Milwaukee or Williamsburg, Virginia?

Neither is a beach destination, and they fall short in opposite ways. Milwaukee has sand inside the city at Bradford Beach, with volleyball and cabanas below the East Side bluffs, but the freshwater lake is cold and the swimming season is short.

Williamsburg has no beach of its own, so a swim means a drive to the little strip at Yorktown, the bay at Buckroe or the Atlantic at Virginia Beach. Once you get there, the water is far warmer and swimming is comfortable through most of the summer. Watch for sea nettles in the bay.

Milwaukee has the more rewarding table, built on German, Polish and Serbian roots. There are Friday fish fries in taverns and church halls, supper clubs with relish trays, bratwurst and cheese curds, and a brewing tradition that runs from the old brewery buildings to many taprooms. The Public Market and the Mexican cooking on the South Side add variety.

Williamsburg's best meals are simple Virginia ones: ham biscuits, peanut soup, and crab and oysters from the Chesapeake in season. The colonial taverns are worth visiting for the candlelight rather than the cooking, and Richmond Road is mostly chains and buffets.

Williamsburg is the stronger sightseeing destination because the whole town is the sight. Its 120 hectares of restored colonial capital run along Duke of Gloucester Street, with working tradespeople, the Governor's Palace and the Wren Building at William & Mary. It is a re-creation rather than an untouched old town, but it is a thorough and absorbing one.

Milwaukee's draws are more scattered: Calatrava's winged Art Museum on the lake, the Harley-Davidson Museum, the Pabst Mansion and the domed Basilica of St Josaphat. Both cities hold good collections of American folk and decorative art, so anyone keen on that will find it in either place.

Milwaukee wins this easily. It has a neighbourhood tavern on almost every block, sports crowds on Water Street, a mix of dives and cocktail bars on Brady Street, and taprooms, wine bars and the main LGBTQ bars in Walker's Point and the Third Ward. Summer patios and beer gardens make the warm months the liveliest.

Williamsburg goes quiet after dinner. There are a few student pubs near the college, some breweries on the edge of town and a ghost walk, and for anything more people drive to Norfolk or Richmond.

Milwaukee's lakefront gives it the edge. Parkland runs along most of the shore, including Olmsted's Lake Park with its bluffs and ravines, and the Oak Leaf Trail runs for miles along the water. An hour inland, the glacial hills and lakes of the Kettle Moraine offer real hiking.

Williamsburg's landscape is flat Tidewater forest and marsh. It is best enjoyed by cycling the quiet Colonial Parkway or kayaking tidal creeks where ospreys and bald eagles hunt. Summer heat and mosquitoes push outdoor plans into spring and autumn, while Milwaukee's outdoor season is midsummer.

The day trips are equally good but very different. From Milwaukee the big outing is Chicago, a world-class city about an hour and a half away by train, with Madison, Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings in Racine and the design village of Kohler closer to home.

Williamsburg has a tight cluster of historic sites instead. Jamestown and Yorktown are each less than half an hour away, the James River plantations line Route 5, and Richmond is about an hour off. Almost all of them need a car.

Williamsburg is built for family trips in a way Milwaukee is not. Busch Gardens has rides for every age, Water Country USA is next door, and the colonial streets, forts and replica ships let children handle history rather than read about it. Family motels with pools are easy to find.

Milwaukee is a pleasant, easy city with children, with a large zoo, Discovery World's aquariums, a children's museum and the Domes for cold days. It has less to fill several days, though, and from November to March the cold rules out most outdoor plans.

Both have one small district you can walk, with everything else needing a car. Milwaukee has a little more help on the ground: the Riverwalk, The Hop streetcar through downtown and the Third Ward, buses to the East Side and the zoo, and bike-share along the lake in summer.

In Williamsburg, the walkable part is the Historic Area and Merchants Square, where Duke of Gloucester Street is closed to cars by day. The theme parks, outlets, many hotels, Jamestown and Yorktown are spread along highways that local buses barely cover.

Milwaukee's souvenirs are things to eat, drink and wear: Wisconsin cheese and sausage from the Public Market, local beer, and Harley-Davidson or Brewers gear. For browsing, the Third Ward's old warehouses hold independent boutiques, design shops and galleries, and Brady Street adds vintage clothes and records.

Williamsburg's souvenirs are made by hand in eighteenth-century styles, such as pewter, pottery, tin and reproduction furniture from the colonial shops in the Historic Area. Merchants Square sells Virginia gifts and kitchenware. The outlet centre on Richmond Road covers the familiar American brands, which in Milwaukee means a drive out to the suburban malls.

The two cost about the same, but the money goes on different things. In Milwaukee much of the entertainment is free or close to it, including the lakefront, the parks and many festivals, and tavern beer is cheap, although big festival and game weekends push up hotel rates.

In Williamsburg rooms are easy to find at fair rates outside the summer peaks. The admission tickets for Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and the theme parks are the large expense, and a car is hard to avoid.

Milwaukee is far ahead here, with a symphony, opera, ballet, a repertory theatre and a musical theatre company. The ornate 1895 Pabst Theater hosts touring bands and comedians, and Summerfest fills the lakefront with hundreds of acts each summer.

Williamsburg's performances belong to its theme. There are candlelit eighteenth-century recitals, period plays and fife-and-drum corps on the main street, plus student shows at the college. For a professional orchestra or opera you would drive to Richmond or Norfolk.

Neither has a bathing tradition, but Williamsburg makes a restful stay slightly easier. It has spas at the historic inn and at golf resorts along the James, and the quiet Colonial Parkway and empty early-morning greens are close at hand.

In Milwaukee, rest means a hotel spa or a walk along the lakefront or the Riverwalk. A proper spa day involves driving an hour north to Kohler.