Portland or Vancouver?

Vancouver has real beaches inside the city. English Bay, Kitsilano, Spanish Banks and Wreck Beach fill with picnics and volleyball on summer days, and the sunsets over the bay are part of the appeal. The water is chilly, so most people swim at the saltwater pool at Kitsilano or just take a quick dip.

Portland's equivalent is the river. There are small sandy patches on the Willamette and longer beaches on Sauvie Island, pleasant for a swim in high summer. The Oregon coast is an hour and a half's drive away, with a cold Pacific and strong currents that make it better for walking than for swimming.

At the table the two are evenly matched, and the difference is in where the best meals come from. In Portland the cheap, good food is at the cart pods, where owners cook anything from Georgian dishes to barbecue for shared tables. In Vancouver it is noodle shops, sushi counters and Taiwanese snacks. Both cities cook with the same coast's salmon and Dungeness crab, but Vancouver does more with its seafood: spot prawns and oysters are central to its better menus, and the Cantonese seafood halls make the trip out to Richmond worthwhile.\n\nDrink goes the other way.

Portland's breweries, coffee roasters and Willamette Valley pinot noir make it easy to spend an afternoon tasting. Vancouver's taprooms along Main Street and its Okanagan wines are good, but nobody travels for them. Neither city has a cuisine of its own, and a sit-down dinner usually costs more in Vancouver.

Neither city is a sightseeing destination, and two or three days covers either. Portland's best sights are its gardens, the Japanese Garden in Washington Park and the walled Lan Su Chinese Garden, plus the view to Mount Hood from Pittock Mansion.

Vancouver's standout is the Museum of Anthropology, whose totem poles and canoes give the city a clear focus on First Nations art. It also has its own classical Chinese garden in Chinatown, and Emily Carr at the art gallery.

Portland is the better night out. Each neighbourhood, from Alberta and Mississippi to Division and Belmont, has its own row of taprooms, cocktail bars and dive bars with pinball, and they stay open well past midnight. The mood is relaxed and local rather than wild.

Vancouver goes to bed earlier. Gastown's cocktail bars and the summer patios in Yaletown are pleasant, and the Davie Village anchors the gay scene. What it does have is a proper club strip on Granville Street, which Portland largely lacks, though it is only busy at weekends.

Portland has a great deal of wild country within reach. Forest Park's 110km of trails begin where the northwest streets end, and on clear days Mount Hood and Mount St Helens stand on the horizon. The best of it needs a car, though: the waterfalls of the Gorge, windsurfing at Hood River and the slopes of Mount Hood.

Vancouver goes further, because the wilderness reaches right into town. Skiing and forest trails on Grouse, Cypress and Seymour are under half an hour from downtown, and Stanley Park's cedar forest fills a peninsula next to the centre. Kayakers head for Deep Cove and Indian Arm, orca and humpback watching trips go out on open water, and the Sea-to-Sky Highway leads to Squamish's climbing walls and Whistler.

Portland has the better choice of days out. Wine country around McMinnville and Dundee is under an hour away, and further out there is Astoria's river port and maritime museum, Cannon Beach, and Hood River with its orchards and the Gorge. Almost all of them need a car.

Vancouver's list is shorter. Victoria is the highlight but takes a long day with the ferry, and the closer options, Steveston, Fort Langley and Bowen Island, are small outings rather than full days.

Vancouver is clearly easier with children. A day in Stanley Park can take in the aquarium, the miniature train, a water park and the seawall, and Science World and the Granville Island ferries are right in the centre. Suspension bridges over the North Shore canyons and summer tidal pools add some adventure.

Portland is relaxed and pleasant with a family. The science museum, OMSI, has a submarine to climb through, and there is the zoo in Washington Park and the old rides at Oaks Park. But there is no beach to play on, and the visible homelessness in parts of downtown bothers some parents.

Vancouver is easier to get around. Its driverless SkyTrain runs from the airport, the SeaBus crosses to North Vancouver, one card covers the lot, and the downtown districts sit close together along the seawall.

Portland's centre is just as easy on foot thanks to its short blocks, and the MAX light rail also comes in from the airport. The difference is that its best neighbourhoods lie spread across the east side, reached by bus. Its outings depend on a car far more than Vancouver's do.

There is about the same amount to buy in each, but of a different kind. Portland is independent: Powell's City of Books takes up a whole block, there are vintage and record shops along Mississippi and Hawthorne, and the Saturday Market sells local crafts. Oregon's lack of sales tax helps too.

Vancouver offers what Portland does not, chain flagships on Robson Street and luxury houses on Alberni. It also has the Granville Island studios and Northwest Coast Indigenous art, which make the most distinctive souvenirs.

Neither city is cheap, but Portland is the gentler on your budget. Its hotels cost about what other large American cities charge, and food carts and low transit fares keep daily spending down. The extra cost to plan for is hiring a car.

Vancouver is expensive, especially in summer, when cruise traffic pushes up room rates. The North Shore attractions add up for a family. Its noodle shops, dim sum and free seawall soften the bill, and room prices drop outside summer.

The two are evenly matched, and both symphonies even play in restored 1920s movie palaces. The difference is in the kind of live music. Portland's draw is its club circuit, with indie and folk bands in small east-side rooms most nights and shows at the historic Crystal Ballroom.

Vancouver comes alive in summer. Bard on the Beach performs Shakespeare in tents in Vanier Park, the Fringe takes over Granville Island, and the folk festival plays on Jericho Beach.

Vancouver is the slightly better place to unwind. It has good hotel day spas, many yoga studios, plenty of massage and reflexology places in Chinatown and Richmond, and a calm, green setting, with Nordic-style outdoor spas a drive away near Whistler.

Portland has a few soaking houses with saunas and cold plunges, and its gardens and long café mornings are restful. The Cascade hot springs are two hours away by car. Neither city has a bathing tradition of its own.