Savannah or Williamsburg, Virginia?

Neither city is on the sand, but Savannah gets much closer to a real beach vacation. Tybee Island's broad, flat Atlantic beach is about half an hour east, and the water is properly warm through summer, even if the marshes give it a greenish-brown colour.

From Williamsburg, a swim usually means the hotel pool or Water Country USA. The small river beach at Yorktown is calm but modest, and the ocean resorts of Virginia Beach are an hour's drive. In high summer, sea nettles in the bay are one more reason to stay on land.

Savannah eats noticeably better. Lowcountry cooking gives it a real identity: shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, Lowcountry boil, oysters roasted over fire. On top of that it has a small group of serious chef-led restaurants in restored townhouses south of Forsyth Park.

Williamsburg has good Virginia staples in ham biscuits, peanut soup and Chesapeake crab, but its colonial taverns sell atmosphere more than cooking, and Richmond Road is mostly pancake houses and buffets. Its best meals are the simple ones, and a few bistros on Merchants Square are about as far as fine dining goes.

The two are closely matched, but they offer different kinds of history. Savannah's appeal is an authentic eighteenth-century town plan you simply walk through, with garden squares, Victorian and Greek Revival houses, the Telfair Museums and the Owens-Thomas House's frank account of slavery. It is a city lived in rather than staged.

Williamsburg is a deliberate re-creation. Costumed interpreters play wigmakers and statesmen along Duke of Gloucester Street, many of the buildings have been rebuilt on their old foundations, and the Wren Building and the folk-art collections add real substance. Pick Savannah for atmosphere and architecture, or Williamsburg for history explained in front of you.

Savannah has an actual night out. Open-container rules let evenings roam from River Street's cobbled bars to the taverns of City Market and cocktail rooms in old townhouses, and art students keep a few dive bars and dance nights going. On St Patrick's Day the whole city turns into a street party.

Williamsburg goes to bed early. A tavern supper, a ghost walk or a pint near the college in term time is usually the whole evening, and anyone wanting more drives to Norfolk or Richmond.

Both sit in flat, humid tidewater country, but Savannah's surroundings have a bit more character. You can kayak through salt marsh at high tide, take boat trips to watch dolphins and see the oak avenue at Wormsloe, all within easy reach.

Williamsburg's strengths are quieter and more about land. The traffic-free Colonial Parkway and the Capital Trail are excellent for cycling, and there are kayaking creeks with ospreys and bald eagles. In both places, spring and autumn are the seasons to go outdoors.

Both are equally strong for day trips, but they point in different directions. From Savannah the trips are to other handsome old towns and islands: Charleston two hours north, Beaufort among the Sea Islands, Jekyll and St Simons down the Georgia coast.

Williamsburg's outings are short and steeped in history. Jamestown and Yorktown are each under half an hour away, with the James River plantations and Richmond beyond. Either way you need a car.

Williamsburg is the stronger family choice by a distance. Busch Gardens and its water park sit alongside a Historic Area where children can join a fife-and-drum parade or quiz a blacksmith, and Jamestown's forts and ships add another day. Motels with pools and restaurants used to children make it easy.

Savannah works with children but wasn't designed for them. Trolley tours, the free ferry, ghost walks and Tybee's sea-turtle centre fill a few days, but there is no theme park, zoo or aquarium to anchor a longer stay.

Savannah is the easier place to manage without a car. Its grid of squares packs hotels, restaurants and sights into one flat, walkable core, and a free shuttle and a river ferry cover the gaps. You only need wheels for Tybee, Bonaventure and Wormsloe.

Williamsburg's walkable district is small, a twenty-minute stroll from the Capitol to the college. Everything families come for, from the theme parks and outlets to most hotels, Jamestown and Yorktown, is spread along highways, so a car is close to essential.

The two are broadly level here, and neither gives you a reason to make the trip for shopping: neither town has a luxury district or a department store worth the detour. The difference is in how you shop. Savannah suits the aimless browser, someone happy to drift down one restored street and through the squares, stepping into whatever looks interesting, from an art-school graduate's print to an old book. Skip River Street and City Market unless you want pralines and hot sauce to take home.

Williamsburg suits a shopper who knows what they want. The period workshops of the Historic Area are where you buy a lasting keepsake of the colonial visit, while the outlet centre on Richmond Road is a car trip for families stocking up on familiar American brands. You get less pleasure from the wandering itself, but more chance of going home with something specific.

Williamsburg is somewhat easier on the budget, mainly because it has so many motels and chain hotels along its main roads. The catch is the admission fees: Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and the theme parks all charge separately, so combination passes are worth looking into.

Savannah's historic-district inns cost more, especially on spring weekends. In return, its best pleasures cost nothing: the squares, Forsyth Park, the riverfront and Bonaventure Cemetery are all free to wander.

Savannah has more to offer, provided you time it right. The spring Savannah Music Festival fills historic theatres and churches with chamber music, jazz and blues, and the restored Lucas and Trustees theatres, a philharmonic orchestra and an autumn jazz festival in Forsyth Park add to that.

Williamsburg's performances are mostly part of the colonial show: candlelit recitals, period theatre and fife-and-drum corps, along with college concerts in term time. There is no professional company of note in town.

Neither has a bathing tradition, so in both, wellness mostly means hotel spas and a slower pace. Savannah has a slight edge for rest: a quiet inn on a southern square, a shaded bench or a garden courtyard all make idleness easy, as long as you avoid River Street at weekends.

Williamsburg's calm is found on the edges of the day and the town. Early mornings on the empty greens, golf-resort spas by the James River and slow drives on the Colonial Parkway all help, once you are away from the theme-park crowds.