Pittsburgh or Williamsburg, Virginia?

Neither town is a beach destination, but Williamsburg at least has salt water within easy reach. The calm little strip at Yorktown is about 20 minutes away, and the Atlantic sands of Virginia Beach are about an hour's drive. In high summer the bay is warm enough for a proper swim, though sea nettles can drift in.

Pittsburgh has only freshwater options. The small reservoir beaches at Lake Arthur are a three-quarter-hour drive, and the better sand at Presque Isle on Lake Erie is two hours north, so most visitors who want to swim settle for a city pool.

Pittsburgh is the place to eat well. The Strip District is a long market street of Italian grocers, fishmongers and Asian stores. Central European dishes such as pierogies and haluski survive in diners and at church sales, and Lawrenceville and East Liberty have serious chef-led kitchens and a strong craft-beer culture.

Williamsburg's best meals are its simplest: a country ham biscuit at breakfast, or crab cakes and oysters from the Chesapeake. The candlelit colonial taverns are worth booking for the atmosphere more than the cooking. Beyond Merchants Square's few bistros, Richmond Road is mostly pancake houses and chains.

Williamsburg puts its history in one place. Duke of Gloucester Street runs past the Capitol, the taverns and Bruton Parish Church to the Wren Building. Costumed tradespeople work along the way and the Governor's Palace stands at the end of its green, so the whole town feels like one large, carefully rebuilt exhibit. The folk and decorative art museums round it out.

Pittsburgh has strong collections, including the Carnegie's dinosaur halls, the Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory's installations. They are spread between Oakland, the North Side and Point Breeze, though. Its most memorable sight is the view of rivers and bridges from Mount Washington after the ride up the incline.

Pittsburgh gives you a real night out, mostly in bars rather than clubs. Lawrenceville's Butler Street has cocktail bars and breweries, East Carson Street on the South Side is a loud, student-heavy strip, and on game nights the bars fill with fans in black and gold.

In Williamsburg, most visitors finish the evening with a ghost walk or a tavern supper. The student pubs near the college and a few taprooms on the edge of town are as lively as it gets.

Pittsburgh's landscape is steep and wooded, with ravine trails in Frick and Schenley parks and riverside bike paths in the city itself. An hour and a half away, Ohiopyle's gorge offers whitewater rafting, waterfalls and forest hikes, and the Great Allegheny Passage runs out through the same hills.

Williamsburg's Tidewater is flat and gentle. It is good for a ride along the empty Colonial Parkway or for paddling tidal creeks to look for ospreys and bald eagles. There is nothing to climb, though, and the humid summers bring mosquitoes.

Williamsburg sits at the centre of a tight cluster of history. Jamestown and Yorktown are each under half an hour away, and the James River plantation houses and Richmond's capitol and Civil War sites are an easy drive further.

Pittsburgh has one outstanding excursion: Fallingwater, which pairs well with Kentuck Knob and the fort at Ligonier for a full day in the Laurel Highlands. The Flight 93 memorial and Old Economy Village add a little more, but beyond those the choice runs out quickly.

Williamsburg is built around family trips. Busch Gardens has rides for every age and Water Country USA is next door, while the Historic Area lets children join a parade, watch a musket fired or quiz a blacksmith. There are motels with pools everywhere.

Pittsburgh is a good second choice. It has the Science Center's submarine, the free-flying birds of the National Aviary, the dinosaur halls and Kennywood's old wooden coasters. Those sights are spread over hilly neighbourhoods, though, so the days take more planning.

Pittsburgh gives you a little more without a car. Downtown is compact, the T light rail crosses to the North Side's museums, and the inclines climb Mount Washington. To reach Oakland or Lawrenceville in the evening, most visitors still call a ride.

In Williamsburg you can walk the flat historic core from end to end in about 20 minutes. Everything else, from the theme parks and outlets to Jamestown and Yorktown, is spread along highways that only a car really covers.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the appeal differs. Pittsburgh's is local browsing: food stalls and kitchenware in the Strip District, vintage and design shops on Butler Street, and boutiques on Walnut Street in Shadyside.

Williamsburg sells its theme. Pewter, pottery, silver and hand-printed books are made in eighteenth-century styles in the Historic Area. Merchants Square has Virginia gifts, and Richmond Road has a large brand outlet centre.

Overall the two cost about the same, but the money goes on different things. In Pittsburgh the hotels are cheap for an American city even downtown, and the extra cost comes from rides between neighbourhoods and the busy football weekends.

In Williamsburg, motel rooms are easy on the budget outside summer peaks. The admission tickets to the historic sites and theme parks are the big expense, along with a rental car you can hardly do without.

Pittsburgh has a proper Cultural District. The symphony plays in the gilded Heinz Hall, and the Benedum Center hosts opera, ballet and touring Broadway shows. There is jazz heritage from the Hill District that August Wilson wrote about, and indie bands play in Lawrenceville.

Williamsburg's performances belong to the colonial setting. You can hear candlelit harpsichord-era recitals, see period theatre or watch the fife-and-drum corps on Duke of Gloucester Street. Anyone wanting a professional orchestra has to drive to Richmond or Norfolk.

Williamsburg makes it easier to slow down. The historic inn and the golf resorts along the James River have spas and pools, and early mornings on the empty greens or a drive down the Colonial Parkway are calm once you avoid the theme-park side of town.

In Pittsburgh, wellness means a massage at a hotel or day spa and a quiet hour in Phipps Conservatory's warm glasshouses. A real resort stay means driving out to the Laurel Highlands.