Philadelphia or Stowe?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Philadelphia has the Atlantic within reach. The wide sands of Ocean City, Wildwood and Cape May are one to two hours' drive away, and the sea is warm enough to swim in late summer. Treat it as a weekend excursion, and expect heavy traffic down the shore.

In Stowe the swimming is all fresh water: chilly swimming holes in the mountain streams and small sandy lake shores at Waterbury Reservoir and Lake Elmore. They are a good way to cool off after a July hike, and nothing more.

Philadelphia has a food identity of its own. There are cheesesteaks, roast pork sandwiches and hoagies, the stalls of Reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market, and chef-run dining rooms where you bring your own wine. East Passyunk and Fishtown add good Mexican and Vietnamese cooking.

Stowe eats well for a small resort, but its strengths are produce and beer: hazy IPAs from some of the most sought-after breweries in the country, farm cheddar, maple syrup and cider doughnuts. The restaurants along Mountain Road lean towards farm-to-table and après-ski pub food, and choice thins out in the quiet seasons.

This is the widest gap between the two. Philadelphia has Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, the Georgian streets of Society Hill, and museums of real weight in the Barnes Foundation and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Add the Mütter Museum and Eastern State Penitentiary, and that is several full days.

Stowe offers the white steeple and covered bridges of a New England village, a ski museum and the von Trapp estate, which together fill an afternoon.

In Philadelphia you have a real choice of evenings: warehouse bars and craft-beer halls in Fishtown, cocktails around Rittenhouse Square, corner taverns in East Passyunk and the long-established Gayborhood. Student crowds keep weekends busy, though big dance clubs are few.

In Stowe, the evening means après-ski in the base-lodge bars and brewery taprooms. It is sociable in peak winter weeks and quiet the rest of the year, and little stays open past midnight.

Stowe is the clear choice for anyone who wants mountains. Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak have long ski runs and glades, the Long Trail and Smugglers' Notch offer proper hiking, and October foliage colours the whole valley.

Philadelphia's green space is good for a city. It has the wooded Wissahickon gorge, the Schuylkill River Trail past Boathouse Row, and the Pine Barrens about an hour away. This is gentle walking and cycling country, not a landscape you travel for.

Philadelphia sits on the Northeast rail corridor, so New York, Baltimore and Washington all make day trips by fast train. Lancaster County's Amish farms, the Gettysburg battlefield and the Brandywine gardens add variety, though several of these need a car.

Stowe's outings are pleasant but small, and all of them mean driving: Burlington's lakefront, the Shelburne Museum, Montpelier's gold-domed statehouse, and the cider mills and breweries of Waterbury.

Philadelphia has more ready-made things for children to do: the walk-through giant heart at the Franklin Institute, the Please Touch Museum for under-eights, the dinosaurs at the Academy of Natural Sciences and the oldest zoo in the country. Old City's costumed guides bring the history alive for older children, though some streets and stations are grubby.

Stowe suits families who want to be active together. There are ski schools and beginner slopes, a children's resort beyond Smugglers' Notch, sugarhouses, and a flat path for bikes and pushchairs. Nothing indoors is laid on, though, and every outing means the car.

In Philadelphia you can do without a car. Old City, Society Hill, Rittenhouse Square and the Parkway museums all sit within William Penn's flat, walkable grid. SEPTA's subway, trolleys and direct airport train fill the gaps, if plainly.

Stowe stretches about 11km along a single valley road. The village and the riverside recreation path are walkable, and a free shuttle runs in ski season, but a car is effectively essential, with snow tyres in winter.

Philadelphia can fill a shopping day. National brands and boutiques line Walnut Street, Old City and Fishtown have independent shops, and Jewelers' Row is one of the oldest diamond districts in the country. The vast King of Prussia mall is half an hour out, and there is no sales tax on clothing.

Stowe's shopping comes down to ski and outdoor gear, galleries, wool and pottery, and maple syrup and cheddar to take home.

Neither is cheap, but Philadelphia is easier on a budget. The founding sights are free, a cheesesteak makes a filling lunch and bringing your own wine trims the cost of dinner, though hotels and sit-down meals run at normal American rates.

Stowe is a well-known ski resort and priced like one. Lift tickets, rental and resort dining come on top of costly lodging, especially over Christmas, the school vacations and the foliage season. Summer and the quiet weeks of spring and November are kinder, and the valley motels help.

Philadelphia has a full season of serious music and theatre. The Philadelphia Orchestra plays on the Avenue of the Arts, opera and ballet fill the 1857 Academy of Music, Curtis Institute students give recitals, and the Walnut Street Theatre is the oldest working theatre in the country. Small jazz clubs and indie venues round out the week.

Stowe has a performing arts centre at Spruce Peak, summer community theatre and outdoor concerts tied to the von Trapp legacy. Outside the main seasons there is little on.

Stowe is made for slowing down. Its resort spas have saunas, steam rooms and heated outdoor pools where you can soak while snow falls on the mountain. Evenings of wood fires and quiet inns do the rest.

Philadelphia is quick and a little gruff. Relaxing there means a hotel or day spa, or a drive to a Korean-style bathhouse in the suburbs. A bench in one of Penn's leafy squares is the calmest option, and it costs nothing.