Paris or New York?

New York wins here outright, because it actually sits on the ocean. The boardwalk and amusement park at Coney Island, the longer, surf-friendly sands of the Rockaways and the big Long Island beaches give a genuine Atlantic beach day in summer, even if the crowds are heavy at weekends.

Paris is inland and its summer beaches are sand laid on the riverbanks, with swimming in the Bassin de la Villette, the Seine and some fine Art Deco pools. They are fine for cooling off, but for sea swimming you face a two-hour train to a cool Channel coast at Deauville or Trouville.

Both rank among the great eating cities, and the difference is one of character. New York's strength is breadth: nearly every cuisine cooked by its own community, from Flushing's Chinese to Jackson Heights' Colombian and Tibetan, plus cheap local classics like the slice, the bagel and the pastrami sandwich.

Paris eats from a deeper single tradition, built on the neighbourhood boulangerie, cheese shop and market, the classic bistro and the haute cuisine that shaped fine dining everywhere. Pastry and natural wine are high points, and Belleville and the 13th add North African and Vietnamese cooking, though the range of world kitchens is narrower than New York's.

Paris comes out ahead. The Louvre, the Orsay's Impressionists, Notre-Dame and the Sainte-Chapelle carry the weight of centuries, and the city around them, with Haussmann's boulevards, the Marais townhouses and the UNESCO-listed Seine banks, makes sightseeing a pleasure between the museums.

New York's museums are just as formidable in their own way, with the Met, MoMA and the Natural History museum, and its landmarks are famous worldwide. Its history, though, is mostly from the last two centuries, seen in brownstones and cast-iron fronts rather than in a medieval core.

New York has the bigger, later night. Bars stay open into the small hours, the trains run all night, and the range takes in East Village dives, West Village wine bars, rooftop bars facing the skyline and North Brooklyn warehouse parties that go on past dawn.

Paris does a night out well, but in a different way: an evening that starts on a terrace or at a canal-side bottle and moves through the crowded bars of Oberkampf, Belleville and South Pigalle. Most bars close around 2am, after which the clubs take over, and the overall mood is chic rather than wild, with door policies that can be choosy.

Neither city is a destination for wild country, and both rely on great parks. New York's are big designed landscapes like Central Park and Prospect Park, plus waterfront walks such as the High Line, and a train up the Hudson reaches the steep, rocky climbs of Breakneck Ridge, with fine October colour.

Paris leans on formal gardens and the large woods of Boulogne and Vincennes, with flat canal routes for cycling. Its best escape is Fontainebleau forest, known for its sandstone boulders, which suits gentle walks and climbing rather than the harder hiking near New York.

Paris has far more within easy reach. Versailles, Fontainebleau, Chantilly, Chartres and Giverny are all about an hour or less away, and fast trains bring Reims and its Champagne houses, Rouen, the Loire at Tours and even Brussels into day-trip range.

New York's best outing is Philadelphia's colonial old town, with Princeton, New Haven, the Hudson Valley estates, Dia Beacon and Storm King as good options. They are worthwhile, but the list is shorter, and Long Island's wine country and the Hamptons stretch a single day.

Paris is the more rewarding family base. Disneyland and Parc Astérix are a short train ride out, the Cité des Sciences is a vast hands-on museum, and the Luxembourg gardens with their carousels, puppets and toy sailboats suit younger children well.

New York still has excellent draws in the Natural History museum's dinosaurs, the Bronx Zoo and the free Staten Island Ferry. The daily wear is greater, though: Midtown's crowds and noise tire children quickly, so a hotel near a park makes a real difference. Both cities share the problem of stair-only stations and small hotel rooms.

Both are easy without a car, and Paris has a slight edge for its compact centre, where a walk from the Marais to Saint-Germain or along the river to the Eiffel Tower is often the best part of the day. The RER also runs straight to the airports, Versailles and Disneyland.

New York's advantage is a subway that runs around the clock across four boroughs and a Manhattan grid that makes it hard to get lost. Distances are longer, though, the local and express lines take some learning, and airport transfers are clumsy.

These are two of the world's great shopping cities, about equally strong, and the difference is in flavour. New York's range is vast and very American, from the Fifth Avenue flagships and Madison Avenue luxury to SoHo brands, Brooklyn vintage and records, and specialist sneaker and electronics stores.

Paris has the couture houses where luxury fashion began, on Avenue Montaigne and the Faubourg Saint-Honoré, plus antiques and curiosities you won't find in New York: the covered passages, the huge Saint-Ouen flea market, the riverside bouquinistes, and chocolate, cheese and mustard to carry home.

Both are expensive, but New York is the harder on the wallet. Manhattan hotels are small and dear all year, restaurant bills carry tax and an expected tip, and observation decks and museums charge steep entry. Staying in Brooklyn, Queens or New Jersey and living on slices and food carts helps a lot.

Paris costs less day to day, though it is still far from cheap. Walking covers much of the centre, the city's own museums have free permanent collections, and bakeries, markets, lunchtime set menus and riverside picnics keep food affordable.

New York has the edge, mostly because so much of its stage is in English. Broadway and Off-Broadway, the Met Opera, the Philharmonic and New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and a century of jazz in the Village and Harlem make for a choice no other city matches, and the parks host free concerts and Shakespeare in summer.

Paris is still excellent for classical music and dance, with the Palais Garnier, the Opéra Bastille, the Philharmonie and candlelit concerts in the Sainte-Chapelle. Its theatre, from the Comédie-Française down, is largely in French, which leaves the cellar jazz clubs and Pigalle cabaret as the easier evenings for most visitors.

Neither city is a place to unwind, and both ask you to look for calm in pockets. New York's bathing tradition is the richer, with a century-old Russian and Turkish bathhouse in the East Village, Brighton Beach banyas and big Korean spas in Queens.

Paris offers the tiled hammam of the Grande Mosquée with mint tea, and otherwise rest means a chair in the Luxembourg gardens or an evening by the Seine, against New York's quiet mornings at the Cloisters or the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.