St. Louis or Washington DC?

Neither city has a beach, but Washington at least has water within reach. The Chesapeake Bay around Annapolis is about an hour away, with small, warm and brackish beaches, and the Atlantic resorts make a weekend trip.

From St. Louis the coast is hundreds of kilometres away. Swimming means a pool or a long drive to an Ozark reservoir lake.

St. Louis has the stronger local identity on a plate. There is toasted ravioli, cracker-thin Provel pizza, gooey butter cake and rib barbecue, as well as the old Italian trattorias of the Hill. It is a city for eating well and cheaply, not for big culinary nights.

Washington has the broader and more ambitious scene. Ethiopian restaurants cluster around Shaw and U Street, there are Salvadoran pupusas, and Chesapeake crab and oysters come in season. Union Market and Eastern Market are good for grazing, and tasting menus around Logan Circle and the waterfront give it a serious top end.

St. Louis has a satisfying few days of sights. You can ride up the Gateway Arch and see the Old Courthouse where the Dred Scott case began. The free art museum in Forest Park, the mosaics of the Cathedral Basilica and the Wainwright Building are all worth the time. Its Victorian streets in Lafayette Square and Soulard have more period character than Washington's plainer rowhouses.

Washington is in another league. The Smithsonian museums, the National Gallery and the African American history museum stand side by side on the Mall, nearly all free. Around them are the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial and the Library of Congress, more than enough for a week.

Washington has the better night out, driven by a large crowd of young staffers and students from Thursday to Saturday. The 14th Street and U Street corridor has cocktail bars and rooftops, and Adams Morgan has the cheap late-night strip.

St. Louis is more scattered and more local. You might hear blues in a Soulard corner tavern, try the dance bars on Washington Avenue or end up in the Grove late at night, but you need a taxi between them. On weeknights many streets go quiet early.

St. Louis offers gentle, rolling country. Forest Park is good for running and cycling, and the bluffs and caves of Castlewood and Meramec are within an hour. The Katy Trail is good for long rides, and in winter you can watch bald eagles along the river near Alton.

Washington has more variety and more drama close at hand. Rock Creek Park and the C&O Canal towpath start in the city itself. At Great Falls the Potomac crashes through a rocky gorge half an hour away, and the ridge hikes of Shenandoah are within a long day.

Washington's surroundings are dense with history, and much of it is reachable without a car. Old Town Alexandria is a Metro ride away and Baltimore is under an hour by train. Mount Vernon, Annapolis, Gettysburg, Antietam and Harpers Ferry all make easy outings, and Philadelphia is a full day by fast train.

St. Louis has fewer outings, but its best one is remarkable. The earthen mounds of Cahokia, the largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico, are twenty minutes away. The French colonial houses of Ste. Genevieve and the German wine towns of Hermann and Augusta round out the list, all by car.

Both cities are easy with children, and both lean on free attractions. St. Louis has the more playful headline in the City Museum, a warehouse of tunnels and slides. There is also the hands-on Magic House, and a theme park is within reach, though nearly everything needs the car.

Washington's appeal is more educational and easier to reach. The dinosaurs at Natural History, the rockets at Air and Space and the National Zoo can fill several days, and the Metro's lifts make buggies simple. On the other hand, there is no theme park nearby, and the long, exposed Mall is tiring in summer.

This is where the two differ most in daily practice. Washington's flat grid and Metro reach most of what a visitor wants, including the airport, Arlington and Alexandria, and bike-share docks link the monuments. A car is only needed for the countryside.

In St. Louis, MetroLink covers the airport, Forest Park, downtown and Clayton, and not much else. Soulard, the Hill and South Grand all need a car or taxi. Driving is easy, with light traffic and simple parking.

Washington has more to browse, though it is still a sideline. Georgetown's M Street and Wisconsin Avenue mix chains, boutiques and antiques in old brick buildings, and CityCenterDC gathers luxury labels downtown. The Smithsonian museum shops are good for books and prints.

St. Louis is smaller and quirkier. Cherokee Street has antiques, vintage clothes and records, the Delmar Loop has student-style independent shops, and the big-name fashion is out in the suburban malls.

St. Louis is the cheaper stay, mainly because hotel rooms cost noticeably less, even downtown and in the Central West End. Some of that saving goes on a hire car or taxis, since public transport covers so little.

Washington is expensive for rooms, restaurants and cocktails, and dearer still in cherry blossom season. Its free museums, memorials and Capitol tours keep sightseeing almost costless, and the Metro means no car hire. Staying in Arlington can soften the bill.

The two are closely matched, but their strengths differ. St. Louis is a music city. It has a symphony dating from 1880 in the ornate Powell Hall, summer musicals at the huge open-air Muny in Forest Park and an acclaimed opera festival. It also has deep blues roots, from Chuck Berry to the National Blues Museum.

Washington is first a theatre city, with Arena Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth and plays inside Ford's Theatre. The restored halls of U Street, local go-go and lawn concerts at Wolf Trap add the music.

Neither city is a place for a restorative vacation, and neither has a spa tradition. Washington has a little more on offer: the larger hotel spas downtown and in Georgetown, early walks around the Tidal Basin, and the quiet gardens of Dumbarton Oaks and the National Arboretum.

St. Louis has fewer spas but an unhurried pace and rarely any crowds. A slow morning in the Japanese garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden is its best answer.