Philadelphia or Washington DC?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Philadelphia is far better placed for a day at the sea. Atlantic City, Ocean City and Wildwood are a little over an hour's drive away, with wide Atlantic sand and swimmable water from late June to early September.

From Washington the nearest beaches are small and brackish, on the Chesapeake around Annapolis, and late in the season there can be jellyfish. The proper ocean resorts in Delaware and Maryland are about three hours away, which makes them a weekend trip, so most visitors in summer cool off in the hotel pool.

You eat about equally well in both, but in different ways. Philadelphia's cooking is its own: cheesesteaks, roast pork with broccoli rabe and hoagies from corner delis, Reading Terminal Market and the Italian Market for grazing, and small chef-run rooms where you bring your own bottle.

Washington has less food that belongs to it and more variety from abroad. Ethiopian restaurants cluster around Shaw and U Street, pupusas fill Columbia Heights, and blue crabs and oysters come from the Chesapeake. At the top end, the tasting menus around Penn Quarter and Logan Circle aim higher than anything Philadelphia tries to do.

Washington has the deeper sightseeing, largely thanks to the Mall. Natural History, Air and Space, the African American history museum and the National Gallery stand close together, and because entry is free you can drop in for an hour or stay all day. The Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington add to the list.

Philadelphia wins on old streets. Independence Hall, Elfreth's Alley and the Georgian rowhouses of Society Hill are older and more complete than Georgetown's quiet Federal blocks. The Barnes collection of Impressionist painting is world class. Still, it is a four or five day city where Washington fills a week.

The nightlife is roughly level, and neither city is a reason to travel for it. Philadelphia's nights happen in neighbourhood bars: warehouse bars and craft-beer halls in Fishtown and Northern Liberties, cocktails around Rittenhouse, and an older LGBTQ+ scene in the Gayborhood. Last call is 2am and there are few clubs.

Washington has a little more for dancing. The 14th Street and U Street strip has rooftops and late dance spots, Adams Morgan stays rowdy, and a few large clubs book touring DJs. Its weeknights are quieter, though, because much of the drinking is after-work happy hours.

Washington offers more for anyone who wants to get outdoors. Great Falls, about half an hour up the Potomac, has a rocky gorge with climbing and whitewater kayaking. The C&O towpath runs for hundreds of kilometres from Georgetown, and the ridge hikes of Shenandoah are within a two-hour drive.

Philadelphia has a fine wooded gorge of its own in the Wissahickon, and the Schuylkill River Trail past Boathouse Row is good for running or cycling out of town. Beyond the city, though, the Pine Barrens and Brandywine country are pleasant and gentle, with nothing like the Blue Ridge.

Philadelphia makes the better base for day trips because it sits in the middle of the Northeast rail corridor. New York is about an hour and a quarter away by fast train, Baltimore and Washington are close too, and Lancaster's Amish country is reachable by train without a car.

Washington's outings are more about history. Old Town Alexandria is a short Metro ride, Mount Vernon is a little further south, and the battlefields at Gettysburg, Antietam and Harpers Ferry are a drive away. New York is too far for a comfortable day, and most of these trips need a car.

Both work well with children, and Washington has a small lead because so much of it is free. Families can spend days in the dinosaur halls and rocket galleries of the Smithsonian and at the National Zoo without paying, run about on the lawns of the Mall, and use the Metro's lifts with a buggy.

Philadelphia is more compact, and it has the play-led places Washington lacks. The Please Touch Museum is built for under-eights, the Franklin Institute has its giant heart, there is an aquarium across the river, and a Sesame Street theme park is a short drive north. The catch is that its museums charge admission.

Washington is easier to get around once you go beyond walking distance. Its Metro is clean, colour-coded and fitted with lifts, and it reaches Arlington, Alexandria and the airport. Bike-share and the riverside paths link up the monuments, though the Mall is longer than it looks and Georgetown has no Metro station.

Philadelphia makes up for this by being compact. Old City, Society Hill, Rittenhouse and the Parkway all lie on one flat grid you can walk. Outside that rectangle the SEPTA trains and trolleys are plain and sometimes grubby.

Shopping is a sideline in both cities, but the character differs. Philadelphia has Walnut Street boutiques, the old diamond dealers of Jewelers' Row, food gifts from Reading Terminal, and no sales tax on clothing, which helps with a big trip to King of Prussia.

Washington has more polish. CityCenterDC gathers the luxury labels, Georgetown's brick streets mix chains and antiques, and the Smithsonian and National Gallery shops are good places to buy books and prints.

Philadelphia is the cheaper of the two, mainly because of where you sleep. Washington hotel rooms are expensive all year, and dearer still in cherry blossom season or when a conference fills the city. Its cocktail bars and taxis are also priced for business accounts.

The balance shifts slightly on sightseeing. Washington's museums, zoo and memorials are free, while Philadelphia's free sights are mostly the founding landmarks and its big art museums charge full price. Even so, Philadelphia's cheap sandwich lunches and bring-your-own-wine dinners keep a stay there cheaper overall.

The two are broadly level, with different strengths. Philadelphia leans classical: the Philadelphia Orchestra on the Avenue of the Arts, opera and ballet in the 1857 Academy of Music, and recitals by Curtis students. It also has the Walnut Street Theatre, the oldest working theatre in the country.

Washington is the better theatre city. Arena Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth and the playhouse at the Folger cover everything from the classics to sharp contemporary plays. The U Street music halls bring in big touring acts, local shows play go-go, and Wolf Trap's lawn concerts are a summer evening out.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and both move at a working pace, so rest has to be found. In Philadelphia that means a spa near Rittenhouse Square, a drive to the Korean-style bathhouses in the suburbs, or a quiet hour in the Wissahickon gorge. Washington's calm spots are more formal gardens: Dumbarton Oaks, the National Arboretum and an early walk round the Tidal Basin.