Portland, Maine or Williamsburg, Virginia?

Neither town is a beach destination, and each falls short in its own way. Portland has proper sand close by, at Crescent Beach, Higgins Beach and the old resort beach of Old Orchard. But the Gulf of Maine stays cold enough that most people wade rather than swim.

Williamsburg has the warm water, and the Chesapeake is pleasant for swimming all through high summer. The sand is a drive away, though: a small strip at Yorktown, Buckroe Beach in Hampton, or Virginia Beach about an hour off. Because of sea nettles in the bay, many families settle for the hotel pool or the water park.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. People come to Portland to eat: lobster rolls at harbour shacks, Maine oysters at raw bars, and chef-run restaurants cooking with local produce. Dozens of breweries add to it, in East Bayside and along Industrial Way.

Williamsburg's best meals are simple Virginia ones: a ham biscuit, crab cakes, or soft-shell crab in season. There is also a handful of bistros around Merchants Square. You go to the candlelit colonial taverns for the setting, and the pancake houses and buffets on Richmond Road are built for theme-park crowds rather than food lovers.

Williamsburg is far ahead here. Colonial Williamsburg is a whole restored capital, with costumed tradespeople along Duke of Gloucester Street, the Governor's Palace, the Capitol and the Wren Building. Its art museums add serious collections of folk and decorative art, and the whole place fills two or three days.

Portland's sights are pleasant rather than substantial. There is the brick Old Port rebuilt after the fire, the Portland Museum of Art with its Winslow Homer works, Victoria Mansion, and Portland Head Light just outside town. A day or two covers them, so they fit around the meals rather than being the main event.

Neither is a place for clubbing, but Portland at least gives you a proper evening out. The Old Port packs pubs, oyster bars and cocktail bars along Fore and Wharf Streets, and the brewery taprooms fill early. Quieter wine bars are spread across the West End and Munjoy Hill.

In Williamsburg the night usually ends with a tavern dinner or a candlelit ghost walk. Student pubs near the college and a few taprooms on the edge of town are about all there is. Anyone who wants more drives to Norfolk or Richmond.

Portland's outdoors is more varied and closer to hand. Ferries take you to Peaks and Chebeague islands for walks and cycling. Schooners, sea kayaks and whale-watching boats leave from the harbour, the rocky shore at Two Lights is good for clifftop walks, and the White Mountains are about two hours away for real hiking.

Williamsburg's flat Tidewater country is gentler. You can cycle the Colonial Parkway and the Virginia Capital Trail, walk forest paths in York River State Park, or kayak the Chickahominy among ospreys and herons. Summer heat and mosquitoes push outdoor plans into spring and autumn.

Both make good bases for day trips, but the trips are of different kinds. From Portland you visit coastal towns: Kennebunkport and Ogunquit to the south, and Portsmouth's colonial waterfront about an hour away. To the north are Bath, Boothbay Harbor and Camden, which are charming harbours rather than major sights.

From Williamsburg the trips are about history. Jamestown and Yorktown are each well under half an hour away, and the James River plantation houses line Route 5. Richmond, an hour off, adds the state capitol and Civil War sites. In both places a car makes everything easier.

Williamsburg is the stronger family choice by some way. Busch Gardens and Water Country USA give you full theme-park days. In the Historic Area children can march with the fife and drum or ask a blacksmith questions, and Jamestown and Yorktown add replica ships and forts. Family motels with pools are everywhere.

Portland is easy with children but small in scale. There is the Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine, tide pools at Fort Williams Park, the island ferries and the amusement pier at Old Orchard Beach. It has no zoo or theme park, and only summer really works for a family visit.

Portland is easier without a car, though not by much. On the peninsula you can walk between the Old Port, the Arts District, the West End and Munjoy Hill, and the island ferries leave from the waterfront. The beaches and the coast towns still call for a hire car.

Williamsburg's walkable centre is smaller: the Historic Area, Merchants Square and the college campus, about 20 minutes end to end on flat ground. Everything else, from the theme parks to Jamestown, is spread along highways, so nearly every visitor drives.

The two are level and both are small-scale, but they sell different things. In Portland the Old Port streets are lined with independent boutiques, Maine pottery, woollens and galleries. Freeport's outlet town around L.L.Bean is twenty minutes north, and it is the place for outdoor gear.

In Williamsburg the thing to buy is colonial craft: pewter, silver, tin, and books printed the eighteenth-century way, sold in the Historic Area shops. Merchants Square adds gifts, and there is a large outlet centre on Richmond Road. Neither place has luxury labels.

Williamsburg is the easier place to keep costs down. Outside summer weekends, its many motels, chain hotels and condos along the main roads are reasonably priced, and meals cost what they do anywhere in the country. The admission tickets for the Historic Area, Jamestown, Yorktown and the theme parks add up quickly, though.

Portland charges big-city rates for rooms on the peninsula in July, August and the autumn-colour season. Lobster and chef-run restaurants make eating out expensive. You can soften the cost by eating at seafood shacks and food trucks, or by coming outside the peak season.

Portland has the wider choice of evenings out. The Portland Symphony Orchestra plays at Merrill Auditorium, Portland Stage puts on professional theatre, and the State Theatre brings touring bands.

In Williamsburg most performances are part of the colonial setting: candlelit recitals, period theatre and fife-and-drum corps. Student concerts at William & Mary and theme-park stage shows add a little more. For an orchestra or professional theatre, visitors go to Norfolk or Richmond.

Both are gentle places to slow down rather than places to book treatments, and neither has a bathing tradition. In Portland the calm comes from the water: a ferry to a quiet island, dusk on the Eastern Promenade, perhaps a waterfront sauna or a cold sea dip.

Williamsburg relies more on resort comfort, with spas at the historic inn and at the golf resorts along the James River. Early mornings on the empty colonial greens and slow drives down the Colonial Parkway add to the quiet.