Portland, Maine or Virginia Beach?

Here the gap is wide. Portland has pleasant sand at Crescent Beach, Higgins Beach and Old Orchard Beach, but the Gulf of Maine stays so cold that most people wade rather than swim. A beach day there is an extra, not the point of the trip.

Virginia Beach is built around its shore, with miles of wide sand along the Oceanfront boardwalk, lifeguards, surf near the fishing pier and water warm enough for long summer swims. The calm Chesapeake Bay beaches near First Landing and the dunes at Sandbridge give swimmers a choice that Portland's coast cannot match.

Portland is clearly the better place to eat. Harbour shacks, oyster bars shucking Maine estuary oysters and chef-run restaurants make meals a reason to visit in themselves, and the breweries of East Bayside and Industrial Way give the afternoons a second focus.

Virginia Beach also centres on seafood, with Lynnhaven oysters and Chesapeake blue crab, but the best of it is out by the inlet and the bay. The Oceanfront itself runs to chains and buffets, and diners who want more variety end up driving into Norfolk.

Neither city is a sightseeing destination, and either one's sights fit easily into a short stay. Portland's appeal is its streetscape and a good small museum: the brick and granite Old Port, rebuilt after the fire of 1866, Winslow Homer at the Portland Museum of Art, the lavish Victoria Mansion and Longfellow's childhood home.

Virginia Beach has fewer buildings but an older story. Cape Henry marks where English colonists first landed in 1607, beside a lighthouse from the first years of American independence, and the Thoroughgood House is a rare early colonial home. For deeper history it relies on the colonial sites up the peninsula.

Nights out are on a similar scale in both cities, and neither has a real club scene. The difference is in tone. Portland means craft beer taprooms, oyster and cocktail bars in the Old Port and quieter wine bars on Munjoy Hill, with last orders at 1am and very quiet midweek nights in winter.

Virginia Beach is louder and more casual. In summer the beach bars, rooftop decks and sports bars along Atlantic Avenue fill with vacationers and sailors, Town Center has a calmer cluster of cocktail bars, and Norfolk is close by for bars with more character.

Portland has a slight edge because its outdoors offers more variety. There are island ferries to Peaks and Chebeague, schooner sailing and sea kayaking on Casco Bay, rocky clifftop walks at Two Lights, and the White Mountains within reach for real hiking.

Virginia Beach is flat, but its wild coast is emptier and its water warmer. First Landing has maritime forest and cypress swamp, Back Bay and False Cape protect marsh and barrier beach, and summer brings surfing and kayak trips out to the dolphins.

Virginia Beach has the stronger day trips, mainly because Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, the Historic Triangle, make one of the country's great history days within an hour. Norfolk's battleship and waterfront and the Wright brothers' site at Kitty Hawk add variety.

From Portland the trips are a string of pretty coast towns rather than major sites: Ogunquit's cliff path, Kennebunkport, colonial Portsmouth, Bath's maritime museum and the harbours of Camden and Boothbay. From either city, most of these trips need a car.

Virginia Beach is the easier choice with children. It has an aquarium with sea turtles and otters, a water park, mini-golf, a boardwalk for cycling and gentle bay beaches for toddlers, and within an hour there is a big amusement park and Colonial Williamsburg.

Portland is relaxed and manageable. It has a children's museum, island ferries, and tide pools and forts at Fort Williams Park, with the amusement pier at Old Orchard Beach nearby. But it has no zoo or major aquarium, and the season for a family visit is much shorter.

Portland is far easier without a car, at least on the peninsula. The Old Port, the Arts District, the West End and Munjoy Hill are all within walking distance of each other, ferries leave from the waterfront and a train runs to Boston. You will still want a car for the beaches and the coast towns.

Beyond its boardwalk and summer trolley, Virginia Beach is suburban sprawl with sparse buses. Nearly everything, from Sandbridge to Town Center, means driving, often in heavy summer traffic.

Portland is the more rewarding place for an afternoon of browsing. The Old Port streets are lined with independent boutiques selling Maine pottery, woollens and art, and the outlet town of Freeport, home of the L.L.Bean flagship, is twenty minutes north for outdoor gear. Even so, a keen shopper will cover it all in a day.

Virginia Beach has a regional mall, national chains at Town Center and a long run of souvenir stores. Its surf shops, with deep roots on this coast, are the one truly local touch.

Virginia Beach is the cheaper of the two, though neither is a bargain in summer. The beach, boardwalk and state parks cost little or nothing, and rooms get much cheaper out of season. The main extra cost is a car.

Portland charges big-city rates for rooms on the peninsula in July and August and on foliage weekends, and lobster and chef-run restaurants push up the cost of eating. Seafood shacks, brewery food trucks and travelling outside the peak season keep the bill down.

The two are evenly matched here, and in both the arts make for an evening out rather than a reason to go. Portland has its stages in town: the Portland Symphony at Merrill Auditorium, professional theatre at Portland Stage and touring bands at the State Theatre.

Virginia Beach is strongest in summer, with a big outdoor amphitheatre for touring rock and country acts and free concerts on the boardwalk. Its opera, symphony and spring arts festival are over in Norfolk.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and in both a spa means a hotel or day spa. What differs is where the calm comes from. In Portland it is a ferry to a quiet island, a walk on the Eastern Promenade at dusk, or a waterfront sauna after a cold sea dip.

Virginia Beach is restful early in the morning on the boardwalk and through spring and autumn. In high summer, though, the resort is crowded and loud.