Salem, Massachusetts or Savannah?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Savannah gives the better day by the sea. Tybee Island's wide, flat sand and Atlantic water that turns properly warm in summer make for a lazy afternoon under an umbrella, even if the sea is marsh-coloured rather than clear.

Salem's own shores at Salem Willows and Winter Island are harbour edges for a picnic, and the good sand at Crane Beach needs a drive. The Gulf of Maine stays chilly even at its warmest, so swimming there is a short, bracing affair.

Savannah is plainly the better place to eat. Salem sticks to a short New England list of chowder, lobster rolls, fried clams and local oysters, served in modest bistros and brewpubs a few minutes' walk apart. Halloween crowds stretch that further in October, and anyone after an ambitious dinner tends to find it in Boston rather than in town.

In Savannah the cooking comes from the Lowcountry, so meals taste of the place: she-crab soup, a Lowcountry boil of shrimp, sausage and corn, and Southern dining rooms where dishes are shared family-style. A handful of chef-driven kitchens in old buildings across the historic district and around Forsyth Park give it a higher top end than Salem. There is little beyond Southern food, but a long weekend there is far more rewarding to eat through.

Both are rewarding historic towns, but Savannah's whole centre is the sight: Oglethorpe's grid of garden squares, live oaks and Spanish moss, Factors Walk and Bonaventure Cemetery make every walk a pleasure. The Telfair Museums and the Owens-Thomas House add depth, especially on the history of slavery.

Salem's strength is narrower and sharper: the 1692 witch trials, the maritime wharves and the Federal houses of Chestnut Street. It also has the single finest collection of the two in the Peabody Essex Museum, with its rebuilt Chinese merchant's house.

Savannah is far livelier after dark. Open-container rules let evenings roam between River Street's cobbled bars, City Market taverns and townhouse cocktail rooms, art students fill the dive bars, and St Patrick's Day becomes a citywide street party.

Salem offers a taproom pint or a cocktail and then bed, with streets quiet before midnight. Only the Halloween season brings crowds, and even then it feels like a festival rather than a late scene.

The two are broadly level, but the landscapes could hardly differ more. Salem's outdoors is rocky and northern: the Marblehead headlands, the granite shore of Cape Ann, whale-watching boats to Stellwagen Bank and birding on Plum Island, with autumn colour as the high point.

Savannah's is flat salt marsh and tidal creek, best explored by kayak or on a dolphin-spotting boat, with the oak avenue at Wormsloe for a gentler walk. Its summer heat and insects push outdoor plans into spring and autumn, while Salem's winters do the same in reverse.

Salem is the better base. Boston is about half an hour away by train, and the same line runs to Gloucester and Rockport, so the Freedom Trail, Harvard and the Cape Ann harbours need no car. Lexington, Concord, Newburyport and Plymouth add Revolutionary and colonial depth.

Savannah's best outing, Charleston, is a two-hour drive, though Beaufort, Hilton Head, Fort Pulaski and the Georgia islands are good closer options. Almost all of them depend on having a car.

Savannah is slightly easier with children. Forsyth Park and the shaded squares give room to run, the free river ferry and trolley tours are simple treats, and Tybee adds a gentle beach and a sea-turtle centre, though midsummer heat tires young legs.

Salem's draws are the replica tall ship, the old-fashioned arcade at Salem Willows and the museum's hands-on spaces, but much of the witch material dwells on hangings and can scare small children.

Both centres are compact and flat enough to see on foot, so the difference lies beyond them. Salem's commuter rail station puts Boston and Cape Ann within reach without driving, and in October the centre all but closes to cars.

Savannah's historic district has a free shuttle and a small ferry, but Bonaventure, Wormsloe and Tybee need a car, taxi or tour, and summer heat makes walking at midday harder than the map suggests.

Savannah has the more rounded browse, with Broughton Street's restored storefronts, boutiques, home-goods shops and work by art-school students and graduates. Salem's shopping is a curiosity of its own: tarot, crystals and spell books along Essex Street, plus antiques and the museum shop. Neither has fashion or department stores worth the trip.

Neither is cheap, but Savannah is a little gentler on the wallet. Its squares, park, riverfront and cemeteries cost nothing, and midweek summer stays or highway motels bring prices down.

Salem's few hotels and inns carry Boston-area rates, and in October rooms become scarce and costly. Its savings lie in walking and an inexpensive train, so many visitors sleep elsewhere and come in for the day.

Savannah has much more to attend, above all the Savannah Music Festival each spring, mixing chamber music, jazz, blues and Americana in historic theatres and churches. The Lucas and Trustees theatres, a local philharmonic and an autumn jazz festival in Forsyth Park add to it.

Salem has a modest theatre company, occasional talks and concerts at the Peabody Essex Museum and October re-enactments. For an orchestra or opera, visitors take the train to Boston.

Savannah is the more restful place, less for its handful of spas than for its pace: benches under the oaks, porches and garden courtyards in quiet inns, especially midweek in spring or autumn.

Salem is calm outside October, with harbour strolls and a spiritual streak of tarot readers and crystal healers, but the Halloween season turns it into the opposite of a retreat.