Pittsburgh or Rehoboth Beach?

For a swim there is no contest. Pittsburgh's rivers are for paddling, not swimming. Its nearest beaches are a reservoir lake in Moraine State Park and Presque Isle on Lake Erie, both freshwater and both a drive away.

Rehoboth is built around its beach. Pale Atlantic sand lies in front of the boardwalk, with lifeguards, and the sea in high summer is warm enough for long swims. When the town end gets crowded, there are wilder stretches at Cape Henlopen and Delaware Seashore State Park.

Pittsburgh gives you more to explore at the table. It has the grocers, fishmongers and Asian markets of the Strip District, the pierogies and haluski of its Eastern European families, and the chef-led kitchens of Lawrenceville and East Liberty.

Rehoboth eats well for a beach town, with crab cakes, raw bars and vinegar-soaked boardwalk fries. Craft beer is a strength in both places. Rehoboth has no market culture, though, and much of its food scene scales down once summer ends.

Pittsburgh has a museum city's worth of sights. There are the Carnegie's dinosaur halls and art collection, the Andy Warhol Museum, the Nationality Rooms in the Cathedral of Learning and the Frick estate. Richardson's courthouse and the view of the bridges from Mount Washington round it off.

Rehoboth's list is short: Methodist camp-meeting cottages, the Rehoboth Art League's galleries in their garden and a small museum house. Anyone keen on history ends up driving to Lewes.

Neither is a place to plan a trip around going out, and in both a night out means bars rather than clubs. Pittsburgh spreads its drinking across several neighbourhoods all year. Butler Street has the breweries and cocktail bars, East Carson Street has the student pub crawls, and on game nights the bars fill with fans in black and gold.

Rehoboth's evenings are seasonal and more sociable. It is one of the East Coast's best-known LGBTQ resorts, with piano lounges and drag nights, and Dewey Beach's loud deck bars draw a younger crowd. Outside summer the town goes quiet, while Pittsburgh's bars keep going all year.

Pittsburgh has more variety outdoors. Wooded ravines run through Frick and Schenley parks inside the city. About an hour and a half away there is whitewater rafting and there are waterfalls at Ohiopyle, the Great Allegheny Passage cycle trail and autumn colour across the ridges.

Rehoboth's outdoors is flat and gentle. You get the dunes and salt marsh of Cape Henlopen, easy cycling to Lewes, and kayaking or paddleboarding on the inland bays, sometimes with dolphins offshore.

The two have a similar number of outings, but of a different kind. From Pittsburgh the highlight is architecture: Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob in the Laurel Highlands, with Ligonier's fort and the Flight 93 memorial on the same side of the city.

Rehoboth's trips are to coastal towns: historic Lewes next door, the ferry across Delaware Bay to Victorian Cape May, Ocean City's boardwalk and Chincoteague. From either place you need a car for nearly everything.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Pittsburgh's attractions are mostly indoor and educational: the Science Center's submarine, the National Aviary and the dinosaur halls, with Kennywood's wooden coasters in summer. The hills mean a car helps.

Rehoboth is the classic beach vacation, with Funland's gentle rides, lifeguarded sand close to the rental houses and calm bay water at Cape Henlopen. It is at its best in summer and has little for children out of season, while Pittsburgh's museums work in any weather.

Rehoboth is a little easier once you are there. It is flat, compact and walkable, bikes are everywhere and a seasonal trolley runs to Dewey Beach. The catch is getting there, by car on a highway that clogs on summer weekends, and then finding somewhere to park.

Pittsburgh's walkable core is downtown, the North Side and the Strip, linked by bridges and the T. Beyond that, hills, rivers and a bus network built for commuters make it slow to move between neighbourhoods, so most visitors use ride-hailing at night.

Rehoboth has the edge, largely because Delaware has no sales tax. The outlet centres outside town draw shoppers from neighbouring states, and Rehoboth Avenue adds independent boutiques, bookshops and galleries.

Pittsburgh is better for browsing than for buying. There are the Strip District's stalls, vintage and design shops on Butler Street and boutiques on Walnut Street in Shadyside. Big brands mean a drive to the suburban malls.

Pittsburgh is the cheaper place to stay. Downtown hotels cost well below what the coastal cities charge, and casual meals and beer are fairly priced. Tips and rides between neighbourhoods are the main extra costs.

In summer, Rehoboth charges resort prices for rooms near the beach, for meals and for parking. The beach itself is free, and rates fall sharply in spring and autumn, so going outside the peak narrows the gap.

Pittsburgh's Cultural District gives it the stage programme of a much larger city. The symphony plays in Heinz Hall, and the Benedum Center has opera, ballet and touring musicals. The city also has a jazz heritage rooted in the Hill District, where August Wilson set most of his plays.

Rehoboth has free summer concerts at the bandstand, musicals and cabaret from a small theatre company, and a film festival in autumn. That makes a pleasant evening, but for bigger touring acts you have to drive south.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and both have the usual day spas and hotel spas. Rehoboth's advantage is its pace. In June and September, and on autumn weekends, the empty boardwalk and the bike paths under the pines make for a quiet, restful break.

In Pittsburgh, the calmest places are the warm glasshouses of Phipps Conservatory and the paths of Frick Park. For a proper spa stay you drive to the resort hotels of the Laurel Highlands.