights.

Juneau's arts are lively for a small town but mostly happen out of season: a professional theatre in Douglas, the spring Alaska Folk Festival and the biennial Celebration of Native dance. A summer visitor will mostly see Native dance performances.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, but Seattle has more on offer. Korean-style bathhouses in the suburbs offer steam rooms and scrubs, and the Japanese Garden, the Arboretum and long coffee-house mornings give the city a slow pace for unwinding.

Juneau has little beyond a few small day spas and hotel treatments. The restful part is the quiet of a rainforest trail, since downtown on a busy ship day is anything but calm.