Seattle or San Francisco?

Neither city is a beach vacation, and both seas are too cold for more than a brave paddle. San Francisco's shore is the more dramatic to walk, with miles of Ocean Beach and Baker Beach facing the Golden Gate, but rip currents rule out swimming at Ocean Beach.

Seattle's edge is fresh water. In July and August Lake Washington warms enough for lifeguarded beaches at Madison Park and Matthews Beach. San Francisco has nothing like that, only wetsuited swimmers at Aquatic Park.

San Francisco is clearly the better food city. It covers more ground, from Mission burritos and North Beach bakeries to the Cantonese kitchens of the Richmond. It also has a fine-dining tier Seattle cannot match, with Napa and Sonoma wines close at hand.

Seattle's cooking is narrower but sharply defined by cold water: Sound oysters, wild salmon and geoduck, with Pike Place Market as the place to graze. Both cities share Dungeness crab and serious coffee, and Seattle adds craft beer and its teriyaki shops.

San Francisco has more to see and better collections to see it in. The Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and the painted Victorians of Alamo Square are known worldwide. SFMOMA, the de Young and the Legion of Honor give the city real depth in museums, enough for three or four days.

Seattle's sights are younger and fewer. There are the Space Needle and the Museum of Pop Culture on the 1962 World's Fair grounds, the rebuilt brick blocks of Pioneer Square and the Museum of Flight. Two or three days covers them, and fire long ago cleared the oldest layers of both cities.

A night out is much alike in both cities, with inventive cocktail bars, last call at 2am and quiet weeknights. The difference is in how the night is laid out. San Francisco spreads it across districts: the Mission's mezcal and dive bars, North Beach's old saloons, the Castro, and the SoMa warehouse clubs for dancing.

Seattle gathers most of it on Capitol Hill along Pike and Pine, so a busy street is easier to find, but there are fewer clubs. Ballard's brewery taprooms show the city's stronger taste for beer.

Both are excellent for the outdoors, but Seattle has the bigger landscapes within reach. The Cascades start under an hour east, with Mount Si, trails and winter ski areas near Snoqualmie Pass. Mount Rainier's meadows and glaciers and the Olympic rainforest are within a day's reach.

San Francisco's strength is wild coast close to the centre: Lands End, the Marin Headlands, the redwoods of Muir Woods and the elephant seals at Point Reyes. Add cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge and it is the better city for the shore, while Seattle wins in the mountains.

San Francisco has the better list of days out. The wineries and small towns of Napa and Sonoma lie about an hour north, and the coast leads south to Santa Cruz's boardwalk and to Monterey and Carmel. Sausalito is just a ferry ride away.

Seattle's best outings are by ferry, to Bainbridge Island or the Victorian seaport of Port Townsend. Woodinville's tasting rooms and Tacoma's glass museum are also easy. These are pleasant, but its biggest names, Vancouver and Victoria, really need an overnight stay.

Children are well catered for in both. Each city has a science museum, a zoo and an aquarium, plus steep streets that are hard going with a pushchair, and neither has a theme park. San Francisco's highlights are the Exploratorium, the rainforest and planetarium of the California Academy of Sciences, the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf and the cable cars.

Seattle answers with the aircraft at the Museum of Flight, the Seattle Center cluster around the Space Needle and summer swimming at the lake beaches. Its long wet season means indoor plans more often.

San Francisco is the easier city to manage without a car. It is only about 11km across, and buses, streetcars, BART and the cable cars reach most neighbourhoods on one card, although the hills turn short walks into climbs.

In Seattle, light rail links the airport with downtown, Capitol Hill and the University District, and the centre from Pike Place to Pioneer Square is walkable. Away from the rail, Ballard, Fremont and Alki mean slow buses that have to go round water and hills. For the national parks you need a car, whereas San Francisco only needs one for wine country or the coast.

Neither is a shopping destination, but San Francisco is slightly better for browsing. Union Square has the department stores and luxury flagships, and Hayes Valley, Valencia Street and Haight-Ashbury add boutiques and vintage.

Seattle is more practical: large outdoor gear shops, record shops on Capitol Hill and Fremont's Sunday market. For luxury you mostly have to cross the lake to Bellevue.

Both are costly, and San Francisco is the harder of the two on a tight budget. Hotels are expensive and climb further during big conferences, and tax, service charges and tips are added to every meal. Free parks, coastal trails and cheap taquerias only soften this so far.

Seattle is expensive too, especially in summer, but you can save more. Staying in an outer neighbourhood near the light rail or coming outside summer makes a real difference, and Pike Place counters and teriyaki shops keep meals cheaper.

Both cities have opera, a leading ballet company and a full symphony season. San Francisco has a little more range. Its opera, ballet and symphony share the Civic Center, SFJAZZ gives jazz a hall of its own, and there are the Fillmore and the free Stern Grove concerts.

Seattle's distinct strength is bands, as the city of Jimi Hendrix and grunge, with clubs in Belltown, Capitol Hill and Ballard busy most nights. Pacific Northwest Ballet's December Nutcracker is a local tradition.

Neither city is somewhere to go for rest and treatment. San Francisco has the easier options: a Japanese-style bathhouse in Japantown and Calistoga's mud baths and mineral pools about two hours north.

Seattle's bathhouses are Korean-style places out in the suburbs, and its hot springs are a long drive away. What it does better is pace: long coffee-house mornings and walks in the Arboretum feel slower than San Francisco's work-driven centre.