Ottawa or Portland, Maine?

Neither city is worth choosing for swimming, but the water is very different. Ottawa swims in fresh water, at supervised river beaches like Mooney's Bay and, better still, at Meech Lake and Lac Philippe in Gatineau Park, clear lakes that get properly warm in high summer.

Portland has the nicer sand, with wide strands at Crescent Beach, Higgins Beach and the old resort front of Old Orchard Beach. The Gulf of Maine stays cold, though. For an actual swim Ottawa's lakes are kinder, and for a walk along a sea beach Portland is the place.

Portland is far the better place to eat. Meals are the backbone of a visit there: oysters from Maine estuaries, lobster rolls and steamers at harbour shacks, chef-run restaurants cooking with local produce, and a dense craft beer scene in East Bayside and along Industrial Way.

Ottawa eats well enough but rarely memorably. The ByWard Market, Preston Street's Little Italy and the city's shawarma habit give it range, and the Québécois cooking across the river in Gatineau, with late-winter sugar shacks, gives it a French accent. There is no regional cuisine to plan a trip around, though.

Ottawa has much more to see. As the capital it holds the National Gallery, the Canadian Museum of History with its hall of totem poles, the War Museum and the Museum of Nature, along with Parliament Hill's Gothic Revival buildings and the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Portland's sights are charming but few. The brick lanes of the Old Port, the Winslow Homer works at the Portland Museum of Art, Victoria Mansion and Portland Head Light fill a day or two, about half the time Ottawa deserves.

Both are quiet after dark, but in different ways. Ottawa has a few dance clubs around the ByWard Market and a strip of pubs on Elgin Street, and late crowds cross the bridge to Gatineau, where the bars close later.

Portland has no real club scene and last orders come at 1am, but its drinking is better. Old Port oyster and cocktail bars, brewery taprooms and wine bars on Munjoy Hill make for a good evening after dinner rather than a late night.

Ottawa has the edge, mostly because Gatineau Park starts just across the river: forest, lakes, ridgetop lookouts and, in winter, a huge network of cross-country ski trails. Add the cycling paths along the canal, skating on the frozen canal and whitewater rafting upstream, and it makes a strong four-season base for people who like to be active.

Portland's outdoors faces the sea instead. You can kayak in Casco Bay, cycle on Peaks Island, take a schooner or whale-watching cruise, or walk the cliffs at Two Lights. Proper hiking means a two-hour drive to the White Mountains.

The day trips are equally good, but they lead to different places. From Ottawa the standout is a big city: Montreal is about two hours away by train. Kingston and the Thousand Islands, Upper Canada Village and the small lock towns along the Rideau Canal fill out the list.

From Portland the outings are a chain of small coastal towns: the Marginal Way at Ogunquit, colonial Portsmouth, shipbuilding Bath and the windjammers at Camden. Ottawa gives you one major city, and Portland gives you a scenic coast that really needs a car.

Ottawa is the easier and fuller choice with children. The dinosaurs at the Museum of Nature, the hands-on Science and Technology Museum, the aircraft hangar and the Children's Museum inside the Museum of History keep them busy whatever the weather, and winter adds tobogganing and skating on the canal.

Portland works well for a summer week of island ferries, tide pools at Fort Williams Park and the pier rides at Old Orchard Beach. Beyond the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine there is little for wet days, and outside summer it offers families much less.

Ottawa is easier to get around without a car. Its core of Parliament, market, gallery and canal is walkable, a light rail line crosses the city, and riverside paths with bike share make cycling a real way to get about. You only need a car for the further lakes and nearby towns.

Portland's peninsula is lovely on foot, if hilly in places, but the buses do little for visitors. Portland Head Light, the beaches and the coast towns all push most people into hiring a car.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference is in the type of shop. Ottawa has a proper downtown mall in the Rideau Centre, Indigenous art galleries around the ByWard Market, and independent bookshops and boutiques in the Glebe.

Portland is all small independents, selling Maine pottery, woollens and art in the Old Port. Twenty minutes north, Freeport's outlet town around L.L.Bean is the better hunting ground for outdoor gear.

Ottawa is noticeably easier on the budget. Hotels drop at weekends when government travel thins out, Parliament tours are free, several national museums have free hours, and cycling or skating the canal costs nothing. Meals in Gatineau are often a little cheaper.

Portland charges big-city rates for peninsula rooms in July, August and foliage season, and its main attraction, seafood, is expensive to eat. Shacks, food trucks and an off-season visit help, but it remains the costlier stay.

Ottawa has the broader stage. The National Arts Centre houses an orchestra and theatre companies working in English, French and Indigenous languages, and summer brings Bluesfest at LeBreton Flats, a jazz festival and Chamberfest.

Portland's calendar is smaller but steady. The symphony plays at Merrill Auditorium, Portland Stage puts on professional theatre, and the State Theatre brings touring bands. That is enough for a night out, but not enough to plan a trip around.

Ottawa offers something specific: the Nordic spa in Chelsea, about fifteen minutes away, where you move between hot pools, saunas and cold plunges among the trees, best of all with snow falling.

Portland has hotel day spas and the odd waterfront sauna. Its calm comes from the pace instead: a ferry to a quiet island, dusk on the Eastern Promenade and a long lunch by the harbour.