Memphis or Pittsburgh?

Neither city is a place to swim, and both rivers are off limits. Pittsburgh at least has somewhere to go: Lake Arthur's small sand beaches lie about 45 minutes north, and Presque Isle on Lake Erie is a two-hour drive. Memphis leaves you with hotel pools, splash pads and lakes out in the countryside.

Both are hearty, local-minded eating cities. They differ in kind. Memphis is about pork barbecue, dry-rubbed ribs, pulled shoulder, barbecue spaghetti, plus fried catfish and Delta tamales, with a smaller modern layer in Cooper-Young and Midtown.

Pittsburgh's heritage is Central European, pierogies and haluski, alongside its stacked sandwiches. The Strip District is a market street to graze along, and Lawrenceville and East Liberty have more chef-led kitchens than you will find in Memphis.

Memphis has the more powerful sights, because they tell national stories. Graceland, Sun Studio and Stax cover the birth of rock and soul, and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel is deeply moving. Beyond those few museums the historic centre is patchy.

Pittsburgh's sights are spread more widely, from the Carnegie Museums and the Warhol to the Cathedral of Learning and the Frick estate. Its best sight is the view of the bridges and three rivers from Mount Washington, but nothing here hits as hard as Memphis's music and civil rights sites.

Memphis offers the bigger night out, mostly thanks to Beale Street. You can carry a drink from bar to bar, bands play late, and the crowds stay out. Midtown's Overton Square and Cooper-Young offer a calmer, local alternative.

Pittsburgh spreads its drinking across neighbourhoods: craft cocktails and breweries on Butler Street, student pub crawls on East Carson Street, and full bars on game nights. It is friendly but low-key, and neither city has much club culture.

Pittsburgh is much the stronger choice outdoors. Wooded hillsides rise behind the houses, Frick and Schenley parks have ravine trails, and the Laurel Highlands bring whitewater rafting at Ohiopyle and the long Great Allegheny Passage cycle trail.

Memphis is flat and its main natural feature is the Mississippi. You can walk the Big River Crossing into Arkansas, watch sunsets from the bluffs, and see bison and paddle at Shelby Farms, but there are no hills, and the summer heat limits what you can do.

Both have a short list of good outings, all by car, and they differ in theme. From Memphis, Highway 61 leads into the Delta's blues country: Clarksdale's juke joints, the Blues Trail markers, Faulkner's Oxford, Elvis's birthplace in Tupelo and the battlefield at Shiloh.

From Pittsburgh the headline is architecture. Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob make a Frank Lloyd Wright day in the Laurel Highlands, and the Flight 93 memorial and Old Economy Village add history.

Pittsburgh is far better set up for children. It has the Science Center with its submarine, the National Aviary, the Children's Museum, the dinosaur halls, a zoo and aquarium, and Kennywood's old wooden roller coasters, enough for a week of outings.

Memphis has a good zoo, the Pink Palace planetarium and the Peabody's duck march, but its main museums suit older children. Summers are sticky and almost everything needs a drive.

Pittsburgh is easier without a car. Downtown, the North Side and the Strip can be walked, the T light rail crosses the river, and the inclines climb Mount Washington. The hills and buses still make outer neighbourhoods slow to reach.

In Memphis you can walk downtown and ride the Main Street trolleys, but Graceland, Midtown and Shelby Farms are spread far apart. Buses are of little use to a visitor, so plan on a hire car or ride-hailing.

Neither city is a shopping destination, though Pittsburgh offers more to browse. You can wander the Strip District's stalls, the independent shops on Butler Street and the boutiques along Walnut Street in Shadyside. Memphis's best finds are vintage vinyl and music memorabilia, with small boutiques in Cooper-Young and on Broad Avenue, and anything mainstream is out in the suburban malls.

Costs are much alike, moderate for an American city. Memphis's cheap barbecue and soul-food plates help, but the car hire and Graceland's admission add up. Pittsburgh's downtown hotels are fairly priced on most nights, and its spread-out neighbourhoods mean more ride-hails. Both cities get pricier on big festival or game weekends.

Memphis plays blues and soul, Pittsburgh fills concert halls. In Memphis, Beale Street's house bands start in the afternoon, Midtown venues add rock and hip-hop, and on warm evenings the Levitt Shell in Overton Park, where Elvis played an early show, puts on free concerts on the lawn. The Orpheum brings in touring Broadway shows.

Pittsburgh's strength is its downtown Cultural District. The symphony plays in the gilded Heinz Hall, opera and ballet share the restored Benedum Center, and there are plays all year round. The Hill District's jazz past and August Wilson's plays give it a heritage of its own, and Lawrenceville's clubs take care of rock and indie.

For a slower, restful break Pittsburgh has a little more to offer, though rest is not the main reason to visit either city. Memphis has hotel and suburban day spas, plus early walks in Overton Park or an evening on the bluffs before or after the heat.

Pittsburgh adds the warm glasshouses of Phipps Conservatory and the shaded ravine paths of Frick and Schenley parks. For a proper spa stay, the resort hotels of the Laurel Highlands are about an hour and a half away by car.