Montreal or Portland, Maine?

Portland has the real seaside: wide sandy beaches at Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough, and the long resort strand at Old Orchard Beach with its pier. The catch is the Gulf of Maine, which stays chilly even in August, so most people walk the sand and paddle rather than swim.

Montreal's swimming is an inland affair. There is a supervised lake beach at Parc Jean-Drapeau, a small river beach at Verdun, and the larger shore at Oka about an hour west. The lake water is milder, but it is a summer afternoon in a park rather than a day at the coast.

Montreal is the bigger and more varied place to eat. Its own staples are wood-fired bagels, smoked meat, poutine and the spring sugar-shack feasts, and around them is a French-rooted bistro culture. Jean-Talon market is full of Quebec cheeses and ciders, and Portuguese, Haitian, Lebanese and Vietnamese cooking widens the range.

Portland eats very well for its size but in a narrower lane. The draws are lobster rolls, Maine oysters, chowder and chef-run farm cooking, along with dozens of brewery taprooms. Cooking from other cultures is thin, and you will meet summer queues at the best-known places.

Montreal has a fuller set of sights. Old Montreal's grey-stone streets lead to the Notre-Dame Basilica and Pointe-à-Callière, Saint Joseph's Oratory stands on the slope of Mount Royal, and the Museum of Fine Arts gives you a serious collection. Together they make two or three full days.

Portland's heritage is smaller and quieter: the brick Old Port rebuilt after the fire of 1866, the Portland Museum of Art with its Winslow Homers, Victoria Mansion and the old signal tower on Munjoy Hill. Portland Head Light is the image most people take home, and a day or two covers the rest.

The two are in different leagues after dark. Montreal's bars serve until 3am every night of the week. Saint-Laurent carries cocktail bars, dives and clubs, the Village has big gay clubs, and summer adds terraces on pedestrian streets and outdoor dance events on Île Sainte-Hélène.

Portland is a bar town with no real club scene. You will find pubs and oyster bars along Fore and Wharf Streets, early-evening taprooms and quieter cocktail spots on Munjoy Hill, and last orders come at 1am.

Both give you easy access to the outdoors, but of different kinds. Montreal's is mountain and river: Mount Royal's trails and lookout right beside downtown, cycling along the Lachine Canal, and even surfing on a standing river wave. The Laurentians and the Eastern Townships are within about an hour and a half, with skiing and snowshoeing in winter.

Portland faces the sea. Ferries cross Casco Bay to islands with quiet lanes, kayaks and schooners go out from the harbour, and the rocky shore at Two Lights makes a good clifftop walk. For real hiking you need the White Mountains, about two hours away.

Both have good outings, but you reach them differently. From Montreal the best one is by train: Ottawa, with its Parliament buildings and national museums. The Eastern Townships villages and Mont-Tremblant are an easy drive. Quebec City is the trip everyone wants, but it really needs an overnight stay.

Portland's excursions are a string of harbour towns along the coast: Kennebunkport and Ogunquit to the south, Portsmouth's colonial waterfront, and Bath, Boothbay Harbor and Camden to the north. They are charming rather than grand, and much easier with a car.

Montreal gives children more to do. The Biodome, Insectarium and Botanical Garden are grouped at the Olympic Park, and there is also the Science Centre in the Old Port, the Expo 67 amusement park and the Granby Zoo within an hour.

Portland is relaxed and small, with the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine, ferry rides, tide pools at Fort Williams Park and the seaside rides at Old Orchard Beach. It has no zoo or aquarium of note, though. In both places summer is the season that works, since Montreal's deep winter cold makes outings hard with small children.

Montreal is far easier without a car. The clean four-line metro reaches the main sights and the islands, the bike-share and separated lanes are ideal in summer, and in winter the underground network keeps you out of the cold downtown.

Portland's peninsula is very pleasant on foot, though some streets are steep, and the island ferries leave from the waterfront. Once you head for the lighthouses, beaches or coast towns, the thin bus service means most visitors end up hiring a car.

Montreal has the range of a big city. Rue Sainte-Catherine has the department stores and malls, the Golden Square Mile around Ogilvy covers luxury, and Mile End and Saint-Henri are good for local designers, vintage and records.

Portland is all small independent shops: Old Port boutiques selling Maine pottery, woollens and art, plus galleries on Congress Street. Its real shopping draw is the outlet town of Freeport, twenty minutes north, built around L.L.Bean and good for outdoor gear.

Neither is a bargain, but Montreal stretches a budget further. Bagels, smoked meat and market food are cheap ways to eat well, bring-your-own-wine bistros avoid bar prices on drinks, and many summer festival concerts are free.

In Portland, rooms on the peninsula reach big-city rates in July, August and on foliage weekends, and the lobster and oysters you came for are dear. Seafood shacks, food trucks and travelling out of season are the ways to save.

Montreal is one of the continent's stronger stages. Place des Arts houses the symphony, the opera and Les Grands Ballets, French-language theatre runs all year, and the National Circus School and TOHU make acrobatic shows a speciality. Every summer the Jazz Festival, held since 1980, fills the Quartier des Spectacles with concerts.

Portland offers a solid evening rather than a season. There is the symphony at Merrill Auditorium, professional theatre at Portland Stage and touring bands at the State Theatre.

Montreal has a real bathing tradition in the Nordic spa: hot pools, saunas, a cold plunge and rest, taken all year and often in the snow. You can do the circuit on Nuns' Island, on a converted ferry in the Old Port, or at forest spas in the Laurentians.

Portland has hotel and day spas and the odd waterfront sauna, but no bathing culture. Its calm comes from the pace instead: an island ferry, a dusk walk on the Eastern Promenade and a long lunch by the water.