Newport, Rhode Island or Washington DC?

Newport has proper swimming beaches. Easton's Beach is at the foot of the Cliff Walk, Third Beach and Gooseberry are calmer for children, and Second Beach is longer and wilder. The water is cool even in August, and the season lasts only from late June to early September.

Washington has nothing like this. Its rivers are not for swimming, the nearest sand is a small, brackish beach on the Chesapeake about an hour away, and the Atlantic resorts are three hours off. Most visitors cool off in a hotel pool.

Both cities serve Atlantic shellfish: Chesapeake crabs and oysters in Washington, quahogs, clam cakes and Rhode Island's clear-broth chowder in Newport. Beyond that, Newport has little more than seafood on the Thames Street wharves and a few smart dining rooms on Bellevue Avenue. After a few days you will have tried most of it, and some places cut their hours in winter.

Washington offers far more variety. You can eat Ethiopian food in Shaw and along U Street, pupusas in Columbia Heights and the local half-smoke sausage, and graze at Eastern Market and Union Market. There are also tasting menus around Logan Circle and the waterfront.

Newport's history is older and more domestic. The Vanderbilt-era mansions on Bellevue Avenue still have their rooms intact, and the Point and Historic Hill hold colonial houses, Touro Synagogue and the Redwood Library. It is a rewarding place, but you will have seen it in two or three days.

Washington is on another scale. The Smithsonian museums along the Mall and the National Gallery are world-class and almost all free, so you can drop in for an hour. Around them stand the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery, enough to fill a week.

A night out in Newport means pubs and waterfront decks around Thames Street and the wharves, full of sailors, wedding parties and summer visitors. They are loud on a July Saturday but wind down early, and there are hardly any clubs. Out of season only a few local pubs stay busy.

Washington has much more going on after dark. Young staffers and students fill the cocktail bars and rooftops of the 14th Street and U Street corridor, Adams Morgan is the rowdier late-night strip, H Street has the dive bars and Dupont Circle is the long-standing centre of LGBTQ+ nightlife. At weekends the bars stay open well into the small hours, though early in the week it is mostly after-work drinks.

The outdoors differs in kind. In Newport it is all about the sea: the rocky shore along the Cliff Walk and Ocean Drive, birdwatching at Sachuest Point, surfing at Second Beach and some of the best sailing in North America. The land is flat and the winters are windy.

Washington offers a little more, and most of it is woods and river. Rock Creek Park runs through the city, the C&O Canal towpath follows the Potomac, and the gorge at Great Falls is half an hour away. The Shenandoah ridges are close enough for a day's hiking.

Both are good bases. Newport's trips are small-scale and coastal: Bristol's waterfront, the ferry to Block Island, the whaling museum in New Bedford and Mystic's seaport. Providence and Boston are also within reach, but nearly every trip needs a car.

Washington has more to offer, and more of it is reachable without a car. Old Town Alexandria is a Metro ride away, Baltimore and Philadelphia are easy by train, and Mount Vernon, Gettysburg, Antietam and Harpers Ferry put the country's early history and the Civil War within a day's reach.

Washington is much easier with children, mostly because its best sights are free and designed to teach. There are the dinosaur halls, the planes at Air and Space, the National Zoo, and the Mall's lawns and carousel. The main drawbacks are long, exposed walks in summer heat.

Newport works best for a few days at the beach. There is calm water at Third and Gooseberry, a carousel at Easton's, touch tanks at the Save The Bay aquarium and the ramparts of Fort Adams. The mansion tours tend to bore children, though, and summer traffic is tiring.

Washington is the easier city to get around without a car. The Metro reaches most sights, as well as Arlington, Alexandria and the airport, and every station has a lift. The grid is flat, and bike-share docks link the monuments along the river paths. The gaps are Georgetown, which has no station, and thinner services late at night.

Newport's centre is compact and pleasant to walk, from the harbour to the colonial streets. But most people arrive by car, summer traffic clogs the bridges, parking is scarce, and you need a car for the outer beaches and almost every day trip.

Neither city is worth the trip for shopping, but Washington has more range. M Street and Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown mix chain stores, boutiques and antiques, CityCenterDC has luxury labels, and the Smithsonian shops are good for prints and books.

Newport is small and nautical in style. The wharves sell sailing clothes, jewellery and gifts, and Spring and Franklin Streets are the place for antiques. It fills an afternoon, and many shops cut their hours in winter.

Both are expensive places to stay, but Washington is easier on the budget overall. Its museums, zoo, memorials and Capitol tours cost nothing, the Metro is reasonably priced, and a room across the river in Arlington saves money.

In Newport, summer rates, mansion tickets, seafood dinners and parking add up, and there are few cheap beds in town. Coming midweek, staying in Middletown or visiting in late autumn helps a great deal.

Newport's musical fame rests on a few summer weeks. The Jazz and Folk Festivals take place at Fort Adams with the harbour behind the stage, and in July chamber music fills the mansion ballrooms. The rest of the year there is little beyond bar bands.

Washington has a full programme all year. There is new work at Arena Stage, classics at the Shakespeare Theatre, and plays at Ford's Theatre and the Folger, as well as a national orchestra and opera. U Street's restored theatres host touring acts, and in summer Wolf Trap puts on concerts on an open lawn.

Neither city has a spa or bathing tradition, so in both, wellness mostly means hotel spas and yoga studios. Newport has the edge for unwinding. In May, June, September and October the Cliff Walk is quiet and the harbour slows down, but high summer is anything but restful.

Washington runs on a government town's working rhythm, and you have to find calm for yourself. Good places to look are an early walk round the Tidal Basin, the Dumbarton Oaks gardens and the National Arboretum.