Montreal or Niagara Falls?

Neither is a beach destination, but Niagara Falls gives you the better swim. Montreal's summer bathing is the supervised lake beach at Parc Jean-Drapeau and the small urban strand at Verdun, with the larger shore at Oka about an hour away.

From Niagara, the Lake Erie shore around Crystal Beach is half an hour south, with soft sand and shallow water that warms nicely by late summer. That is good for a family afternoon, though only from July to early September.

In Montreal you plan the day around meals, while at Niagara Falls you fit meals around the falls or drive out of town for a good one. Montreal's French-rooted bistros cook game, offal and Quebec cheeses, the Jean-Talon and Atwater markets are worth a morning on their own, and Portuguese, Haitian, Lebanese and Vietnamese cooking adds plenty of range from one neighbourhood to the next.

Niagara Falls has no cooking of its own, and Clifton Hill and the hotel strip mostly offer chains and steakhouses. Visitors who care about food head north to the winery restaurants along the escarpment, where seasonal Ontario produce comes with the region's cool-climate Riesling and Chardonnay. In summer, peaches and cherries from the roadside fruit stands make the best snacks.

Montreal has far more to see. Old Montreal's grey-stone warehouses run down to the Old Port, the Notre-Dame Basilica has its deep blue interior, Pointe-à-Callière sits on the city's founding site, and the Museum of Fine Arts holds a serious collection. Together they fill two or three good days.

Niagara Falls has the falls and not much else in the way of sights. What history there is lies at Queenston Heights, with Brock's Monument and the War of 1812 battlefield, and in the early hydroelectric stations along the river. Clifton Hill's wax museums are entertainment, not heritage.

Montreal's nights are among the longest in North America. Boulevard Saint-Laurent has cocktail bars, dives and clubs, the Village has a long-established gay scene, and Mile End has quieter wine bars. In summer, terrace life spills onto the pedestrian streets and outdoor dance events take over Île Sainte-Hélène.

A Niagara evening starts with the falls lit up in colour and summer fireworks over the gorge, then moves to the casinos and the pubs of Clifton Hill. It is a resort strip for couples and families rather than a scene, and it goes quiet in winter.

Niagara Falls has the edge because its centrepiece is a world-class natural sight right in town. You can ride boats into the mist below the Horseshoe Falls, follow trails down to the rapids at the Niagara Glen and watch the Whirlpool, and a paved trail follows the whole river. Past the gorge, though, the country turns to orchards and vineyards.

Montreal's outdoors are gentler in the city but go further. Mount Royal's wooded park rises beside downtown, the Lachine Canal makes for easy cycling, and there is even river surfing below the Lachine Rapids. An hour and a half away, the Laurentians have lakes, forest trails and ski slopes, and the woods turn in early October.

Niagara Falls has better day trips close by. Niagara-on-the-Lake, twenty minutes up the parkway, pairs a well-kept nineteenth-century town with a whole wine region, and Toronto is about an hour and a half away. With a passport, Buffalo's early skyscrapers and Frank Lloyd Wright houses are half an hour across the border.

From Montreal the outings take longer. Ottawa's Parliament and national museums are about two hours away by train, and the Eastern Townships offer Loyalist villages and a cider route. Quebec City, the trip most people want, works better as an overnight stay.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Montreal offers more variety for a longer stay: the Biodome's rainforest and polar habitats, the Insectarium, the Botanical Garden and the hands-on Science Centre in the Old Port. Deep winter makes it hard going with small children.

Niagara is one big thrill. Children remember the boats into the spray and the tunnels behind the water, and then there are the arcades and mini golf on Clifton Hill. Indoor hotel water parks help in winter, but a few days covers it and the paid attractions add up.

Montreal is the easier city to move around without a car. Its central neighbourhoods are close enough to walk or cycle between on separated bike lanes, the rubber-tyred metro reaches the Olympic Park and the islands, and in winter the underground network keeps you out of the cold.

Niagara's tourist core is compact, with the promenade, the hotels on the bluff and Clifton Hill linked by the Falls Incline Railway, and visitor buses run along the parkway. Beyond that the town spreads along highways, and touring the wineries really needs a car, a bike or a tour.

Montreal is the better place to browse, though neither city is worth the trip for shopping alone. Its pleasure is local design: Quebec designers, vintage clothing and record shops in the Plateau, Mile End and Saint-Henri, with the department stores of Rue Sainte-Catherine and the Golden Square Mile's luxury shops nearby. The markets add maple products and ice cider to take home.

Niagara Falls offers bargains rather than browsing. Clifton Hill sells souvenirs, and the useful stops are the outlet centres at the edge of town, where Canadian and American brands sell at discount. Icewine from the wineries is the local product worth packing, and the few independent boutiques are in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Costs come out about even, but you save in different ways. In Montreal, downtown hotels and bar drinks cost what they do in other big North American cities, but casual staples, bring-your-own-wine bistros and free festival concerts keep spending down, and winter stays are cheapest.

At Niagara, rooms with a falls view are expensive in summer while outer-strip motels cost far less. Watching the falls from the promenade costs nothing, but boat rides and Clifton Hill attractions quickly add up for a family.

Montreal is much stronger here. Place des Arts houses the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the opera and Les Grands Ballets, and there is a deep French-language theatre scene. The city is a world centre of contemporary circus, with TOHU and the National Circus School. Every summer the International Jazz Festival fills the Quartier des Spectacles, with many concerts free.

Niagara Falls offers casino theatre: touring comedians, tribute acts and dinner shows. The real draw is the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake, whose repertory season of classic and modern plays is worth planning a stay around.

Montreal has a real bathing culture in the Nordic spa circuit of hot pools, saunas, cold plunges and rest by the fire, which locals use all year. You can do it on Nuns' Island or aboard a converted ferry in the Old Port, and larger forest spas sit an hour north in the Laurentians.

Niagara has no tradition of its own, just the spas in the big hotels and the wine-country inns, where a massage after a day of tastings is the popular choice. The town is loud in summer, so slower Niagara-on-the-Lake is the better place to unwind.