Montreal or Quebec City?

Neither city is a place to come for a beach, but Montreal does slightly better. It has the supervised sand beach at Parc Jean-Drapeau, reachable by metro, and the Verdun river beach in town, so a hot afternoon by the water takes little planning.

Quebec City's own river is too cold and fast for real swimming, and the Baie de Beauport beach is mostly for sunbathing and volleyball. Proper swimming there means driving out to Lac Saint-Joseph or Lac-Beauport.

Montreal is the stronger city to eat in, by some way. It has its own staples in wood-fired bagels and smoked meat, two large markets in Jean-Talon and Atwater, and Portuguese, Haitian, Lebanese and Vietnamese cooking on top of the Québécois bistros.

Quebec City cooks well for its size, with Île d'Orléans and Charlevoix produce in the bistros of Saint-Roch and hearty dishes like tourtière and pea soup. The range rarely goes beyond French-Canadian cooking, though, and the set menus inside the walls are uneven.

Montreal's sights are scattered across a large modern city. The old quarter by the port is one pocket, Saint Joseph's Oratory stands apart on the slope of Mount Royal, and the Expo 67 Biosphere is out on the islands, so a sightseeing day means hopping between them by metro. Where Montreal pulls ahead is indoors: the Museum of Fine Arts, the McCord Stewart and the Contemporary Art Museum make up the deeper set of collections, which is useful on a bitter winter day.

Quebec City is the stronger choice for anyone who travels for history. Its old town is a single walled, UNESCO-listed whole, and the Citadelle, the Château Frontenac on its cliff, the lanes of Petit-Champlain and the old battlefield on the Plains of Abraham all fit into one walk. Passing through the gates feels like entering a French colonial town, and nothing in Montreal quite matches that.

Montreal has one of the latest-running bar scenes in North America, and it shows. Boulevard Saint-Laurent mixes cocktail bars, dives and clubs, the Village has big gay clubs, and summer adds after-hours parties and outdoor dance events on Île Sainte-Hélène.

Quebec City's evenings are mostly about drinks rather than dancing. The Grande Allée terraces get busy in summer and Saint-Roch has good wine and cocktail bars, but the club scene is small and winter weeknights end early.

Quebec City has wilder country right on its doorstep. Montmorency Falls is a short ride from the centre, and the Jacques-Cartier boreal valley and three ski hills, including Le Massif above the river, are all within an hour.

Montreal's outdoors are gentler and more urban: trails and a lookout on Mount Royal, the Lachine Canal cycle path, and river surfing below the Lachine Rapids. Its real mountain and forest country, in the Laurentians around Mont-Tremblant, lies further out.

The two are about level for outings, but the trips are of different kinds. From Montreal the highlight is a city, Ottawa, which is easy by train, plus the Loyalist villages and wine route of the Eastern Townships.

Quebec City's outings are rural and close: the parishes and orchards of the Île d'Orléans, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré and Baie-Saint-Paul in Charlevoix. Most of them need a car. Each city is also the obvious overnight trip from the other.

Both cities are safe and welcoming with children. Montreal's strength is its indoor attractions grouped around the Olympic Park, the Biodome, Insectarium and Botanical Garden, which help in any weather. Its flatter centre is also easier with a pushchair.

Quebec City makes winter itself the attraction, with the Dufferin Terrace toboggan slide, the carnival and the ice hotel, as well as polar bears at the aquarium. Its stairways and steep slopes are hard work with small children.

Montreal is much easier to get around. Its four-line metro reaches the main sights and the islands, the bike lanes and bike-share work well in summer, and the underground network keeps you out of the winter cold downtown.

Quebec City is walkable but steep. The cliff between upper and lower town means stairways, the funicular and icy slopes in winter, and there are only buses. Beyond the centre, the parks and the Île d'Orléans are far easier by car.

Montreal offers a full city's range: department stores and malls along Rue Sainte-Catherine, luxury labels in the Golden Square Mile, and vintage and Quebec designers in the Plateau, Mile End and Saint-Henri.

Quebec City's shopping is small and crafted, with workshops and milliners in Petit-Champlain, antiques on Rue Saint-Paul and local fashion on Rue Saint-Joseph. Both are good for maple products, ice cider and Inuit art to take home.

Both cost about the same, and neither is cheap: hotels are dear in peak season, and tax and tip push up every restaurant bill. The way to save differs. In Montreal it is casual food, bring-your-own-wine bistros and free festival concerts, while in Quebec City the walls, terraces and Plains of Abraham cost nothing, and staying in Saint-Roch rather than inside the walls helps.

Montreal is the far stronger stage city. Place des Arts houses the symphony, opera and Les Grands Ballets, and the city is a world centre of contemporary circus. In summer the Quartier des Spectacles fills with the jazz festival's many free concerts.

Quebec City has the country's oldest symphony orchestra and Robert Lepage's experimental Le Diamant. Outside the July Festival d'été on the Plains of Abraham, though, the programme is modest and mostly in French.

Both share Quebec's Nordic spa ritual of hot pools, saunas and cold plunges, and both have a spa in their old port. Montreal adds a city circuit on Nuns' Island and hammam scrubs. Quebec City's forest spas around Lac-Beauport are closer, within half an hour, and its quieter pace makes the stay itself more restful.