Nantucket or Poconos?

This is the main reason to choose Nantucket. The island has two coasts, calm and shallow on the sound side at Jetties and Children's Beach, and long sandy Atlantic beaches with proper surf at Surfside, Cisco and Madaket. You can ride from one coast to the other on a bike in a short time.

The Poconos have no coast at all. Swimming there means lake beaches at Wallenpaupack or in the state parks, which are small, grassy and busy on summer weekends. The lakes do get warmer than the island's sea, though, and tubing down the Delaware is a summer pleasure of a different kind.

Nantucket eats better, because its kitchens cook for a wealthy summer crowd. Local oysters, autumn bay scallops, striped bass and lobster are served everywhere from harbour clam shacks to polished dining rooms in old houses.

The Poconos are about hearty diners, taverns and Pennsylvania Dutch baking such as shoofly and whoopie pies. The best meals are in the handful of bistros in Jim Thorpe, Stroudsburg and Milford. Both have back-road breweries and wineries, but only the island gives you a reason to book a table.

Nantucket Town is the main sight. It is one of the best-preserved early American seaports, with cobbled Main Street, Federal-style captains' houses and white church spires, all inside a protected historic district. The Whaling Museum is in an old candle factory and is built around a complete sperm whale skeleton. It deserves a few hours, and the cottages of Siasconset and the lighthouses fill a second day.

The Poconos tell a later and harder story of coal and railways. The best places are Victorian Jim Thorpe in the Lehigh Gorge, the miners' village at Eckley and Pinchot's Grey Towers in Milford. They lie far apart and each one is a half-day outing by car. On the island, the sights sit close together and you can reach them on foot or by bike.

Neither is a place to go out late. Nantucket at least has harbour pubs and hotel bars that fill up in July and August, plus a dance bar with live bands outside town. In the Poconos the evening usually ends at the resort or cabin, and the only places open late are the gaming floors of the Mount Pocono casino and winter après-ski bars.

The Poconos have more to do outdoors and more variety. There are waterfalls in the Delaware Water Gap, the Appalachian Trail along Kittatinny Ridge, whitewater and a rail trail in the Lehigh Gorge, and skiing in winter. Bears and bald eagles live in the woods.

Nantucket's landscape is flat and gentle, with heathland, cranberry bogs and ponds. The outdoor days there are about the water: sailing, kayaking, surfcasting and seeing the grey seals at Great Point. Walks are short, and the bike is the way to explore.

Living 50km out at sea keeps most Nantucket visitors on the island. Martha's Vineyard in summer is the one easy outing, and Cape Cod takes a ferry crossing first.

The Poconos sit within driving distance of a lot. Bethlehem's Moravian stone buildings and old steelworks are about an hour away, Scranton has Steamtown and a coal-mine tour, and Easton is close by. New York or Philadelphia are possible on a long day, though the weekend traffic makes them hard work.

The Poconos were built for family weekends. Indoor waterpark resorts around Mount Pocono and Tannersville rescue a rainy day, Camelback switches from ski runs to waterpark and coaster in summer, and mini-golf, petting zoos and Bushkill Falls' boardwalks fill the rest of the time.

Nantucket suits a simpler kind of vacation. Lifeguarded harbour beaches, flat traffic-free bike paths and a safe small town give older children some freedom. But the south shore surf is too rough for little ones, and there is little else built for children.

On Nantucket the car stays on the mainland. The town is compact, paved bike paths reach Sconset, Madaket and the south shore beaches, and a summer shuttle links them. The effort comes earlier, in the ferry crossing or the flight over.

The Poconos are the opposite. You can drive there easily from the cities, but once there everything from lakes to trailheads to ski hills is spread across four counties of forest with no useful local transit. Expect to drive every day, and to meet heavy traffic on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons.

Nantucket is the better place to browse. Main Street has preppy boutiques, galleries and jewellers, along with island crafts such as lightship baskets and scrimshaw. The Poconos offer bargains rather than style, with the big outlet centre at Tannersville for discounted brands, and antiques and maple syrup in Jim Thorpe and Milford.

The difference in cost is large. In July and August, Nantucket costs more than most big American cities. Meals carry island prices, and the ferry adds a lot if you bring a car. June and September are noticeably cheaper, but even then nowhere on the island is cheap.

The Poconos are not cheap either, because lift tickets, waterpark resorts and peak weekends carry full prices. But midweek cabins, older motels and shared rentals with a kitchen put a family stay within reach. The national recreation area and the state-park lakes cost little or nothing.

Both have modest seasonal programmes, and the Poconos offer a little more. They have a jazz tradition in the village of Delaware Water Gap with its late-summer festival, folk and roots acts at the Mauch Chunk Opera House, and summer-stock playhouses. Nantucket's offer is quieter and more literary, with two theatre companies, chamber concerts and readings at the Atheneum, and its June film festival as the one event worth travelling for.

The Poconos are the better choice if you want to be pampered. They have a long tradition of secluded couples' resorts with in-room hot tubs and fireplaces, plus large spa resorts in the lake country around Wallenpaupack and Hawley.

Nantucket has only a few hotel and day spas. What it offers instead is pace: an island with no traffic lights, where the day runs from a bike ride to the beach to dinner.