Louisville or Pittsburgh?

Neither city is a swimming destination, and their rivers are for barges and boats, not bathing. The difference lies in the backup plans. Louisville's locals head for pools or the reservoir lakes in the Kentucky countryside. Pittsburgh has a sandy reservoir beach at Lake Arthur within an hour, and the long Lake Erie shore at Presque Isle if you are willing to drive two hours.

The two are on a par for eating out, but they taste of very different histories. Louisville's table is Southern and built around bourbon: hot browns, burgoo, Derby pie and an old fashioned, with the better kitchens in NuLu, the Highlands and Butchertown.

Pittsburgh eats like a former steel town of Central European immigrants, with pierogies and haluski, sandwiches stuffed with fries, and craft beer rather than whiskey. Its great asset is the Strip District, a market street to graze along, which Louisville has no real equivalent to.

Pittsburgh has the deeper store of sights. Steel-era fortunes paid for the Carnegie museums of art and natural history, the Frick estate and the Heinz History Center, and the Andy Warhol Museum and Mattress Factory add a serious modern side. Its rivers, bridges and inclines make the setting itself worth seeing.

Louisville's culture is narrower and more personal: Churchill Downs and the Derby Museum, the Muhammad Ali Center, and the bat-makers' museum on Whiskey Row. Old Louisville's Victorian mansions and Cave Hill Cemetery make lovely walks, but two or three days covers it.

Both are bar towns with little in the way of clubs, and a night out feels much the same in scale. Louisville's long strip is Bardstown Road, with bourbon bars in NuLu and the late licences of some bars letting a night run on, and the Derby turns the city upside down for a week each spring. Pittsburgh spreads its evenings across Lawrenceville, the student bars of East Carson Street and the bars around the stadiums, where game nights set the mood.

Pittsburgh has more wild country close at hand. Its wooded ravines in Frick and Schenley parks start in the city, kayaks go under the downtown bridges, and the Laurel Highlands bring whitewater rafting at Ohiopyle and the Great Allegheny Passage cycle trail, which begins in town.

Louisville's strengths are its Olmsted parks, the river walk over the Big Four Bridge and the fossil beds at the Falls of the Ohio. Bernheim Forest and Mammoth Cave add proper outings, but the farmland and knobs around it are gentle rather than dramatic.

Here Louisville pulls clearly ahead. Bourbon country gives it a whole network of outings, from Bardstown's distilleries to the warehouses around Frankfort and Lawrenceburg, plus Lexington's horse farms and Keeneland, Shaker Village and Lincoln's birthplace, enough for several different days.

Pittsburgh has one outstanding trip, Fallingwater, which pairs well with Kentuck Knob and Ligonier, along with the Flight 93 memorial and Old Economy Village. Beyond those the choice thins out fast. Both regions need a car.

Pittsburgh has more for children and more of it in one place. The North Side groups a science centre, a children's museum and the National Aviary, while the dinosaurs in Oakland, the zoo and aquarium, Kennywood and the incline rides fill out a week.

Louisville is an easy family stay too, with a good zoo, a hands-on science centre, Kentucky Kingdom's coasters and water park, and underground ziplines in the Mega Cavern. Its sticky summers and spread-out attractions make it the harder of the two to manage with small children.

Pittsburgh is easier without a car. Its compact downtown, the T light rail to the North Side and the inclines up Mount Washington cover the main sights, though the hills and patchy buses make neighbourhoods like Oakland and Lawrenceville a ride-hailing trip in the evening.

Louisville has no rail at all, and only Main Street, the waterfront and NuLu work on foot. Churchill Downs, the Highlands and the parks all need a drive, which at least is short and calm.

Neither is a shopping city, so the difference is in what you bring home. In Louisville, the prize is a bottle of hard-to-find bourbon, along with Derby hats, with vintage and antiques along Bardstown Road. Pittsburgh's browsing is better spread out: food and kitchenware in the Strip District, independent shops on Butler Street and a few boutiques on Walnut Street in Shadyside.

Pittsburgh is the cheaper city to spend a few days in. Its hotels undercut the big coastal cities even downtown, and you can eat and drink cheaply in the Strip District and the neighbourhood bars. You can also skip a hire car for a short stay, which saves a daily cost.

Louisville's rooms are reasonable outside racing season, but a car or regular ride-hailing adds up, and Derby week multiplies hotel rates. In both cities, tips and tax raise every restaurant bill.

Both have a full set of orchestra, opera, ballet and theatre, but Pittsburgh's is the stronger. Its symphony has long been counted among the country's leading orchestras, playing in the gilded Heinz Hall within a compact Cultural District. The Hill District's jazz history and August Wilson's plays give it a heritage of its own.

Louisville answers with Actors Theatre's tradition of new American plays, summer stages in the parks and plenty of bluegrass and Americana in its bars. It is dependable, though rarely a reason to make the trip.

Neither city has a bathing culture, and both offer only hotel and day spas. What differs is how each lets you slow down. Louisville means porch afternoons and drives through horse country, with the historic mineral-spring hotels of French Lick and West Baden Springs about an hour and a half away. Pittsburgh offers Phipps Conservatory's warm glasshouses and quiet park paths, with resort spas in the Laurel Highlands at a similar distance.