Asheville or Destin?

This is Destin's whole reason for being. The quartz-white sand of Okaloosa Island and Henderson Beach State Park runs east towards the 30A coast, the Gulf is usually gentle, and the shallows of Crab Island make a warm half-day on the bay side. Just check the flags, because rip currents close the water on rough days.

Asheville is high in the Blue Ridge and hours from any sea. Its swimming means Sliding Rock, cold waterfall pools in Pisgah, tubing on the French Broad and the small beach at Lake Lure. These are fun summer outings, but nobody should come here for a beach.

Asheville eats and drinks better. Its brewing scene spreads across downtown, the South Slope and West Asheville, and chef-driven kitchens cook with Appalachian trout, heirloom corn, ramps and sorghum alongside proper barbecue and biscuits. Its one weakness is a thin choice of international food.

Destin's strength is narrower: grouper, red snapper and royal red shrimp straight off the charter boats, eaten on harbour decks. Away from the seafood, the coast highway is mostly chains built for summer crowds, and the more ambitious cooking is along 30A.

Asheville has two or three days of real sightseeing. The Biltmore Estate alone fills a day with the Vanderbilt château and Olmsted's gardens, and downtown's Art Deco and Beaux-Arts buildings, from the domed City Hall to the Basilica of St Lawrence, are worth a slow walk. The Thomas Wolfe Memorial and the Folk Art Center add to it.

Destin grew from a fishing village and kept almost none of its past. A small fishing museum, the temple mound and the military aircraft at Fort Walton Beach are about the limit, so history lovers would have to drive to Pensacola.

Neither is a late-night town, and Asheville has only a slight edge. Its evenings are brewery taprooms, cocktail bars and dive bars within walking distance of each other downtown and on the South Slope, with a looser local strip on Haywood Road in West Asheville. It runs year-round and mostly winds down around midnight.

Destin's going out is open-air and seasonal: harbour boardwalk decks, beach bars on Okaloosa Island and afternoon drinking on boats rafted up at Crab Island, with a few dance floors open late in summer. Out of season, most evenings end early.

Asheville is the much stronger choice for the outdoors. The Blue Ridge Parkway, Pisgah National Forest and the Great Smoky Mountains surround the city. Ridge hikes cross balds like Max Patch, mountain biking in Pisgah is nationally known, and the Nantahala and French Broad rivers offer rafting. Spring rhododendron and October colour change the scenery through the year.

Destin's nature is flat and coastal: deep-sea fishing close to shore, dolphins in the pass, kayaking on Choctawhatchee Bay and boardwalks past rare dune lakes. In summer the heat keeps walks to early morning.

The two are close here, and the difference is in kind. Asheville's outings head into the mountains: Brevard's waterfall country, Black Mountain, the Carl Sandburg Home at Flat Rock, and Cherokee's museum and Oconaluftee village, with Greenville's riverside downtown about an hour away. That gives it a little more range.

Destin has two good options: the planned pastel towns of Seaside, Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach along 30A, and Pensacola, with its colonial historic district, naval aviation museum and brick forts. After those, it is mostly more of the same coast.

Destin is the easier family vacation. Calm, clear water and soft sand suit small children, condos with kitchens and pools make long stays simple, and the marine park, water park, go-karts and pirate-ship cruises fill the days when children need a break from the beach.

Asheville suits active children better than those who want rides. The Nature Center's bears and red wolves, Sliding Rock, river tubing and the zip lines are good fun, but there is no zoo, aquarium or theme park in town, and much of the time goes on driving.

You'll want a car in both, but Asheville is the easier of the two. Its compact downtown, the South Slope and the River Arts District can be done on foot, even if Biltmore, the Parkway and the trailheads need a car. Destin is spread along one congested coastal highway with few safe crossings, so apart from the harbour boardwalk and the 30A bike trail you will be driving almost everywhere.

Asheville is the better place to buy something worth keeping. Appalachian pottery, woodwork, weaving and glass fill the River Arts District studios and the downtown galleries, and the Grove Arcade and Lexington Avenue add bookshops and vintage clothing.

Destin's shopping is resort retail: a large outlet centre near Miramar Beach, an open-air mall and swimwear shops on the strip. The boutiques and home-décor shops of the 30A towns are its more stylish side.

Both are costly at peak times, roughly to the same degree, and in both a hire car adds to the bill. Asheville's prices peak on autumn leaf weekends and Biltmore admission is expensive, but trails, waterfalls and the Parkway cost nothing, and midweek or winter stays are cheaper.

Destin is most expensive from late spring through summer, when beachfront condos, waterfront meals and charter fishing add up. Off season it is far cheaper, though the sea is too cold for swimming then.

Asheville has a real music culture. Touring Americana and indie acts play its downtown venues, bluegrass and old-time jams happen in pubs and on porches, and Shindig on the Green and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, running since 1928, keep fiddle music and clogging alive.

Destin offers cover bands on bar decks, summer lawn concerts in the 30A towns and a regional symphony across the bay in Niceville. It's pleasant background, but not a reason to go.

Asheville has been a place to recover since its nineteenth-century health-resort days. It has retreats, yoga and massage, large spas at the hillside resort hotels, and riverside mineral tubs at Hot Springs, about forty minutes away. Cool evenings and quiet inn porches help too.

Destin's rest is simpler: early walks on empty sand and resort spas around Sandestin and Miramar Beach. In summer, traffic and crowds take away much of that calm.