Newport, Rhode Island or Salem, Massachusetts?

Newport is the real beach town of the two. Easton's Beach sits at the foot of the Cliff Walk, the longer Second and Third Beaches are next door in Middletown, and Gooseberry is a protected cove on Ocean Drive, so you can be on the sand within minutes of the harbour.

Salem's own shores at Salem Willows, Forest River Park and Winter Island suit a picnic and a paddle rather than a full day. For proper sand you drive to Crane Beach in Ipswich or Singing Beach on the North Shore, and the water there is a little colder too.

Newport offers a little more to eat. Seafood on the wharves off Thames Street comes with Rhode Island specialities such as clear-broth chowder and clam cakes, and you can add smart dining rooms on Bellevue Avenue and the wineries on the island's eastern shore.

Salem covers the same New England basics, chowder, fried clams and North Shore oysters, along with independent bistros and brewpubs, all a short walk apart, but it has little fine dining. In both towns keen eaters save a serious meal for a nearby city: Providence from Newport, Boston from Salem.

Newport's sights are grander and more varied. The Vanderbilt-era cottages on Bellevue Avenue, such as The Breakers and Marble House, sit alongside one of the country's largest groups of colonial houses on the Point and Historic Hill, plus Touro Synagogue, the Redwood Library and Fort Adams.

Salem's history is narrower but deeply felt: the 1692 witch trials, the maritime park's wharves and custom house, and the Federal mansions of Chestnut Street. It does have the stronger single museum in the Peabody Essex, with its Asian art and its rebuilt Chinese merchant's house, whereas Newport's museums beyond the mansions are small.

Neither town has clubs, but Newport has more going on after dark. On a summer Saturday the waterfront decks and pubs around Thames Street fill with sailing crowds and wedding parties, and it gets loud, even if the night ends early.

Salem is quieter. A taproom pint or a cocktail in a historic building is usually the evening, and the streets empty well before midnight except in October, when the Halloween crowds keep the bars busy. For a bigger night, Newport visitors drive to Providence, while from Salem you can take the train into Boston.

Newport puts the wild coast right on the doorstep. The Cliff Walk, the wave-cut ledges at Brenton Point and the Sachuest Point refuge are all on the island, and the water adds sailing charters, kayaking and autumn surfing at Second Beach.

Salem's outdoors is gentler and more spread out. Its best places are a drive away: the granite shore at Halibut Point, the birding at Plum Island and the whale-watching boats from Gloucester out to Stellwagen Bank. In return it has inland state forests and fine autumn colour, which Newport's flat, open island cannot match.

Salem is the stronger base for outings, mainly because Boston is about half an hour away by commuter train, with Cambridge just across the river. The same rail line runs to Gloucester and Rockport, and Lexington, Concord, Newburyport and Marblehead are all close.

Newport's list is good but depends on the car. You can reach Providence in under an hour and Boston in about an hour and a half, and there is Mystic's seaport, New Bedford's whaling museum, and the summer ferry to Block Island, which gives a proper island day.

Both towns are small, safe and manageable with children, and both send families elsewhere for a big attraction. The difference is in the kind of day. Newport's family days are about the water: the calm water at Third and Gooseberry Beaches, the carousel at Easton's Beach, touch tanks at the Save The Bay aquarium and the ramparts of Fort Adams.

Salem's appeal is costume and story. The replica tall ship, the arcade at Salem Willows and the museum's family spaces go down well, but the witch material suits older children better than little ones.

Salem is easier to get around and to reach. Everything worth seeing lies within a twenty-minute walk, the station is close to the centre, and trains run straight to Boston and up to Cape Ann, so many visitors never need a car.

Newport's centre is just as walkable, from the harbour to Historic Hill, with a summer trolley up to the mansions. The trouble is getting in and out. Summer traffic jams the island bridges, parking is scarce, and you need a car for the outer beaches and almost every day trip.

Neither town is a place for serious shopping, and both lack department stores, but what they sell is quite different. Newport is preppy and nautical: sailing clothes, galleries and jewellery on the wharves and Thames Street, with antiques on Spring and Franklin Streets.

Salem's niche is the occult. Essex Street is lined with shops selling tarot cards, crystals and spell books, some run by practising witches, and there are a few good independent bookshops and the Peabody Essex Museum shop.

Neither town is a bargain, but Newport costs more, and most of that cost comes from its seaside season. Room prices follow the summer calendar of sailing, weddings and festivals, peaking at weekends, and the town centre has very few modest places to stay. Prices vary a lot through the year, though. If you come in late autumn or winter, or stay further up the island in Middletown, the same trip costs noticeably less.

In Salem the problem is a short supply of rooms rather than a summer season. There are only a handful of hotels and inns, so rooms cost about what they do around Boston for most of the year, and in October they are very hard to find at a fair price. Once you have a bed, the rest of the trip costs less, and because the town is so close to the city, many visitors stay elsewhere and come in for the day.

Newport has the bigger name in music thanks to its summer festivals. The Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals play at Fort Adams with the harbour behind the stage, and the Newport Music Festival brings chamber music into the mansion ballrooms. Outside those weeks there is little more than bar bands.

Salem has a modest professional theatre company, occasional concerts at the Peabody Essex Museum and witch-trial re-enactments in October. For an orchestra or opera, though, it is the train to Boston and a late service home.

Newport is the better place to slow down. Its larger waterfront hotels have proper spas, and in May, June, September and October the quiet Cliff Walk and calmer harbour make the town genuinely restful.

Salem's offer is smaller and more unusual, with a few day spas alongside crystal healers, tarot readers and meditation sessions in keeping with its spiritual side. In both towns the peak season, high summer in Newport and October in Salem, is anything but relaxing.