Newport, Rhode Island or Pittsburgh?

Newport has proper Atlantic swimming: Easton's Beach below the Cliff Walk, the longer sands of Second and Third Beaches in Middletown, and the sheltered cove at Gooseberry. The water is cool and the season short, but from late June to early September it is a real beach town.

Pittsburgh can't compete here. Nobody swims in its rivers, and the nearest sand is the small beaches of Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park. The better lake shore, at Presque Isle on Lake Erie, is about two hours' drive away.

Pittsburgh offers the wider table. You get the Strip District's Italian grocers, fishmongers and Asian markets, pierogies and haluski from its Eastern European past, sandwiches with the fries stacked inside, and chef-led kitchens in Lawrenceville and East Liberty. Together with the craft breweries, that gives several days of variety.

Newport's range is narrower but very much its own: lobster rolls, Rhode Island's clear-broth chowder, clam cakes and local oysters eaten on the wharves. Much of it is aimed at day-trippers, though, and many places cut their hours in winter.

Newport has sights you can't see anywhere else. The mansions on Bellevue Avenue, The Breakers and Marble House among them, still have their Gilded Age rooms intact. The Point and Historic Hill hold whole streets of colonial houses around Touro Synagogue and the Redwood Library. That makes two or three full days, though the museums beyond these are small.

Pittsburgh's culture is steel money turned into public institutions: the Carnegie Museums, the Warhol, the Mattress Factory and the Nationality Rooms in the Cathedral of Learning. Its greatest sight is its setting, the bridges and three rivers seen from the top of the Mount Washington inclines.

Neither city is built for clubbing, but Pittsburgh gives the fuller night out. Its bars are spread across several neighbourhoods, from the cocktail bars and breweries of Lawrenceville's Butler Street to the long student strip on East Carson Street, and game nights fill them with fans in black and gold.

Going out in Newport means one cluster of pubs and waterfront decks around Thames Street. It is loud on a summer Saturday, ends early, and is quiet for much of the year.

Both have good outdoors, of very different kinds. Newport's is the edge of the sea: the Cliff Walk, the wave-cut ledges at Brenton Point, birdwatching at Sachuest Point and, above all, sailing, with kayaking and autumn surfing at Second Beach.

Pittsburgh is hills and forest. Ravine trails wind through Frick and Schenley Parks and you can paddle a kayak under the downtown bridges. Further out, the Laurel Highlands bring whitewater rafting at Ohiopyle and the Great Allegheny Passage cycle trail, and they are at their best in the autumn colour.

Newport has far more within easy reach. Providence is under an hour away and Boston about an hour and a half, and closer in there are the Block Island ferry, colonial Bristol, New Bedford's whaling museum and Mystic's seaport.

Pittsburgh has one outstanding outing, Fallingwater with Kentuck Knob nearby, plus Ligonier and the Flight 93 memorial on the same side of the city. Beyond those, the country around is mostly farmland and forest. From either base, a car is needed for almost every trip.

Pittsburgh is much the stronger choice with children. The North Side alone has the Science Center, the Children's Museum and the National Aviary. The zoo, the aquarium, the dinosaur halls and Kennywood's old wooden roller coasters fill more days, whatever the weather.

Newport works for a summer of beaches with small children, with calm water at Third and Gooseberry, the carousel and the ramparts of Fort Adams. But its headline sights are long mansion tours, and there is no zoo or theme park.

Newport is easier once you are there. The harbour, Thames Street and the colonial quarters are close together, and a bus or the summer trolley climbs to the mansions. The catch is arriving and leaving, with heavy summer traffic on the island bridges and scarce parking.

Pittsburgh's walkable core is downtown, the North Side and the Strip, linked by the T and the inclines. Reaching Oakland, Lawrenceville or Squirrel Hill means slow buses, steep climbs or ride-hailing.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference is mainly one of flavour. Newport's shops are nautical and preppy, with sailing clothes, galleries and gifts on the wharves, plus antiques on Spring and Franklin Streets. Pittsburgh's are more urban and independent, with vintage and design shops on Butler Street, boutiques on Walnut Street and the food stalls of the Strip, while the chain stores are out in the suburban malls.

Pittsburgh is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotel rooms, even downtown, cost well below coastal-city rates, and casual meals and beer are fairly priced, though tips and rides between neighbourhoods add up.

Newport is expensive from summer into early autumn. There are few budget beds in town, and mansion tickets and parking add to the bill. Staying in Middletown, coming midweek or visiting in late autumn makes it easier.

Pittsburgh has a full programme all year. The Symphony plays in Heinz Hall, the Benedum Center hosts opera, ballet and touring musicals, and Pittsburgh Public Theater puts on plays. The Hill District, setting of August Wilson's plays, gives the city deep jazz roots.

Newport's claim is historic but seasonal. The Jazz and Folk Festivals at Fort Adams and the chamber music in the mansion ballrooms are famous, but outside those summer weeks there is little beyond bands in the waterfront bars.

Newport is the easier place to unwind, provided you skip high summer, when wedding parties and traffic fill its narrow streets. From May into June and again in September and October the Cliff Walk is quiet and the harbour slows, and a seaside town at that pace does much of the work by itself. Neither city has a bathing tradition, so here a treatment means the spa of one of the bigger waterfront or resort hotels, a short stroll from the water.

Pittsburgh offers less of that unhurried feel within the city. Its calm corners, the warm glasshouses at Phipps Conservatory and the wooded paths of Frick and Schenley Parks, fill an afternoon rather than a whole stay. A real spa break means a long drive out to the resorts in the Laurel Highlands, which is really a separate trip into the hills. Newport gives you the spa and the sea in the same place, without changing base.