Williamsburg, Virginia or Wilmington?

Wilmington is the beach destination of the two, and by a wide margin. Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure beaches are all within half an hour, and each has its own character, from the polished barrier island at Wrightsville to the quieter sand at Kure. The Atlantic stays warm enough to swim into October.

Williamsburg sits inland between two rivers, so a swim in open water means the small York River beach at Yorktown, the bay at Buckroe or an hour's drive to Virginia Beach. Most visitors swim in the hotel pool or at the water park and add a single beach day.

Both towns eat Southern and coastal food, but Wilmington does it with more confidence. Local shrimp, flounder and oysters are on most menus, there is vinegar-sauced whole-hog barbecue, and downtown has a handful of modern Southern restaurants in old brick buildings and a strong craft brewery scene.

Williamsburg's best meals are the simple ones: a country ham biscuit, peanut soup, crab cakes or soft-shell crab in season. The candlelit taverns in the Historic Area are more about the setting than the cooking, and the pancake houses and buffets on Richmond Road cater to theme-park crowds.

Here Williamsburg is far ahead. Colonial Williamsburg is an entire restored capital, with costumed tradespeople along Duke of Gloucester Street, the Governor's Palace, the Capitol and the Wren Building at William & Mary, plus art museums strong in American folk and decorative arts. Much of it is rebuilt, but the re-creation is careful and thorough, and it is the whole reason for the trip.

Wilmington's offer is real but more modest. It has a large historic district of antebellum and Victorian houses under live oaks, house museums such as the Bellamy Mansion that are frank about the port's enslaved labour, and the Battleship North Carolina across the river. Two or three unhurried days cover it, and for most visitors it sits alongside a beach stay rather than shaping it.

Neither is a late-night town, but Wilmington at least offers a proper night out. Front Street and the blocks around it fill with bars, rooftop terraces and pubs at weekends, and the beach towns add easy-going bars in summer, though there is little club culture.

In Williamsburg the evening usually ends with a tavern dinner or a candlelit ghost walk. A few student pubs and taprooms on the edge of town are there for a drink, and anyone after more drives to Norfolk or Richmond.

Both sit in the same low coastal country of pine, marsh and tidal creeks, but Wilmington has the open water. Kayaking out to undeveloped Masonboro Island, surfing and paddleboarding off Wrightsville, fishing from the piers or offshore, and the wild Venus flytraps of Carolina Beach State Park give it more to do outdoors.

Williamsburg's outdoors is gentler and more inland: cycling the traffic-free Colonial Parkway or the Virginia Capital Trail, easy forest walks at York River State Park, and paddling the Chickahominy past ospreys and bald eagles. Neither has hills, and both have humid summers with plenty of biting insects.

Williamsburg sits at the centre of the Historic Triangle, so its day trips are both better and closer. Jamestown is about 15 minutes away and Yorktown's battlefield only a little further. The James River plantations line Route 5, and Richmond is an easy drive west. Together they tell the story of colonial and Revolutionary America, though nearly all of them need a car.

From Wilmington, the best day out heads south to Southport and the ferry to car-free Bald Head Island, passing Fort Fisher and Brunswick Town on the way. New Bern and Beaufort are each about two hours north. The choice is pleasant but thinner: a handful of small-town days rather than a reason to base yourself there.

Williamsburg is one of the classic family trips on the East Coast, and it beats Wilmington here. Busch Gardens and Water Country USA cover the thrills, while musket firings, fife-and-drum parades and the replica ships at Jamestown make history hands-on for children. There are family motels with pools everywhere.

Wilmington is a good summer choice built around the sand: the boardwalk rides at Carolina Beach, the aquarium at Fort Fisher and the battleship's decks for rainy days, and rental houses near the beach. Rip currents need watching, and in both towns families spend a lot of time in the car in the heat.

You need a car in both towns, but Williamsburg's centre is easier on foot. The Historic Area, Merchants Square and the campus make a flat walk of about 20 minutes. Duke of Gloucester Street is closed to cars by day, a shuttle circles the district and Amtrak trains stop near the centre.

Wilmington's downtown and riverwalk are pleasant to walk, but the beaches lie 15km or more away across suburban roads. The buses are of little use to visitors, and beach traffic and parking are slow on summer weekends.

Williamsburg has the more distinctive shopping. The colonial-style shops in the Historic Area sell hand-made pewter, silver, pottery and books printed the old way, alongside the stores of Merchants Square and a large outlet centre on Richmond Road.

Wilmington is lower-key, with independent boutiques, galleries, bookshops and antique dealers along Front Street and in the Cotton Exchange, and surf wear in the beach towns. Neither has any luxury shopping.

The two cost much the same, mid-range by American standards, and in both a hire car is hard to avoid. What drives the bill differs. In Williamsburg it is the entry tickets for Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and the theme parks, so combination passes are worth a look. In Wilmington it is summer demand for beachfront hotels and rental houses, and off-season stays and casual seafood are the better value.

Wilmington has more going on stage. Thalian Hall, a restored 19th-century opera house, hosts theatre, music and touring shows. There is also a community symphony and a larger venue for touring musicals, and the warmer months bring outdoor concerts by Greenfield Lake and long-running jazz and blues festivals.

In Williamsburg, most performances belong to the colonial setting: candlelit recitals of eighteenth-century music, period theatre and fife-and-drum corps on Duke of Gloucester Street, plus student shows at William & Mary. For an orchestra or professional theatre, visitors drive to Richmond or Norfolk.

The two are level here. Neither has a bathing tradition, and wellness comes down to resort and day spas. The calm comes from different settings: in Williamsburg, riverside golf resorts, early mornings on the empty colonial greens and slow drives on the wooded Colonial Parkway; in Wilmington, quiet evenings on the waterfront and the slow pace of a beach town outside summer weekends.