Liverpool or London?

Neither city is for a beach vacation, but each offers a different kind of time by the water. Liverpool's shore is closer and more striking: Merseyrail runs to Crosby, where Gormley's iron figures stand on the tidal flats, and to the pine-backed dunes of Formby. The tide goes out a very long way, though, and the cold sea and soft mud make it a place to walk rather than swim.

London's nearest sea is Brighton's pebble beach, about an hour by train, with sandier shores at Margate and Whitstable. Its real swimming is in fresh water, in the lidos at Brockwell Park and Parliament Hill and in the Hampstead Heath ponds, so it suits a swimmer better than Liverpool does.

Food is one of London's strongest reasons to go, while in Liverpool it is mostly a pleasant part of the trip. London cooks the cuisines of its communities in depth, from Bangladeshi cooking on Brick Lane to Turkish grills in Green Lanes and Caribbean food south of the river. On top of that it has a large fine-dining scene and Borough Market, plus weekend food markets in railway arches all over the east and south.

Liverpool's eating is friendlier and simpler. Try a bowl of scouse with pickled red cabbage, graze the independent kitchens on Bold Street and the street-food halls of the Baltic Triangle, and spend time in its Victorian pubs, which are the real highlight. Serious dining is thin, but a meal out costs less than it would in London.

London has one of the world's great sets of collections. The British Museum, the National Gallery, the V&A and Tate Modern are each worth a full day, and around them sit a thousand years of landmarks, from the Tower and Westminster Abbey to St Paul's and Greenwich. A week there still leaves much unseen.

Liverpool tells one story well, that of a great port. The Three Graces at the Pier Head, the warehouses of the Royal Albert Dock with the maritime and slavery museums, the Walker's Pre-Raphaelites and the two very different cathedrals on Hope Street make a rewarding few days. It is a focused visit rather than an endless one.

Liverpool's night out is easy to find. The bars and clubs sit close together in the city centre, so you can go from one to the next on foot without any planning. Weekends lean loud, with large stag and hen groups setting the tone. If that isn't for you, the Baltic Triangle's warehouse club nights or the neighbourhood bars of Lark Lane give a different evening. In term time the student crowd keeps the city busy even midweek.

London is the bigger and more varied night out, but you have to choose an area first rather than wander. Soho's late cocktail bars and gay scene, the warehouse parties of the east and the large venues of Brixton and Peckham are far apart, so an evening usually means sticking to one district and travelling home afterwards. In return you get a range of scenes Liverpool can't match, and a few clubs that run until morning. Liverpool's nights go on late but rarely reach dawn.

The two are broadly level, but the green spaces differ in kind. London's strength is the size of its parks: Richmond Park with its deer and ancient oaks, the hilltop views from Hampstead Heath, Kew's gardens, and the chalk Downs and Chiltern beechwoods about an hour away by train.

Liverpool's city parks are smaller, with Sefton Park the pick, but its coast is wilder. There are the red squirrels and natterjack toads of the Formby dunes and the wading birds of the Dee estuary at the end of the Wirral Way. Neither city has mountains close by.

London sits at the centre of the rail network, and it shows. Oxford, Cambridge and Windsor are each about an hour or less away, Bath and Canterbury are easy days out, and Stonehenge, Brighton and the castles of Kent mean a week can include several very different outings.

Liverpool has a short list of good trips: Roman and timbered Chester, Manchester's museums, the model village of Port Sunlight and Southport's pier. Conwy and Llandudno on the North Wales coast make a longer day by car. After those, the choice runs out quickly.

Liverpool is smaller and easier on parents. The flat, traffic-free waterfront, the World Museum's dinosaurs and planetarium and the Mersey ferry are all close together. Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park make bigger days out, although you will want to keep away from the centre on loud weekend nights.

London gives families far more to do. The Natural History and Science Museums and the Young V&A are free, Kensington Gardens has its pirate-ship playground, and the zoo in Regent's Park, the London Eye, Legoland and the Harry Potter studio tour are all within reach. The catch is size: journeys are long, many Tube stations have only stairs, and the big sights get crowded when schools are out.

London's transport is the better system. The Underground, the Elizabeth line, the Overground, buses and riverboats reach almost everywhere on one contactless card, so you never need a car, although rush-hour crowds and long station corridors take some of the pleasure out of it.

Liverpool makes up for its lack of a metro by being small. The docks, the Ropewalks, the shopping streets and both cathedrals are within about 2km, and Merseyrail runs simply out to the coast and the Wirral. Places further out, such as Sefton Park or Anfield, mean finding your way around a bus network that confuses visitors.

London is one of the world's shopping capitals, and Liverpool does not try to compete. London has luxury on Bond Street and Sloane Street, bespoke tailoring on Savile Row, historic department stores that are sights in themselves, and weekend browsing at Portobello Road, Camden, Spitalfields and Columbia Road.

Liverpool covers the high street well, with the open-air streets of Liverpool ONE and Church Street, and its character is on Bold Street, with vintage clothes and records. Beatles and football souvenirs are what most visitors take home.

Liverpool is the clear choice for keeping costs down. Hotels cost noticeably less for most of the year, except on big match weekends, Grand National week and concert dates. Pub food is good value, and you rarely need to pay for transport around the centre.

London's central rooms are among the most expensive in Europe, and theatre seats, rounds of drinks and fares add up fast. Both cities share one big saving, free national museums, and in London you need it, along with market lunches and a room further out on a good line.

Liverpool's music is in its bones, but London offers far more to see. The West End and the National Theatre, the Globe, the Old Vic and the Royal Court, opera and ballet at Covent Garden and the Coliseum, five major orchestras and the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall mean a serious choice every night of the year.

Liverpool's strength is live bands in pubs and cellars around Mathew Street, Seel Street and the Baltic Triangle, where the Beatles story still draws people. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic on Hope Street and the Everyman and Playhouse theatres are respected, though opera only comes on tour.

Neither is a place to rest, but London has more ways to unwind. Its surviving Victorian and Edwardian Turkish baths in Bayswater and at Ironmonger Row, the full-scale spas of the Mayfair and Knightsbridge hotels, and cold dips at the Hampstead ponds go well beyond what Liverpool has. Bath's thermal spa is an easy train ride away.

Liverpool's options come down to hotel and day spas, so calm means a walk round Sefton Park or a slow ferry crossing instead. Anyone wanting real peace there does better staying out on the Wirral or the coast.