Quebec City or Toronto?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Toronto at least has real sand on the water. The Toronto Islands and Woodbine Beach give you shallow swimming with skyline views a ferry or streetcar ride from downtown, though the lake can turn cold overnight.

In Quebec City the St Lawrence is too cold and fast for swimming. The Baie de Beauport is a place for sun and volleyball, and a proper swim means driving to the lakes north of the city for the afternoon.

Toronto gives you much more range. Its eating follows its immigrant communities, from Spadina's Chinatown and the Danforth's Greek tavernas to the suburban plazas of Scarborough and Markham, with chef-driven restaurants on Ossington on top.

Quebec City is narrower but has a stronger local identity: tourtière, pea soup, poutine and maple in every form, sugar shack meals in spring, and Saint-Roch bistros cooking with Île d'Orléans cheese, duck and cider. It is the better place for regional food and the weaker one for variety.

Quebec City has the stronger historic core by a distance. The only walled city north of Mexico, with the Château Frontenac, the Citadelle, Place Royale and the Plains of Abraham, gives you four centuries of French colonial history on foot.

Toronto's appeal is its museums rather than its streets. The Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario hold larger collections than anything in Quebec City, but outside the Distillery District and Casa Loma the city is mostly modern.

Toronto offers far more choice, spread over separate strips: wine and cocktail bars on Ossington and Dundas West, dressed-up clubs on King West, casual Queen West and the gay village on Church Street. Last call comes earlier than you might expect for a city of its size.

Quebec City's nights are mostly drinks rather than dancing, on the Grande Allée terraces, in the taprooms of Saint-Jean-Baptiste and in Saint-Roch's wine bars. It is lively in summer and during carnival, and quiet on a February weeknight.

Quebec City sits much closer to real wild country. Montmorency Falls is fifteen minutes out, and within an hour there is the glacial valley of Jacques-Cartier park and the ski runs of Le Massif above the river. Winter adds ice canoeing, skating and snowshoeing.

Toronto's nature is mainly inside the city: the wooded ravines of the Don and Humber, High Park, the Scarborough Bluffs and paddling around the Islands. The Niagara Escarpment is close for hiking, but forest and lakes like Algonquin need a weekend.

Quebec City has more good outings within a short drive. The Île d'Orléans with its parishes and cideries, the shrine at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, the Huron-Wendat community at Wendake and the galleries of Baie-Saint-Paul make several different days out.

Toronto has one standout, Niagara Falls with Niagara-on-the-Lake and its wineries, and it can be reached by train as well as car. Stratford's Shakespeare festival is the other strong draw. After that the choice gets thin in both cities.

Toronto has more to fill a family week: a large zoo across forested valleys, the shark tunnel aquarium, the CN Tower's glass floor, the ROM's dinosaurs, Centreville on the Islands and Canada's Wonderland's roller coasters to the north.

Quebec City is smaller but wonderful in winter, with the toboggan run on the Dufferin Terrace, carnival snow sculptures, a nearby ice hotel and an aquarium with polar bears and walruses. The old town's stairs and steep slopes are harder with a pushchair.

Toronto is the easier city to move around. Downtown is a flat grid, the PATH lets you cross the core underground in winter, and the subway, streetcars and an airport train cover the main routes, though suburban trips are slow.

Quebec City's centre is compact enough to walk, but the cliff between the upper and lower towns means stairways, steep streets and the funicular, all hard going in ice. There is only a bus network, and you really need a car for the parks and the island.

Quebec City is for small, local finds, while Toronto has a big city's full range, from luxury houses to large malls and young Canadian labels. In Quebec City you browse the craft workshops, jewellers and milliners of Petit-Champlain and the antiques on Rue Saint-Paul, and take home maple, ice cider or Inuit and First Nations art. There is no luxury fashion, and much of what is sold inside the walls is souvenirs.

Toronto is the place for a real shopping trip. Bloor Street through Yorkville has the international fashion houses, the glass-roofed Eaton Centre and Yorkdale cover the big brands, and Queen West, Ossington and Kensington Market are good for vintage, homeware and independent designers.

Quebec City is the gentler on the wallet, though not cheap: rooms inside the walls are expensive in summer and during carnival, and Saint-Roch is better value. Its main sights, the walls, the terrace, the Plains and the basilica, cost nothing.

Toronto's downtown hotels and bar drinks are costlier still. The savings come from noodle shops, roti spots and suburban food courts, and from free walks through the ravines and neighbourhood strips.

Toronto is well ahead. Musicals at the Royal Alexandra, the Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet at the Four Seasons Centre, the Toronto Symphony and Massey Hall, plus nightly indie, jazz and Caribbean music in the clubs along Queen West and College, make it a city to plan evenings around.

Quebec City's highlight is the Festival d'été in July on the Plains of Abraham. Beyond that it has Canada's oldest symphony orchestra at the Grand Théâtre, Robert Lepage's Le Diamant, and mostly French-language theatre.

Quebec City has the bathing culture Toronto lacks. Its Nordic spas, with outdoor hot pools, saunas and cold plunges in snowy forest, lie around Lac-Beauport and even in the old port, and the city's slow terrace and café pace suits a restful stay.

In Toronto you have hotel spas in Yorkville and a few Korean bathhouses in the suburbs, and you need a drive to the countryside for the Nordic experience. Quiet comes from a ravine walk or Ward's Island.