Portland, Maine or Stowe?

Portland is the only one of the two with real beaches. Crescent Beach, Higgins Beach and Pine Point are wide sandy strands just south of the city, and Old Orchard Beach has its pier and arcades. The cold Atlantic means sunbathing and paddling more than proper swims, though.

Stowe has no coast at all. Swimming means rocky stream holes or the small, unguarded sandy shores of Waterbury Reservoir and Lake Elmore. The lake water is actually warmer than Portland's sea, but the season lasts only from late June to early September.

Eating is one of the main reasons to visit Portland. Lobster rolls and steamers at harbour shacks, oysters from Maine estuaries, chowder, bakeries and potato-flour doughnuts fill the days, and the breweries of East Bayside and Industrial Way fill the late afternoons.

Stowe's strength is Vermont produce: hazy IPAs from celebrated breweries nearby, farm cheddar, maple syrup and cider doughnuts. The restaurants along Mountain Road lean towards farm-to-table dining rooms and après-ski pub food, and the choice is narrower and thins out in the quiet seasons.

Portland has a proper day or two of sightseeing. There are the brick and granite warehouses of the Old Port, rebuilt after the fire of 1866, and the Winslow Homer collection at the Portland Museum of Art. Add Longfellow's childhood home, Victoria Mansion, the 1807 Observatory and Portland Head Light just outside town.

Stowe's sights are mostly scenery: a white steeple, covered bridges, a ski museum and the von Trapp family's hillside estate. They make a pleasant afternoon, not an itinerary.

Neither town has clubs, but Portland gives you a real evening out. Pubs, oyster bars and cocktail bars cluster along Fore and Wharf Streets, quieter wine bars are spread through the West End and Munjoy Hill, and last orders come at 1am.

In Stowe, nights mean après-ski: packed base-lodge bars and taverns on Mountain Road during peak ski weeks, then very little after midnight. Anyone wanting a late night drives to Burlington.

Here Stowe comes into its own. Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak at 1,339m, rises right above the valley, with long ski runs, glades and backcountry in winter. Summer brings the Long Trail, the boulder-filled pass of Smugglers' Notch, waterfalls and well-built bike trails, and early October turns the whole valley red and gold.

Portland's outdoors is coastal and gentler: island walks reached by ferry across Casco Bay, sea kayaking, schooner sails and whale-watching, and clifftop rambles at Two Lights. For real mountains you drive about two hours to the White Mountains.

From Portland you have the whole southern Maine coast within reach. Kennebunkport and Ogunquit's Marginal Way are to the south, with colonial Portsmouth about an hour away, and Freeport, Bath's Maritime Museum and the windjammer harbour of Camden lie to the north.

Stowe's outings are fewer and are all inland. The best of them is the Shelburne Museum near Burlington, and there is also Lake Champlain, the gold-domed statehouse in Montpelier and the cider mills of Waterbury. Both places work best with a car.

Both work well with children, but in different ways. Portland gives you seaside outings in a small, easy city: the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine, ferry rides, tide pools and forts at Fort Williams Park, and the amusement park at Old Orchard Beach. It really works only in summer.

Stowe is for active families in either winter or summer. It has a large ski school with gentle beginner slopes, a children's resort beyond Smugglers' Notch, and in summer a flat river path for bikes and pushchairs, plus sugarhouses. Every outing there needs the car.

Portland is much easier without a car. The Old Port, Arts District, West End and Munjoy Hill are all a short walk apart on the peninsula, ferries leave from the waterfront and the train runs to Boston. You need a car only for the beaches and the coast towns.

Stowe stretches about 11km along one valley road. In the warmer months a riverside path links much of it, and in ski season there is a free shuttle. Otherwise a car is essential, and in winter that means snow tyres and careful driving on icy hills.

Portland can fill an afternoon of browsing. Exchange, Fore and Middle Streets have independent boutiques selling Maine pottery, woollens and art, and the outlet town of Freeport, built around L.L.Bean, is about twenty minutes north.

Stowe's shops are mostly ski and outdoor stores, a few galleries and craft shops, with maple syrup and cheddar to take home.

Neither is cheap, but Portland is easier on a budget. Summer rooms on the peninsula cost a lot and seafood dinners add up, but you can walk everywhere, eat at shacks and food trucks and skip the car for the city itself.

In Stowe the ski resort sets the prices. Lift tickets, rental and resort dining come on top of the lodging, and the Christmas weeks, school vacations and foliage season cost the most. Visit in summer or the shoulder months and stay at a valley-road motel to keep costs down.

Portland has a year-round calendar. The Portland Symphony Orchestra plays at Merrill Auditorium, Portland Stage puts on professional theatre and the historic State Theatre hosts touring bands.

Stowe's programme is seasonal: shows at the arts centre at the base of Spruce Peak, summer community theatre and lawn concerts tied to the von Trapp family's musical legacy. For an orchestra you would have to go to Burlington.

Stowe is the better place to unwind properly. Its larger resorts have full spas with saunas, steam rooms and heated outdoor pools where you can soak while snow falls on the mountain, and couples from the northeast's cities come for exactly that.

Portland offers a slower pace rather than treatments: a ferry to a quiet island, dusk on the Eastern Promenade, perhaps a waterfront sauna and a cold sea dip in summer.