New York or Philadelphia?

New York wins because its beaches are part of the city. The subway runs to Coney Island's boardwalk and Brighton Beach, and the Rockaways have open sand and surfers, so you can swim in the afternoon and be back in Manhattan for dinner.

Philadelphia is a river city, and the sea means driving to the Jersey Shore: Atlantic City, Wildwood or Victorian Cape May, an hour or more away in weekend traffic. In both cities the water is only warm enough in high summer.

New York is the stronger food city by a wide margin. Communities from all over the world cook their own food across the five boroughs, from Arthur Avenue to Crown Heights, and one of the deepest fine-dining scenes anywhere sits on top. The serious cocktail and natural-wine scenes add to it.

Philadelphia eats more narrowly but with real character: cheesesteaks, roast pork with broccoli rabe and hoagies from corner delis, Reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market. Its bring-your-own-wine dining rooms in East Passyunk and Fishtown are a pleasure, but there is far less range overall.

New York has more to see. The Met, MoMA, the Natural History museum and the Cloisters would each anchor a trip, and the skyline landmarks from the Statue of Liberty to Grand Central fill whatever days are left.

Philadelphia's strength is depth in one story. Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the Georgian streets of Society Hill show the country's founding in a way New York's mostly nineteenth and twentieth-century fabric cannot. The Barnes Foundation's Impressionists are world class. Allow four or five days here, against weeks in New York.

This is the widest gap between the two. New York's bars stay open into the small hours and the trains run all night. The East Village dives, West Village wine bars and Midtown rooftops are only the start, with Williamsburg and Bushwick clubs dancing past sunrise at weekends.

Philadelphia makes a sociable, casual evening out in Fishtown craft-beer halls, East Passyunk taverns or the Gayborhood. With last call at 2am and only a small club scene, though, most nights end in a pub.

The two are about level, but the outdoors works differently in each. New York's green space is mostly designed, in Central Park, Prospect Park and the High Line. For real terrain you take the train up the Hudson to the steep, rocky scrambles of Breakneck Ridge.

Philadelphia has wilder woodland inside the city. The Wissahickon gorge has creekside trails, and the Schuylkill River Trail carries runners and cyclists out past Boathouse Row towards Valley Forge. The country beyond, such as the Pine Barrens and the Brandywine, is gentle rather than dramatic.

Philadelphia is the better base for day trips, mainly because of where it sits on the rail corridor. New York, Baltimore and Washington are each a full day out by fast train, and Lancaster's Amish country, Longwood Gardens and Valley Forge are close by.

New York's best day out is in fact Philadelphia. Beyond that it has Princeton, the Hudson Valley estates, Dia Beacon and Storm King, while Washington and Boston are too far for anything but an overnight trip.

Both work well with children. New York has the bigger attractions: the Natural History museum's dinosaurs and planetarium, the Bronx Zoo, the carrier museum and the free Staten Island Ferry. On the other hand, stair-only subway stations, small hotel rooms and Midtown crowds wear families down.

Philadelphia is easier to handle. The Franklin Institute's giant heart, the Please Touch Museum for under-eights and the country's oldest zoo all sit near a flat, compact centre, and older children take to the costumed guides in Old City.

New York is easier to get around once you are there. The subway runs all night across four boroughs, ferries cross the harbour, and the Manhattan grid links Midtown to Lower Manhattan on foot. The awkward parts are the airport journeys, the stairs and rerouted weekend trains.

Philadelphia's flat Center City rectangle is very walkable, and a direct train serves the airport. Outside the centre, SEPTA is fairly basic, and countryside outings are easier with a car.

New York is one of the world's great shopping cities and Philadelphia is not. Fifth Avenue flagships, Madison Avenue luxury, the big department stores, SoHo's design brands and Greenpoint's vintage and records give range at every level, along with specialist shops for books, sneakers and cameras.

Philadelphia has Walnut Street around Rittenhouse, the historic Jewelers' Row and food gifts from Reading Terminal. No sales tax on clothing helps, but for real scale locals drive out to the King of Prussia mall.

Philadelphia is much easier on the wallet, although neither city is cheap by international standards. In New York, small Manhattan rooms, steep theatre tickets and costly observation decks add up fast. The free ferry, parks and bridges and staying in Brooklyn or Queens help only so much.

Philadelphia's hotels charge ordinary American rates, its founding sights cost nothing to visit, and BYO dinners and sandwich lunches keep daily costs well down.

The gap here is one of size. A week of evenings in New York could go to the Broadway houses around Times Square and the small Off-Broadway stages behind them. Lincoln Center then adds the Met Opera, the Philharmonic and New York City Ballet, and Carnegie Hall brings in visiting orchestras all season. Between those come jazz in Village basements and Harlem rooms, and gospel on a Sunday morning.

Philadelphia offers less, and most of it is classical. The Philadelphia Orchestra plays on the Avenue of the Arts, opera and ballet fill the ornate 1857 Academy of Music, and Curtis Institute students give recitals. For theatre there are the Walnut Street Theatre and the resident companies, and Broadway arrives only as touring shows.

New York offers more for unwinding, which is surprising given its pace. A Russian and Turkish bathhouse in the East Village has been steaming since the late 1800s, Brighton Beach has its banyas, and Korean-style jjimjilbang spas are a short trip away.

Philadelphia has no bathing tradition, so relaxing means a hotel spa or a quiet walk in the Wissahickon gorge or Society Hill's courtyards.