Montreal or Chicago?

Chicago has a real urban beach scene, with more than twenty sandy strands along Lake Michigan, from Oak Street below the Gold Coast towers to the volleyball crowd at North Avenue. In a warm August the lake is fresh, clear and good for swimming, and you can walk to it from downtown.

Montreal has much less: the supervised beach at Parc Jean-Drapeau, a small river beach in Verdun, and Oka's sandier shore an hour away. Both cities have a short swimming season. In Chicago, though, the beach fits easily into a city day, while in Montreal it takes a planned outing.

Both cities eat very well, and they differ in character. Chicago works at both ends of the scale. It has its hearty home canon of deep-dish and tavern-cut pizza, Italian beef and the fully dressed hot dog, a fine-dining strip along Randolph Street in the West Loop, and great immigrant cooking from Pilsen's Mexican kitchens to Devon Avenue.

Montreal leans French and seasonal: Mile End bagels, smoked meat and poutine, Québécois bistros serving game and local cheese, and the Jean-Talon and Atwater markets stocked with ciders and ice wine. Its bring-your-own-wine restaurants make a long dinner feel more relaxed.

Chicago has the greater cultural pull. Its architecture is a reason to travel in itself, from the Rookery and Mies van der Rohe's glass towers in the Loop to Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park and Hyde Park. The Art Institute is a museum of international weight.

Montreal's strength is age rather than scale. Old Montreal's grey-stone streets, the Notre-Dame Basilica and Pointe-à-Callière go back further than anything Chicago can show. The museum list is shorter, though, and the main sights fit into two or three days.

Both cities stay out late, Chicago until about 4am and Montreal until 3am, so either will keep a night owl busy. Chicago's evenings are spread across districts that each have their own character, from Wicker Park cocktail bars to River North clubs and the sports bars around Wrigley Field, with house music as its home-grown dance tradition.

Montreal's night is younger and more concentrated. Students fill Boulevard Saint-Laurent all week, and in summer the terraces spill onto pedestrianised streets. Its electronic scene peaks at the outdoor dance events on Île Sainte-Hélène.

Montreal has far more within reach. Mount Royal gives you wooded trails and a lookout over the skyline a short walk from downtown, and the Lachine Canal and the bike lanes make cycling easy. Within about an hour and a half, the Laurentians and the Eastern Townships add forest, lakes, autumn colour and winter skiing.

Chicago's outdoors is the lakefront: a long, flat shore path for walking or cycling, birding in Lincoln Park and Jackson Park, and kayaking among the towers. For anything wilder you need to drive to the Indiana Dunes or Starved Rock, through country with no hills.

Montreal has the better choice of outings. Ottawa is two hours away by train, with Parliament and the national museums, and the Eastern Townships and Mont-Tremblant make two quite different days in the countryside. Quebec City is the bigger prize, though it is best done overnight.

From Chicago, the easy options are Milwaukee by train and the Wright houses of Oak Park. Lake Geneva and the Michigan harbour towns need a car, and the surrounding prairie has little drama.

Chicago gives families more to fill the days. The Museum of Science and Industry can take up a whole day, and the Field Museum, the Shedd Aquarium and the planetarium sit side by side. Lincoln Park Zoo is free, and summer adds lifeguarded beaches and Navy Pier.

Montreal is still a good choice with children, with the Biodome, the Insectarium and the Botanical Garden grouped at the Olympic Park and the Science Centre in the Old Port. It feels smaller and calmer, and children are welcome in cafés. In both cities, winter cold is the real obstacle.

Neither city needs a car, but they get you around in different ways. Chicago's L runs straight from both airports and circles the downtown grid, where the main museums and parks are within walking distance. The catch is the spoke layout, so getting from one neighbourhood to another often means a long bus ride.

Montreal's centre is more compact, and Old Montreal, the Plateau and Mile End link easily on foot or by bike-share along separated lanes. Its four-line metro reaches the Olympic Park and the islands, and the underground passages downtown are a real help in winter.

Chicago is the stronger shopping city. The Magnificent Mile has the flagships and vertical malls, and Oak Street carries the luxury labels. The old Marshall Field's store on State Street is worth seeing for its Tiffany ceiling alone, and Wicker Park and Andersonville add independent shops.

Montreal's main shopping streets are smaller, but it has more to take home that you would not find elsewhere: maple products and ice cider from the markets, Quebec designers in Mile End and Saint-Henri, and Inuit and First Nations art.

Montreal is easier on the wallet. Its hotels are priced like those in the rest of North America, but much of its best eating is casual, from bagels to market stalls, and bringing your own wine to dinner keeps the bill down.

Chicago costs more, with expensive hotels and heavy taxes and tipping on top. Cheap pizza and taquerias, good-value L fares and free sights such as the lakefront and Lincoln Park Zoo soften the blow. In both cities, staying away from high summer saves the most, and Montreal's winter is its cheapest season.

Both are excellent for live performance, and Chicago has a little more depth. It has one of the world's great orchestras at Symphony Center and a theatre scene that runs from Steppenwolf and the Goodman to small storefront companies. Second City puts on improv every night, and the city's own electric blues still plays in its clubs.

Montreal has a different character: French-language theatre, the orchestra, opera and ballet together at Place des Arts, and a world reputation for contemporary circus. In summer its jazz festival turns the Quartier des Spectacles into a free open-air stage.

Montreal is the place to unwind. Its Nordic spa culture of hot pools, saunas and cold plunges, often in the snow, is a real local habit. There are spa circuits on Nuns' Island and aboard a ferry in the Old Port, and forest spas in the Laurentians. Summer days on terraces and in Parc La Fontaine set an easier pace.

Chicago has an old bathhouse in Wicker Park with fierce steam rooms and cold plunges, and its conservatories make warm retreats in winter. Otherwise it moves at the speed of a big, busy city.