Asheville or Myrtle Beach?

These two could hardly be further apart. Myrtle Beach sits on about 100km of wide, flat sand, and from June to September the sea is warm enough to stay in for hours. It ranges from crowded central blocks by the boardwalk to calmer, dune-backed stretches at Surfside and the state parks.

Asheville is a mountain city several hours from any coast. Its water fun is Sliding Rock, cold pools in Pisgah, tubing on the French Broad and the small beach at Lake Lure. These make pleasant summer half-days, but they are no substitute for a seaside trip.

Asheville eats and drinks far better. Its breweries fill downtown, the South Slope and West Asheville. The cooking draws on Appalachian farms, with trout, ramps, heirloom beans and proper barbecue and biscuits, and chef-led dining rooms make it a good destination for food.

Myrtle Beach is built to feed crowds, so the strip is mostly buffets, pancake houses and chains. The best meals are a short drive away, fresh shrimp and oysters at Murrells Inlet or Calabash-style fried fish over the state line, and an evening or two covers them.

Asheville has much more to see. The Biltmore Estate alone fills a day, and the downtown of Art Deco and Beaux-Arts buildings, the Basilica of St Lawrence and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial add another day or two.

Myrtle Beach is a twentieth-century resort with little past on show. Brookgreen Gardens, with its sculpture among the live oaks and its account of plantation slavery, is genuinely worth a visit, and Atalaya sits next door, but that is a single day out.

Neither is a big night-out city, but the evenings feel very different. Asheville means relaxed taprooms, cocktail bars and dive bars within walking distance on the South Slope and along Haywood Road, and most of it winds down around midnight.

Myrtle Beach is louder and more seasonal. It has beach bars and rooftop decks by the boardwalk, dance clubs in the entertainment complexes that stay open late, and shag dancing in North Myrtle Beach. Outside summer much of it closes early.

This is Asheville's great strength. It has the Blue Ridge Parkway, Pisgah National Forest and Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the eastern United States, with the Great Smoky Mountains an hour away. There is serious hiking, mountain biking and whitewater, plus spring rhododendron and October colour.

Myrtle Beach offers gentler, flatter pleasures: birdwatching on the marsh boardwalks at Huntington Beach State Park, kayaking through the cypress swamps of the Waccamaw, dolphin cruises and a great deal of golf. Summer heat limits all of it to early mornings.

Both offer a fair handful of outings, but the shape differs. From Myrtle Beach one long drive stands out: Charleston, two hours south, with its antebellum streets and harbour forts. Georgetown, Wilmington and Southport are smaller extras.

Asheville's excursions are mostly into the landscape and to small mountain towns such as Brevard and Black Mountain. The richest is Cherokee, whose museum and Oconaluftee village tell the story of the region's original people.

Myrtle Beach is the easier place with children. Gentle surf, resort pools with lazy rivers, condo suites with kitchens, an aquarium, water parks, a wooden roller coaster and endless pirate-themed mini-golf keep every age busy.

Asheville rewards outdoorsy families instead, with black bears and red wolves at the Nature Center, tubing, Sliding Rock, zip lines and the Biltmore farmyard. There is no big park closer than Dollywood, and much of the day is spent in the car.

Neither works well without a car, but Asheville is a little kinder on foot. Its compact downtown, the South Slope and the River Arts District can be walked, even though Biltmore and the trailheads need wheels.

Myrtle Beach is spread along 100km of multi-lane highway with few pavements. Walking only makes sense within the oceanfront blocks or along the sand itself, and summer traffic on Kings Highway can crawl.

Handmade craft against outlet malls sums up the difference. In Asheville, Appalachian pottery, glass, weaving and woodwork fill the working studios of the River Arts District and the craft guild's showcase at the Folk Art Center. The Grove Arcade and the streets around Lexington Avenue add independent boutiques, bookshops and vintage clothing, so it is the place to bring home something made locally.

Myrtle Beach shops in bulk, with two big outlet centres, chain stores in the waterfront complexes and vast highway beach shops full of swimwear and inflatables. The Market Common feels more like a town centre, and the sweetgrass baskets sold along the coast road south are the one real local craft.

Myrtle Beach is the cheaper stay. Its huge supply of motels and condos keeps rooms affordable outside July and long weekends, and a kitchen in the unit cuts food costs.

Asheville's downtown inns and Biltmore-area hotels are expensive, and autumn weekends push them higher still. Biltmore admission adds up too. Free trails and waterfalls help, and a midweek or winter visit softens the bill.

Asheville has the richer music life by a long way. Touring Americana and indie acts play its downtown venues, there are bluegrass and old-time jams and buskers, and Shindig on the Green and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, running since 1928, carry a living tradition.

Myrtle Beach offers polished variety theatre instead: country and gospel revues, Christmas spectaculars and dinner shows with knights or pirates. They make a fun family evening but have little depth.

For a restful trip, Asheville is the better choice by some way. Slowing down has been part of the town's character since invalids came for the mountain air, so yoga classes, massage and retreat programmes are easy to find, and the big resort hotels on the slopes have full spas. For a proper soak, Hot Springs is under an hour away, with mineral water filling tubs on the riverbank, and the cool mountain evenings make it easier still to switch off.

Myrtle Beach can offer a massage in a resort hotel but little more. It has no hot springs or bathing tradition, and in summer the strip is noisy and choked with traffic. Rest there comes down to timing and place: a spring or autumn week at the calmer southern end near Pawleys Island, where an early walk along the empty sand does more good than any treatment room.