Newport, Rhode Island or Wilmington?

Wilmington is the better beach base. Wrightsville Beach has wide pale sand and clear water, Carolina Beach adds a boardwalk, and Kure Beach is quieter. The sea is warm enough to swim in from late spring well into autumn. You do have to drive to reach them, and rip currents are worth watching.

Newport's beaches are nearer the harbour. Easton's Beach sits below the Cliff Walk, and Gooseberry and Third Beach are calm for paddling. The Atlantic here stays cool, though, and the swimming season is only about ten weeks long.

The two are much alike in quality: both make good eating for a few days without being a reason to visit, and both are built on seafood. Newport means New England fare, such as lobster rolls, Rhode Island clear chowder, clam cakes and local oysters on the wharves, with wineries on the island's eastern shore.

Wilmington is Southern: shrimp and grits, fried flounder and the vinegar-sauced whole-hog barbecue of eastern North Carolina, with craft breweries north of downtown. Newport's choice shrinks further in winter, when some places close, and Providence is the nearest step up.

Newport has far more to see. The Breakers, Marble House and the other Bellevue Avenue 'cottages' are some of the grandest houses in America, and the Point and Historic Hill keep a large group of colonial houses, along with Touro Synagogue and the Redwood Library. The Tennis Hall of Fame and Fort Adams round out the list.

Wilmington's appeal is its large antebellum and Victorian historic district under the live oaks. The Bellamy Mansion is frank about the port's enslaved labour, and the Battleship North Carolina sits across the river. Both are worth seeing, but the list is shorter and the houses are less grand.

Wilmington has a little more going on after dark. University students keep the bars and rooftop terraces around Front Street busy at weekends, and in summer the beach towns add their own easy-going bars.

Newport's night out is pubs and waterfront decks along Thames Street, packed with sailors and wedding parties on summer Saturdays, but it ends early and shrinks to a few local pubs out of season. Neither has much of a club scene.

Both suit outdoor trips on the water, but the coastlines are very different. Newport has the rocky Atlantic shore: the Cliff Walk between mansions and surf, the wave-cut ledges at Brenton Point, and birding at Sachuest Point. It is also one of the great sailing harbours of North America.

Wilmington is low marsh and tidal creek country. You can kayak to undeveloped Masonboro Island, fish from the piers, and see wild Venus flytraps in Carolina Beach State Park. Neither offers hills; the Carolina marshes bring summer insects, while Newport's winters are windy.

Newport has the stronger list. Providence's museums and restaurants are under an hour away and Boston is within reach, while the ferry runs to Block Island. New Bedford's whaling museum and Mystic's seaport give it real variety in both directions.

Wilmington's best day is heading south to Southport, with the Bald Head Island ferry and the Fort Fisher earthworks along the way. New Bern and Beaufort are a long two hours north. They are pleasant small-town outings, with fewer choices than you get from Newport.

Wilmington is easier with children. Carolina Beach has an old-fashioned boardwalk with rides and arcades, the aquarium at Fort Fisher, the battleship's decks and the Children's Museum cover rainy days, and there are plenty of beach rental houses for families.

Newport has enough for a few days: the carousel at Easton's Beach, the touch tanks at Save The Bay, and the ramparts of Fort Adams. Its main sights, though, are long mansion tours that bore most children, and the busiest summer days on its narrow streets wear families out.

Newport is much easier without a car. The harbour, Thames Street and the colonial quarters sit close together, and a summer trolley and local buses reach the mansions and nearby beaches. A car is still needed for most day trips, and parking in summer is slow.

In Wilmington, you can only do without a car downtown. The riverwalk links a flat, walkable historic core, but the beaches are 15km or more away, buses are rarely useful to visitors, and the aquarium and Southport can only be reached by road.

Neither is a shopping destination, but Newport has a bit more to browse. You'll find galleries and preppy sailing clothes on Bowen's and Bannister's Wharves, a few boutiques on Bellevue Avenue, and antiques and decorative arts on Spring and Franklin Streets.

Wilmington's best shopping is its independent bookshops, galleries and antique dealers on Front Street and in the old Cotton Exchange, plus surf wear in the beach towns. For anything mainstream, people drive out to the suburban malls.

Wilmington costs a good deal less. City hotels are reasonable outside summer and casual seafood and barbecue are fair value, though summer rentals by the beach go up and a hire car is hard to avoid.

Newport is expensive for most of its season. Rooms in town are steep from summer through early autumn, and mansion tickets, seafood dinners and parking add up. Staying in Middletown, or coming midweek or in winter, is the usual way to keep costs down.

The two are roughly level, but their calendars look very different. Newport's fame rests on a few summer weeks: the Jazz and Folk Festivals at Fort Adams with the harbour behind the stage, and chamber music in the mansion ballrooms. Outside those weeks there is little beyond bar bands.

Wilmington spreads its offering across the year. Thalian Hall, the restored opera house, has theatre and touring shows, there is a community symphony, and in the warmer months bands play on outdoor stages by Greenfield Lake and the river.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both the spas belong to hotels and resorts. Newport's calm comes in May, June, September and October, when the Cliff Walk is quiet and the harbour slows down; high summer there is anything but restful.

Wilmington's appeal is its unhurried pace: calm evenings on the riverfront and an easy feel outside summer weekends. Neither has thermal baths or a true retreat.