Salem, Massachusetts or Williamsburg, Virginia?

Neither is a beach town, and in both a proper beach day means driving out. Where they differ is the water. Salem's own shores at Salem Willows and Winter Island are harbour edges, and the good sand lies up the North Shore at Crane Beach's dunes, where the Gulf of Maine stays cold even in August.

Williamsburg is inland between two rivers. It has a small, calm strip of sand at Yorktown, and the Atlantic resort beaches of Virginia Beach are about an hour away. Bay and ocean are warm enough for a long swim all summer, although sea nettles can drift into the bay in high summer, and many visitors settle for the hotel pool or a water park.

Salem eats somewhat better, mostly thanks to the sea. Chowder, fried clams, lobster rolls and North Shore oysters come from small bistros and brewpubs around the pedestrian streets and the wharf, all within walking distance. Williamsburg's ham biscuits, peanut soup and crab cakes are good in their simple form. Its candlelit colonial taverns, though, sell atmosphere more than cooking, and Richmond Road is mostly pancake houses and buffets.

Neither suits a trip built around food. From Salem, Boston's restaurants are a short train ride away. In Williamsburg, the best extra is a glass at one of the wineries on the edge of town.

Williamsburg offers the fuller step into the past. Colonial Williamsburg re-creates a whole eighteenth-century capital along Duke of Gloucester Street, from the Capitol to the Wren Building. Interpreters work in the shops, and the Governor's Palace stands at the head of its green. It is mostly a reconstruction, but a thorough one, and it fills two or three days.

Salem's history is more scattered and covers more ground. There are the sober witch-trial sites and the Witch House, the wharves and custom house of its seafaring years, and the Federal mansions of Chestnut Street. Its strongest single asset is the Peabody Essex Museum, whose Asian and maritime collections and rebuilt Chinese merchant's house reach well beyond the American story.

Both towns go to bed early, and the difference is in who fills the bars. Salem's taprooms and cocktail bars around the pedestrian centre come alive in October, when costumed Halloween crowds keep them busy. Williamsburg's livelier evenings come from students at the pubs near the college in term time; otherwise it is a tavern dinner and a ghost walk. For a proper night out, Salem has the easier escape, a train into Boston, while from Williamsburg it means driving to Norfolk or Richmond.

Salem has the more rewarding outdoors. You can walk the granite shore of Cape Ann at Halibut Point and the Marblehead headlands, kayak among the harbour islands, watch birds on Plum Island and take a boat from Gloucester out to the humpback whales of Stellwagen Bank. Autumn colour is the high point of the year.

Williamsburg's Tidewater is flatter and quieter, all forest, marsh and wide estuaries. The traffic-free Colonial Parkway and the Virginia Capital Trail from Jamestown make easy cycling, and paddlers on the Chickahominy may see ospreys and eagles. Hot summers full of mosquitoes push most outdoor plans into spring and autumn.

Salem has Boston on its doorstep, half an hour away by commuter train, with the Freedom Trail, Beacon Hill, Harvard and the city's museums. Lexington and Concord, Cape Ann and the brick centre of Newburyport are close as well, and much of the list works without a car.

Williamsburg's outings are really part of the main trip. Jamestown and Yorktown are minutes away and complete the Historic Triangle story, with the James River plantation houses and Richmond's capitol and Civil War sites beyond. They matter nationally rather than internationally, and almost all of them need a car.

Williamsburg is built for families in a way Salem is not. Busch Gardens has big coasters for older children and gentle rides for small ones, Water Country USA is close by, and in the Historic Area children can join a fife-and-drum parade or question a blacksmith. Motels with pools and child-friendly restaurants are everywhere. The trade-offs are the summer heat and the driving between sights.

Salem works best with older children. The replica tall ship, the pirate museums and the old seaside arcade at Salem Willows go down well. Much of the witch material is too dark for little ones, though, and for an aquarium or a science museum families go into Boston.

Salem is far easier without a car. The station is a short walk from the centre, nearly everything lies within twenty minutes on foot, and trains run direct to Boston and up the coast to Rockport. Only Crane Beach, the state forests and Concord really call for driving.

In Williamsburg, the walkable core is just the Historic Area, Merchants Square and the college campus, with a shuttle around the edge. The theme parks, the outlets, many of the hotels, Jamestown and Yorktown are spread along highways with weak bus service, so nearly every visitor drives.

Each town sells a speciality rather than a full high street. Salem's Essex Street and Pickering Wharf are lined with tarot, crystal and spell-book shops, with antique dealers and the Peabody Essex Museum shop for something finer.

Williamsburg's colonial shops sell pewter, pottery and reproduction furniture made in eighteenth-century styles. It also has an outlet centre and a long-established pottery and homeware store on Richmond Road, which give it a little more range for everyday buying.

Williamsburg is the cheaper place to stay, mainly because rooms are plentiful. Motels, chain hotels and condos line the main roads and are reasonably priced outside the peak weeks. The costs that add up are admission to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and the theme parks, plus a rental car and fuel.

Salem works the other way round. Its few hotels and inns charge Boston-area prices, and in October a fair rate is hard to find. On the other hand, walking and a cheap train ride replace the car, and most sights charge modest fees.

Williamsburg has more on in the evenings, though nearly all of it comes in period costume. There are candlelit eighteenth-century recitals, colonial theatre and fife-and-drum corps on Duke of Gloucester Street, plus student concerts and plays at William & Mary in term time and stage shows at the theme parks. Salem's own offering is a small professional theatre company, occasional concerts at the Peabody Essex Museum, a few bar bands and the witch-trial re-enactments of October.

Williamsburg makes for the more restful stay. The spas at the historic inn and the golf resorts along the James River offer pools and treatments, and early mornings on the empty greens or a slow drive down the Colonial Parkway set a calm pace.

Salem has a few day spas, plus tarot readers and crystal healers in keeping with its spiritual side. Outside October its waterfront and Chestnut Street are quiet enough for a slow stroll, but during the Halloween season the town is anything but relaxing.