Myrtle Beach or Philadelphia?

Here the gap could hardly be wider. Myrtle Beach sits on the Grand Strand, about 100km of flat, pale sand with small waves and a sea warm enough in midsummer to stay in for hours. If the central blocks are too crowded, Surfside, Garden City and the state park beaches are calmer.

Philadelphia is on two rivers rather than the coast, so a beach day means driving an hour or more to Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood or Cape May. The water there is a few degrees cooler and good for swimming only in high summer, so for most visitors it is an optional outing rather than a reason to come.

Philadelphia eats much better. Cheesesteaks, roast pork sandwiches and hoagies are everyday local food rather than tourist fare, and Reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market are worth a visit in themselves. The bring-your-own-wine dining rooms of East Passyunk and Fishtown add real depth.

Myrtle Beach feeds people in quantity, with seafood buffets, pancake houses and chain restaurants along the strip. Its best meals are fresh shrimp and flounder on the Murrells Inlet waterfront and Calabash-style fried seafood just over the state line. Both are good, but you will have tried them within a couple of evenings.

Philadelphia is where the United States was founded, and you can still see it in Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the Georgian streets of Society Hill. The museums range from the Barnes Foundation's Impressionists to the Mütter Museum and the cellblocks of Eastern State Penitentiary, enough for four or five days.

Myrtle Beach grew up as a twentieth-century resort and has little of this. Brookgreen Gardens, a sculpture garden among live oaks on a former rice plantation, and the Moorish-style Atalaya next door make a good day out, and that is most of what there is.

Philadelphia has the better night out all year round, and it happens in neighbourhood bars: warehouse spaces and craft-beer halls in Fishtown, cocktails around Rittenhouse Square and the long-established Gayborhood. There are few dance clubs, and most nights end in a pub.

Myrtle Beach goes out resort-style: loud, casual and seasonal, with beach bars, rooftop decks and the dance clubs of the entertainment complexes. North Myrtle Beach also has its own tradition of shag dancing. In summer the night runs late, but out of season much of it closes early.

Neither has dramatic scenery, but Philadelphia offers a little more to do outdoors. The Wissahickon gorge has wooded trails inside the city limits, the Schuylkill River Trail runs past Boathouse Row towards Valley Forge, and the Poconos are within a long day's reach for hiking.

Myrtle Beach's outdoors is flat and coastal. There are marsh boardwalks at Huntington Beach State Park with herons and alligators, cypress swamps on the Waccamaw for kayaking, dolphin cruises and dozens of golf courses. Golfers and birdwatchers will be happy there, but walkers will not find much.

Philadelphia's place on the Northeast rail corridor puts New York, Baltimore and Washington within an easy day by train. Amish Lancaster County is about an hour away by rail too. With a car you can add Gettysburg, Longwood Gardens and Cape May.

From Myrtle Beach the one standout outing is Charleston, about two hours south, which makes a long day there and back. Georgetown, Pawleys Island, Conway and Wilmington are the other choices, and you need a car for all of them.

Myrtle Beach is built for children. It has gentle surf, resort pools with lazy rivers, water parks, an aquarium, a seaside amusement park and themed mini-golf at every turn. The downsides are summer heat, heavy traffic and the rowdy spring break weeks.

Philadelphia suits families who want to learn as well as play. Children can walk through the giant heart at the Franklin Institute, see the dinosaur hall at the Academy of Natural Sciences and visit the country's oldest zoo, and the Please Touch Museum is designed for under-eights. Older children get the most from the Liberty Bell and the costumed guides of Old City.

Philadelphia is far easier without a car. Center City's flat grid puts Old City, Rittenhouse Square and the Parkway museums within walking distance. SEPTA's subway, trolleys and regional rail, including a direct airport train, cover the rest, even if the stations are a little rough.

Myrtle Beach is spread along about 100km of highway, and almost every visitor needs a car. Walking works only within a single resort stretch or along the sand, and summer traffic on Kings Highway can be slow.

Philadelphia has proper city shopping. National brands and a few boutiques line Walnut Street, independent shops fill Old City and Fishtown, and Jewelers' Row and the food stalls of Reading Terminal add character. The huge King of Prussia mall is half an hour away, and Pennsylvania charges no sales tax on clothing.

Myrtle Beach is about outlets and beachwear, with two large outlet centres, shopping and entertainment complexes, and enormous swimwear and souvenir shops. Its one real local craft is the sweetgrass baskets sold on the coast road south of the city.

Myrtle Beach is the cheaper of the two. It has a huge supply of motels and rental condos, many with kitchens, and room rates drop low outside summer. Prices climb sharply in July and on long weekends, and you will almost certainly need to rent a car.

Philadelphia charges normal American city rates for hotels and sit-down meals. The free founding sights, filling sandwiches and bring-your-own-wine dinners help keep costs down, but the big art museums charge full admission.

Philadelphia is a real music city. The Philadelphia Orchestra plays on the Avenue of the Arts, Opera Philadelphia and the ballet perform in the ornate 1857 Academy of Music, and Curtis students give regular recitals. The Walnut Street Theatre is the country's oldest working theatre, and jazz clubs and indie venues fill the rest of the week.

In Myrtle Beach the stage means family variety shows: country and gospel revues, Christmas shows, dinner shows with pirates or knights, and touring country acts. They make polished evenings out, but there is no opera, orchestra or serious drama.

Neither city is really a place to unwind, and both rely on hotel and day spas. What differs is where you find some calm. In Myrtle Beach that means the quieter shore around Pawleys Island and the spring and autumn months. In Philadelphia it is a bench in one of Penn's leafy squares, a walk in the Wissahickon gorge or a drive to a Korean-style bathhouse in the suburbs.