Salem, Massachusetts or Wilmington?

Salem's own shoreline is a string of harbour edges at Salem Willows, Winter Island and Forest River Park, good for a paddle and a picnic. For proper sand, such as Crane Beach in Ipswich, you have to drive, and the Gulf of Maine stays cool even in August.

Wilmington is a real beach destination. Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach each have a different feel and are all within half an hour, and the sea is warm enough for long swims from late May into October. The downsides are summer parking and rip currents on rough days.

Both cities eat from the sea. Salem serves chowder, fried clams, lobster rolls and North Shore oysters, while Wilmington has local shrimp, flounder and shrimp and grits. Wilmington has the edge, though: its modern Southern kitchens in old brick buildings, its craft breweries and eastern North Carolina's vinegar-sauced whole-hog barbecue give it a clearer regional identity.

Salem's choice is narrower, with little fine dining and menus built for crowds in October. Keen eaters tend to save their best meals for a day in Boston.

Salem has more to see. Its witch-trial history of 1692, from the Witch Trials Memorial to the Witch House, sits beside the wharves of the maritime park, the House of the Seven Gables and the Federal houses of Chestnut Street. The Peabody Essex Museum is a major collection in its own right, with a complete Chinese merchant's house rebuilt inside.

Wilmington's strength is its streets more than its institutions. Its large historic district has antebellum and Victorian houses under live oaks, it has the Bellamy Mansion, and the Battleship North Carolina lies across the river. Beyond those, the museums are modest.

Neither town is a place for clubbing, but Wilmington is the livelier night out. Front Street fills with bars, rooftop terraces and students at weekends, and beach bars stay open through the summer.

Salem winds down early, with taprooms and cocktails in historic buildings and quiet streets well before midnight. The big exception is October, when Halloween crowds in costume keep the bars full. The rest of the year, a late night means taking the train to Boston.

Both coasts are low and gentle rather than dramatic, and Wilmington has a little more to do outdoors. You can paddle out to undeveloped Masonboro Island, surf off Wrightsville and see Venus flytraps growing wild in Carolina Beach State Park, which you can only do in this corner of the Carolinas.

Salem's outdoors suits walkers and wildlife watchers. There is the granite shore at Halibut Point, the Marblehead headlands, birding on Plum Island and whale-watching boats from Gloucester out to Stellwagen Bank. Autumn colour is its best season, while Wilmington's marshes come with humid summers and biting insects.

Salem is a far better base for day trips. Boston is half an hour by commuter train, and Lexington and Concord are an easy drive. Marblehead, Gloucester and Rockport lie along the same coast, and much of this works without a car.

Wilmington's outings are pleasant small-town days. You can visit Southport and take the ferry to car-free Bald Head Island, passing Fort Fisher's Civil War earthworks and Brunswick Town on the way, and New Bern and Beaufort are two hours north. Most of these trips mean driving, and none matches a day in a major city.

Wilmington is the easier family choice, at least in summer. Children get the beaches, the rides and arcades on the Carolina Beach boardwalk, the aquarium at Fort Fisher, the battleship's decks and a Children's Museum, and there are rental houses near the sand to stay in.

Salem is small, flat and safe, and older children enjoy the pirate museums, the tall ship and the arcade at Salem Willows. Much of the witch history is grim for young ones, though. Each place has a weak spot: in Wilmington it is the summer heat and constant driving, and in Salem it is the October crush.

Salem is the place to leave the car behind. Its sights are all within a twenty-minute walk, the station is close to the centre, and trains run straight to Boston and up to Cape Ann. Only the outlying beaches and forests need a car.

In Wilmington, the riverwalk and historic district are pleasant on foot, but the beaches are 15km or more out and buses are infrequent. You will need a car for the aquarium and Southport.

Neither is a place to go for shopping, and the difference is one of character. Salem sells the occult, with tarot cards, crystals, herbs and spell books along Essex Street and Pickering Wharf, plus antiques and the Peabody Essex Museum shop.

Wilmington has boutiques, galleries and antique dealers on Front Street and in the Cotton Exchange, and surf wear in its beach towns. For fashion, you have to go elsewhere from either city: Boston from Salem, and the suburban shopping centres from Wilmington.

Wilmington is easier on a budget. Off-season rooms in the city are reasonable and casual seafood and barbecue are fair value, though summer beach rentals push prices up and a hire car is hard to avoid.

Salem has few hotels, and rooms cost what they do around Boston for most of the year. In October, beds at sensible rates are especially hard to find. Day-to-day costs are lower, though, since the town is walkable and the train is cheap.

Wilmington has more of its own on stage. Thalian Hall, a restored 19th-century opera house, is at the centre of a calendar of local theatre, a community symphony and touring shows. In summer, bands play outdoors by Greenfield Lake, and there are long-standing jazz and blues festivals.

Salem's scene is small: a modest theatre company, concerts at the Peabody Essex Museum and October re-enactments. Its advantage is that Boston's orchestra, opera and theatres are a train ride away.

Neither has a bathing tradition, but Wilmington is the better place to unwind. With its slow pace, calm evenings on the waterfront, yoga studios and resort spas near the beaches, it is easy to switch off outside summer weekends.

Salem has a few day spas, plus tarot readers, crystal healers and meditation sessions that fit its spiritual side, and Chestnut Street is good for a quiet walk. In October, though, it is far from relaxing.