Asheville or Sarasota?

Asheville is a mountain city several hours from any coast. Swimming there means cold waterfall pools in Pisgah, the rock slide at Sliding Rock, summer floats on the French Broad and a small beach on Lake Lure.

Sarasota is built around its beaches. There is Siesta Key's fine white quartz sand, Lido Key just across the causeway from downtown, and quieter Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island to the north. All of them sit on calm, shallow Gulf water that is warm for half the year. It is worth checking for red tide before a beach day.

Asheville is the better place to eat and drink. Its breweries in downtown, the South Slope and West Asheville are a reason to visit in their own right, and there is cider, mead and local distilling too. The kitchens draw on Appalachian produce such as trout, heirloom corn and ramps, alongside proper barbecue and biscuits. Beyond Southern and modern American cooking the choice is thin, though.

Sarasota eats well in a simpler way. There are grouper sandwiches, stone crab and waterside fish shacks on the keys, bistros on Main Street and St Armands Circle, and hearty Amish cooking and pie in Pinecraft. It has no cooking of its own to seek out and little street food, so few visitors plan a day around a meal.

Each city has one great house that fills a day: the Biltmore Estate in Asheville and the Ringling in Sarasota, with its Rubens canvases, Ca' d'Zan and circus museum. Asheville comes out ahead because its downtown is a sight in itself. It has well-preserved Art Deco and Beaux-Arts buildings such as the domed City Hall and the Grove Arcade, plus the Folk Art Center and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial.

Sarasota is a younger city with no old quarter to wander. Its extra interest is mainly for architecture fans, who come to see the mid-century houses of the Sarasota School.

Neither city suits late clubbing, but Asheville gives you the livelier evening. Taprooms, cocktail bars and dives are within walking distance downtown and on the South Slope, there are local bars along Haywood Road, and the Pritchard Park drum circle draws a crowd on summer Fridays. Sarasota is quieter and its crowd is older, with wine bars on Main Street and sunset drinks in Siesta Key Village, and anyone after more drives to Tampa.

Asheville is by far the better of the two for the outdoors. The Blue Ridge Parkway, Pisgah National Forest, Mount Mitchell and the Great Smokies are all within about an hour. Between them they offer waterfall walks, ridge hikes over grassy balds, some of the country's best mountain biking, and whitewater on the Nantahala and Pigeon rivers.

Sarasota's countryside is flat, and its strength is wildlife. You can see alligators in Myakka River State Park, paddle through the mangrove tunnels off Lido Key, and watch for dolphins and manatees in the bay. It suits gentle paddling and birdwatching, not climbing.

The two offer about as much, but of different kinds. Day trips from Asheville head into the mountains and small towns: Hendersonville and the Carl Sandburg Home, the waterfall country around Brevard, and Cherokee for the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Greenville is the only sizeable city within easy reach.

From Sarasota the outings are to cities along the Gulf coast. St Petersburg and its Dalí Museum lie across the Sunshine Skyway bridge, and beyond are Ybor City in Tampa and the Greek sponge docks of Tarpon Springs. To the south are the Edison and Ford winter estates at Fort Myers.

Sarasota is the easier choice with children. The calm, shallow water off Siesta Key and Lido Key is ideal for little ones, Mote Marine Laboratory's aquarium has sharks and manatees, and rentals with pools are common.

Asheville suits active families who like the outdoors. The Western North Carolina Nature Center has bears and red wolves, and there is river tubing, Sliding Rock and treetop rope courses. Neither city has a theme park nearby, and both involve a lot of driving.

Both are car country, and most visitors hire one. What differs is the terrain. Asheville's walkable downtown is hilly, and the drives to trailheads and the Parkway follow winding, slow mountain roads that jam on October weekends. Sarasota is flat, cycling works on the keys and along the bayfront, and a free trolley runs along Siesta Key, but winter traffic backs up on the bridges.

Asheville is the better place to find something to take home. Appalachian craft is the point: pottery, glass, weaving and woodwork in the River Arts District studios, the downtown galleries and the Folk Art Center. Around the Grove Arcade and Lexington Avenue there are also independent bookshops and vintage clothing.

In Sarasota shopping is a resort pastime. You browse resort wear, jewellery and galleries around St Armands Circle and Main Street, and a regional mall covers the chains. Neither city offers luxury brands.

Neither is cheap, and both add tipping and a hire car to the bill, but Asheville is a little easier on the wallet. Its trails, waterfalls and the Parkway are free, and midweek and winter stays cost noticeably less. Biltmore admission and autumn leaf weekends are what push the cost up.

In Sarasota, the beachfront on Siesta Key and Longboat Key is at its most expensive from January to April. Summer is cheaper, staying on the mainland helps, and the public beaches cost nothing.

Both are strong for their size, but in very different ways. Asheville's music is Appalachian and informal: bluegrass and old-time jams, buskers downtown, free evenings of fiddle music and clogging at Shindig on the Green, and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, which has run since 1928. Touring Americana and indie acts play its venues most nights.

Sarasota is the place for a formal night out. It has Sarasota Opera, a ballet company known for its Ashton repertoire, a full orchestral season and the Asolo Repertory Theatre on the Ringling grounds, with most performances between autumn and spring.

Asheville has the deeper tradition of rest, going back to its past as a mountain health resort. Today that means retreats, yoga and alternative therapies, the spas of the grand hillside hotels, and outdoor mineral-water tubs by the river at Hot Springs. Cool evenings on the porches of mountain inns do the rest.

In Sarasota the calm comes from slow beach days, sunrise yoga on the sand and resort spas on the keys. Its one bathing spot is Warm Mineral Springs, about forty minutes south. Winter crowds on the keys can take some of the peace away.