Asheville or Chattanooga?

Neither city has a real beach, and both have only fresh water. In Asheville that means cold mountain water: waterfall pools in Pisgah, the rock slide at Sliding Rock, floats on the French Broad and a small strip of sand at Lake Lure. Chattanooga's lake swimming areas at Chickamauga and Harrison Bay are warmer from June to September, which is better for a lazy hour in the water, though they are no more a beach than Asheville's spots.

Asheville eats better. Its brewing scene is much deeper, spread over three neighbourhoods, and its chefs cook from the Appalachian farms with trout, heirloom corn, ramps and sorghum. The farmers' markets and the local cider, mead and spirits add more to a food-minded trip.

Chattanooga keeps to plainer Southern cooking: meat-and-three plates, fried chicken and catfish, with a smaller cluster of chef-led places and breweries on the Southside. It is satisfying for a few days, but there is less to seek out.

Asheville has the bigger sights. Biltmore, the largest private house in the country, easily fills a day, and the downtown's intact Art Deco and Beaux-Arts streets reward a walk. The art museum, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial and the Folk Art Center round it out.

Chattanooga's appeal is history rather than architecture. The Civil War battlefields at Point Park and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station and the Bessie Smith Cultural Center tell the city's story, and the Hunter Museum looks over the river from its bluff. It adds up to less, and none of it matches Biltmore.

Both cities are made for an evening of beer rather than a late night, but Asheville has more of it. Taprooms, cocktail bars and dives run from downtown to the South Slope, Haywood Road adds a local scene, and there is a long-standing LGBTQ bar scene and the summer drum circle in Pritchard Park. Chattanooga's evenings centre on the Southside, Main Street and the one short Station Street block, and things wind down earlier.

Both are excellent outdoor bases, but for different things. Asheville is about high ridges and long distances: the Blue Ridge Parkway, Mount Mitchell, the grassy balds of Max Patch, the Smokies an hour away, and Pisgah's famous mountain-bike trails. Late-spring rhododendrons and October colour shape the seasons.

Chattanooga is steeper and closer at hand. The sandstone bluffs make it a serious climbing base, hang gliders launch from Lookout Mountain, and you can paddle the Tennessee River Gorge without leaving the area. The Ocoee's Olympic whitewater and the rim trails of Cloudland Canyon are within an hour.

The two cities offer about as many outings, but of different kinds. From Asheville the trips go into the countryside, to small mountain towns such as Brevard and Black Mountain, the Cherokee museum and village, and the orchards in autumn, with Greenville as the one real city.

Chattanooga is the better base for reaching big cities. Nashville and Atlanta are each about two hours away, Huntsville's rocket centre is closer, and the Jack Daniel's town of Lynchburg and Sewanee make quieter outings.

Chattanooga is the more rewarding family stop. The two-building aquarium and the Creative Discovery Museum sit a few blocks apart downtown, Lookout Mountain stacks the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City together, and the Coolidge Park carousel, a small zoo and an old amusement park fill the gaps.

Asheville suits active children better than young ones. The Nature Center's bears and wolves, zip lines, tubing and Sliding Rock are great fun, but there is no aquarium or theme park, and Dollywood is a two-hour drive away.

You will want a car in either city, and the difference is small. Chattanooga's centre is a little easier without one. The free electric shuttle runs through downtown and the Walnut Street Bridge carries you on foot to the North Shore. Asheville's downtown is walkable but hilly, and its main draws, Biltmore, the Parkway and the trailheads, all sit along slow, winding mountain roads that get crowded on October weekends.

Asheville is far better for shopping. Its potters, weavers, glassmakers and woodworkers sell from the River Arts District studios and the downtown galleries, the Folk Art Center shows the guild's best work, and the Grove Arcade and Lexington Avenue add bookshops and vintage clothing. Chattanooga has Warehouse Row and the Frazier Avenue boutiques, and its one real strength is outdoor gear.

Neither city is cheap, and the overall cost is much the same. Asheville's hotels are the bigger expense, especially on autumn leaf weekends, but its trails and the Parkway cost nothing and midweek winter stays are kinder. Chattanooga's rooms and meals run below big-city levels, but a family doing the aquarium and the Lookout Mountain attractions pays full admission at each one.

Asheville is the better place for music. Bluegrass and old-time jams in pubs, buskers downtown, free fiddle and clogging evenings at Shindig on the Green and a folk festival running since 1928 give it a real Appalachian tradition, and touring bands play its riverside venues most nights.

Chattanooga's strengths are its handsome old stages, the gilded Tivoli and the Memorial Auditorium, which host its symphony and opera. Beyond those, music is limited to a few Southside bars, and keen fans tend to go on to Nashville.

Asheville is clearly the place to rest. Its long history as a mountain health retreat lives on in yoga studios, alternative therapies, big resort spas and the mineral-water tubs by the river at Hot Springs. Chattanooga has no comparable tradition. Beyond a few hotel and day spas, the most relaxing thing it offers is a slow afternoon on the riverfront or in Bluff View.