Minneapolis or Portland?

Minneapolis has the better swimming, although it is lake swimming rather than the sea. Bde Maka Ska, Lake Harriet, Lake Nokomis and the quieter Cedar Lake all have sandy strips with lifeguards inside the city, and by late July the water reaches about 24°C, warm enough for an after-work swim. The season is short, though, and for half the year the lakes are frozen.

Portland's swimming happens in its rivers, at small beaches on the downtown waterfront and in Sellwood, or on Sauvie Island half an hour north. The Oregon coast at Cannon Beach has wide sand and sea stacks, but the Pacific stays cold even in August, so it is for walking beside rather than swimming in.

Minneapolis eats well, but Portland is the city where food and drink become a reason to go. The best cooking in Minneapolis comes from its immigrant communities, with Somali, Ethiopian and Vietnamese kitchens on Lake Street and Eat Street, Hmong markets and the Midtown Global Market. The Juicy Lucy is the local curiosity, and the fine dining is limited.

Portland's food culture is broader and more consistent. The food cart pods make an easy meal in themselves, and neighbourhood restaurants cook with salmon, Dungeness crab, mushrooms and hazelnuts from the region's farms and waters. Add the coffee roasters, one of the country's densest brewery scenes and Willamette Valley pinot noir, and eating and drinking become a central part of the stay rather than a pleasant extra.

Minneapolis has the stronger museums by a clear margin. The Institute of Art covers world art history and is free, the Walker is a national name in contemporary art, and the riverfront at St Anthony Falls, with the Mill City Museum in the old mill ruins, tells a real industrial story.

Portland's finest sights are its gardens, the walled Lan Su Chinese Garden and the Japanese Garden in Washington Park, along with the view from Pittock Mansion. Its art museum is solid but not a reason to come, so in Portland culture fills an afternoon rather than shaping the trip.

Portland makes the better night out, though neither city is built for clubbing. In Minneapolis evenings are split between the taprooms and old bars of Northeast, cocktail bars in the North Loop's warehouses and a younger weekend crowd downtown and in Uptown. Summer patios and rooftops are the high point, but in winter the streets go quiet.

Portland simply has more bars, and more kinds of them: dives with pinball machines, careful cocktail and wine bars, and brewery taprooms. Alberta, Mississippi, Division, Hawthorne and Belmont each have their own strip, so you can spend a whole evening on one street and walk from bar to bar.

This is the widest gap between the two cities. Portland has Forest Park's 110km of trails a walk from town, waterfall hikes in the Columbia River Gorge within half an hour, Mount Hood for skiing and alpine walking, and volcanic peaks on the skyline on clear days.

Minneapolis is green rather than wild. The Grand Rounds loop of lakes, Minnehaha Falls and the Mississippi gorge is superb for cycling and paddling, and winter brings cross-country skiing and skating on frozen lakes, but the land is flat and there are no mountains within reach.

Portland has the better range of outings. There are wine towns in the Willamette Valley under an hour away, the coast at Cannon Beach, orchards and the Gorge at Hood River, and Astoria's Victorian streets at the mouth of the Columbia, each a full and different day.

From Minneapolis the obvious trip is St Paul on the light rail, for the Capitol and the mansions of Summit Avenue, followed by Stillwater on the St Croix and the river drive to Red Wing and Lake Pepin. Beyond those it is mostly farmland and small towns.

Minneapolis is the easier city with children, largely because it is built for bad weather. The indoor amusement park and aquarium at the Mall of America, the Science Museum and Children's Museum in St Paul and two zoos fill winter days, and in summer the lake beaches and paddle boats take over.

Portland has OMSI with its submarine, the Oregon Zoo and playground in Washington Park, Oaks Amusement Park in Sellwood and summer fountains to splash in. It has fewer big indoor options for its long wet season, and the visible homelessness downtown makes some parents uneasy.

Portland is the easier city to manage without a car. Short blocks make downtown pleasant on foot, the MAX runs in from the airport, and a streetcar links the Pearl District with the east bank, although the spread-out east-side neighbourhoods mean some bus rides.

Minneapolis has two light-rail lines serving the airport, the Mall of America and St Paul, and excellent cycling on the Midtown Greenway and the lake paths. Distances grow quickly outside the core, though, and in deep winter the skyways matter more than the pavements.

There is little to choose between them, but they shop in different ways. In Minneapolis shopping means the Mall of America, with hundreds of mainstream stores under one roof and no sales tax on clothing, plus independent boutiques in the North Loop.

Portland is a city for browsing: Powell's City of Books, vintage and record shops on Mississippi, Alberta and Hawthorne, and local crafts at the Saturday Market, with no sales tax at all. Neither city offers much luxury shopping.

Neither city is a bargain for visitors from abroad, and overall costs are close, with Minneapolis a little gentler on hotels. The free pleasures differ: the Institute of Art, the Sculpture Garden and the lakes in Minneapolis, and Forest Park and the waterfront in Portland, where food carts are among the best cheap meals. In both cities, a hire car for trips out of town is the cost that adds up.

Minneapolis is the stronger city for live performance. The Guthrie is one of the country's leading theatres, the Hennepin Avenue houses and the Children's Theatre Company add depth, and the Minnesota Orchestra, the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Opera make for a full classical season. First Avenue, the Purple Rain club, anchors the rock scene.

Portland has a complete set of institutions, including the Oregon Symphony in a restored 1920s movie palace. Its real character, though, lies in the small indie and folk rooms of the east side and the sprung dance floor of the Crystal Ballroom.

Neither is a spa destination, and both rely on an unhurried pace more than on treatments. Minneapolis has a Nordic sauna tradition, with winter saunas set up on frozen lakes and a cold plunge or a roll in the snow between rounds. Portland has soaking houses with hot tubs and cold plunges, and there are natural hot springs in the Cascades about two hours away by car.