Virginia Beach or Williamsburg, Virginia?

This is where the two differ most. At Virginia Beach the sand is the point of being there: several kilometres of pale Atlantic beach backed by the boardwalk, surfing near the pier, calm bay water around First Landing and the quieter dunes at Sandbridge.

Williamsburg is inland between two rivers. The nearest swim is a small riverside strip at Yorktown, and the ocean beaches are those same Virginia Beach sands, about an hour away. Plan on one beach day at most.

Virginia Beach eats better, mainly because of its seafood. Lynnhaven oysters, blue crab in cakes or steamed with Old Bay, and the day's catch at the dockside places around the inlet are worth seeking out. Skip the buffets on the resort strip.

Williamsburg's table is more Southern than coastal: country ham biscuits, peanut soup, Brunswick stew and barbecue. The candlelit tavern meals are more about atmosphere than cooking, and Merchants Square has only a few bistros. In both places the main roads are lined with pancake houses and chains.

Williamsburg is far ahead. A whole eighteenth-century capital has been brought back to life, with interpreters at work as printers and blacksmiths along Duke of Gloucester Street, the Governor's Palace, Bruton Parish Church, and folk art and decorative arts museums. Allow two or three days.

Virginia Beach has the Cape Henry landing site with its old lighthouse, a single early colonial house and a small art museum, which together make a morning. Its best-known landmark is a giant Neptune on the boardwalk, and that says a lot about the place.

Virginia Beach is the livelier of the two, but only in summer. Atlantic Avenue and the boardwalk fill with beach bars, rooftop decks and sports bars full of vacationers and sailors, and Town Center has quieter cocktail lounges.

Williamsburg barely has a night out at all. There are student pubs near the college in term time and a few taprooms on the edge of town. From both places, anyone after a proper evening drives to Norfolk.

Virginia Beach has more to offer outdoors, and most of it is on the water. You can kayak out to watch dolphins in summer, surf, or take a fishing charter. First Landing State Park has cypress swamp and dunes, and the long, empty barrier spit through Back Bay and False Cape is reached only on foot or by bike.

Williamsburg's countryside is gentler: forest, tidal creeks and wide river estuaries. The quiet Colonial Parkway and the flat Virginia Capital Trail are lovely for cycling, and paddling the Chickahominy can bring ospreys and bald eagles. Neither place has a single hill.

The two are about level here, but the outings are very different. From Virginia Beach, the Historic Triangle is a full day's trip about an hour away. In return you are close to Norfolk's battleship and waterfront, and Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks is within reach to the south.

Williamsburg sits in the middle of the Triangle, so Jamestown and Yorktown are short hops rather than outings. The James River plantation houses lie along Route 5, and Richmond is an hour west. Either way, you need a car.

Both are classic family destinations, built around different pleasures. Virginia Beach offers sand, the aquarium with its sea turtles and otters, mini-golf and bike rides along the boardwalk.

Williamsburg has the big European-village theme park and its water park on the doorstep. Children can march with the fife and drum, question a blacksmith and climb aboard the replica ships at Jamestown. Both have hot summers and long drives between the main sights.

Williamsburg is a little easier on foot. The Historic Area, Merchants Square and the campus form one flat district you can cross in about 20 minutes. Duke of Gloucester Street is closed to cars by day, and Amtrak trains stop near the centre.

At Virginia Beach, walking only works along the boardwalk and the summer trolley route on Atlantic Avenue. Sandbridge, First Landing and Town Center all need a car, and summer traffic into the resort can be slow. Beyond its historic core, Williamsburg sprawls just as much.

Williamsburg has the more interesting shopping, though it covers a narrow range. The colonial shops sell pewter, pottery, tinware and books made the old way, Merchants Square adds Virginia gifts and kitchenware, and Richmond Road has an outlet centre and a long-established pottery store.

Virginia Beach offers a regional mall, chain stores at Town Center, and a long row of surf shops and T-shirt stores at the Oceanfront. The surf shops are the only part with real local roots.

The overall cost is much the same, but the money goes in different places. At Virginia Beach, the big summer expense is a room or beach house near the ocean, and those rates drop sharply out of season, while the beach and the parks cost almost nothing.

In Williamsburg the motels are easy on the budget, but tickets for the colonial sites, Jamestown, Yorktown and the theme parks quickly add up, so a combination pass is worth checking. Both need a hire car.

Virginia Beach has more live performance, much of it outdoors. Touring rock and country acts play the big amphitheatre in summer, free concerts are held on the boardwalk stages, and Norfolk's opera, symphony and spring arts festival are half an hour away.

Williamsburg's stage is mostly part of the history: candlelit eighteenth-century recitals, period theatre and fife-and-drum corps. Term-time concerts at the college add some variety. Neither has a serious theatre or jazz scene of its own.

Neither place has a bathing tradition, and both rely on hotel spas, so the difference is in the setting. At Virginia Beach, calm means an early-morning walk on the boardwalk or a visit in spring or autumn, before or after the loud summer crowds.

Williamsburg offers spas at the riverside golf resorts and the historic inn. It is also easy to find quiet on the empty colonial greens at dawn or on a slow drive along the wooded Colonial Parkway.