Ocean City, Maryland or Salem, Massachusetts?

This is Ocean City's home ground. About 16km of wide, soft Atlantic sand runs the length of the island, with lifeguards throughout and summer water warm enough for whole days of swimming and bodyboarding. Assateague's undeveloped dunes are close by when the boardwalk end gets crowded.

Salem's own shores at Salem Willows, Winter Island and Forest River Park are for paddling and picnics. Good sand, such as Crane Beach, means a drive, and the sea stays bracing even in August.

Neither town is a food destination, and they eat at a similar level. The difference is in style. Ocean City is about the crab feast: steamed blue crabs on brown paper, Old Bay and mallets, followed by boardwalk fries, taffy and custard. Away from those, it is diners and chains.

Salem works in a New England register, with chowder, fried clams and lobster rolls, plus independent bistros and brewpubs within a short walk of each other. The serious meals are in Boston.

Salem has far more to see. It tells two stories, the 1692 witch trials and the merchant wealth that followed, through the Witch House, the maritime national park, the House of the Seven Gables and the Federal mansions of Chestnut Street. The Peabody Essex Museum alone is worth the trip.

Ocean City offers the Life-Saving Station Museum, an old carousel and the boardwalk itself. That is pleasant for an hour, but it will not fill a day.

Ocean City is the place for a night out, at least in summer. It has huge open-air bayside bars with sand floors, sunset crowds and dance bars along the Coastal Highway that stay full until closing. The scene is young and loud, and it runs on beer and DJs rather than craft cocktails.

Salem's evenings are a taproom pint or a drink in an old building, then an early night. Only the Halloween season keeps the streets busy, and real nightlife means the train to Boston.

The two are evenly matched outdoors but look very different. Ocean City is flat barrier island and marsh. Its best outing is Assateague, with wild ponies, dunes and back-bay kayaking, and the town is a serious base for offshore marlin fishing.

Salem's coast is rockier and better for walking, along the Marblehead headlands and Cape Ann's granite shore. Plum Island is excellent for birding, Gloucester boats go whale-watching on Stellwagen Bank, and the autumn colour is something Maryland's coast cannot match.

Salem makes much the better base. Boston is half an hour away by train, Lexington and Concord are an easy drive, and Marblehead, Cape Ann, Newburyport and Portsmouth are all within reach, several of them without a car.

From Ocean City the outings are gentler and fewer: small Delmarva towns such as Berlin and Snow Hill, the ponies of Chincoteague, Rehoboth Beach and Lewes to the north, and the ferry from Lewes over to Cape May. No big city is close enough for a comfortable day out.

Ocean City is the stronger choice with children. Beyond the guarded beach there are two boardwalk amusement parks, water parks, go-karts and mini-golf every few blocks, and condo rentals make longer stays easy. Peak weekends and the graduation crowds of early June are the downsides.

Salem works better for older children who enjoy the pirate museums, costumes and the replica tall ship. Little is made purely for kids, though, and much of the witch material is grim for young ones.

Salem is far easier without a car. The wharf, the Common, Chestnut Street and the museums all lie within a short walk, and the station has direct trains to Boston and Cape Ann. You only need to drive for the beaches and inland towns.

Ocean City is a long, narrow strip that almost everyone reaches and explores by car. The boardwalk and the old inlet downtown are walkable, and a summer bus runs along the Coastal Highway. Moving between neighbourhoods still means a busy road, and parking is tight on peak weekends.

Salem has the more interesting shopping, mostly because it is so unusual. Essex Street and Pickering Wharf are full of shops selling tarot cards, crystals, herbs and spell books, alongside antique dealers, independent bookshops and a good museum shop.

Ocean City sells beach life: T-shirts, surfwear, sunglasses and fudge on the boardwalk, plus an outlet centre on the mainland for mainstream brands.

Ocean City is easier on the wallet. Older motels a few blocks back, condos shared within a group, boardwalk food and a free beach keep costs down. Late May and September bring room rates well below midsummer while the sea is still usable.

Salem has few beds and charges Boston-area prices for them, and October is especially hard. The savings are in walking, the cheap train and modest museum fees, not in where you sleep.

Ocean City puts on light entertainment. Touring comedians, tribute bands and family shows play the convention centre theatre, free summer concerts fill the boardwalk bandstand and the beach, and cover bands play in the bars.

Salem's own scene is just as small but more serious, with a modest professional theatre company, concerts and talks at the Peabody Essex Museum, and witch-trial re-enactments in October. Its real advantage is Boston, where opera, a symphony orchestra and major theatre are a train ride away, with a late service back.

Both have only a handful of day spas, and neither is restful in its peak season. Ocean City is noisy all summer, so calm comes in the shoulder months on an empty northern beach. Salem is a quiet harbour town for most of the year, with slow walks along Chestnut Street and a spiritual sideline of tarot readers and meditation. October is the exception.