Minneapolis or Seattle?

Neither city has a real beach vacation to offer, but Minneapolis gives the better swim. Its Chain of Lakes beaches, from Bde Maka Ska to Lake Nokomis, warm to around 24°C by late July and sit right in the city, so an evening swim after sightseeing is easy.

Seattle's prettiest sand, at Alki and Golden Gardens, faces a cold Sound fit only for paddling and sunset bonfires. The swimming moves to Lake Washington, which stays a few degrees cooler than the Minneapolis lakes even at its summer peak.

Seattle has the stronger reason to come and eat. Its table is built on the cold water around it: oysters, Dungeness crab, wild salmon and geoduck, with Pike Place Market as a natural first stop, plus serious coffee roasters and Washington wines.

Minneapolis is more varied than its reputation, but its best meals come from Somali, Ethiopian, Vietnamese and Hmong kitchens along Lake Street and Eat Street rather than from a cuisine of its own. The Juicy Lucy and brewery taprooms are fun, though not something to plan a trip around.

The two are evenly matched and both cover their main sights in two or three days, but they lean different ways. Minneapolis is stronger on art, with the encyclopedic Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker's modern collection, and its history is the flour-milling riverfront around St Anthony Falls.

Seattle's sights are more about landmarks and themes: the Space Needle and its World's Fair grounds, the Museum of Pop Culture, Northwest Coast Indigenous art at the Burke and a huge aviation collection at the Museum of Flight.

Seattle gives the better night out because it has a centre of gravity. Capitol Hill's Pike and Pine streets pack cocktail bars, dives, dance floors and the city's LGBTQ+ scene into a few walkable blocks, with Ballard and Belltown as alternatives.

Minneapolis is friendlier than it is lively, scattering taprooms in Northeast, cocktail bars in the North Loop and a weekend crowd in Uptown. Both shut at 2am, but in Minneapolis winter empties the streets more sharply.

This is the widest gap between the two. Seattle sits between the Cascades and the Olympics with Mount Rainier in view, so glaciers, alpine meadows, rainforest and winter skiing are all within reach, and ferry crossings may bring orcas and seals.

Minneapolis has excellent green space of a gentler kind. The Grand Rounds loop links its lakes, Minnehaha Falls and the Mississippi gorge for long car-free rides, and winter brings cross-country skiing and frozen lakes, but the land is flat and the wilder scenery of the St Croix bluffs is an hour's drive.

Seattle has more to do beyond the city, and much of it starts with a ferry. Bainbridge Island is half an hour across the water, Port Townsend and Whidbey Island go further, and the Woodinville tasting rooms and Tacoma's glass museum are short hops by road.

From Minneapolis the best outing is St Paul, reached by light rail for the Capitol and Summit Avenue mansions. Stillwater and the river towns down to Lake Pepin make a pleasant drive, but beyond them the countryside is mostly farmland.

Both cities work well with children, and the difference is in the kind of day out. Minneapolis has the Mall of America's indoor amusement park and aquarium, a strong card for a cold-season visit, while St Paul adds a science museum, a children's museum and the free Como Zoo.

Seattle puts more in one place at Seattle Center, with the science centre, summer fountain and Space Needle, and adds a well-regarded zoo, a Puget Sound aquarium and the Museum of Flight. It has no theme park, and its steep downtown streets are harder with a pushchair.

Seattle is easier to get around without a car. Its walkable core runs from Pike Place to Pioneer Square, Link light rail reaches the airport, Capitol Hill and the University District, and one card covers buses, the monorail and the ferries, although hills and water make some neighbourhoods slow to reach.

Minneapolis has two light-rail lines and a compact downtown laced with heated skyways, and it wins on cycling, with protected lanes and the Midtown Greenway to the lakes. Further out, buses thin and a car becomes necessary, and deep winter makes walking hard.

Shopping is about equal, but the two cities offer different things. Minneapolis is the one for volume, with the enormous Mall of America on the light rail and no sales tax on clothing, plus North Loop boutiques and makers' studios in Northeast.

Seattle is better for browsing by neighbourhood: records and vintage on Capitol Hill, Fremont's Sunday market, Ballard's design shops and big outdoor gear stores downtown. Luxury is thin in both, though Bellevue gives Seattle a bit more.

Minneapolis is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotels are moderate by American standards, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Sculpture Garden and the lakes are free, and the immigrant food streets and taprooms keep meals reasonable.

Seattle is one of the dearer American cities to visit, with high summer hotel rates and steep admissions to its headline sights. Staying near the light rail outside the centre and eating at teriyaki shops and market counters helps.

Here the two are genuine equals, each with a calendar that outruns its size. Minneapolis is the theatre town, built around the Guthrie and a deep circuit of companies including the Children's Theatre, with the Minnesota Orchestra and First Avenue, Prince's old stage, completing the picture.

Seattle leans more to dance and rock: Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Opera at McCaw Hall, the Symphony at Benaroya Hall, and club stages that carry on the legacy of Hendrix and grunge.

Neither is a place to book for spa treatments, and the difference is mostly in the setting. Minneapolis has a real Nordic sauna habit, with winter saunas set up on frozen lakes and a cold plunge to follow.

Seattle relies on hotel spas and Korean-style bathhouses in the suburbs, with natural hot springs a long drive into the mountains. Its slower pleasures are coffee houses, the Japanese Garden and rainy afternoons indoors.