Asheville or Savannah?

Savannah has a real seaside within reach. Tybee Island, half an hour east, has broad flat sand and warm Atlantic water in summer, though the sea is tinted by the marshes and the town is low-key.

Asheville has no sea at all. Its swimming means the natural rock slide at Sliding Rock, tubing on the French Broad and the small sandy shore of Lake Lure, all in water that stays cool even in midsummer.

Asheville has the slight edge, mainly thanks to its drinks. Its breweries spread across downtown, the South Slope and West Asheville, and the cooking draws on Appalachian farms, with trout, heirloom beans, ramps and sorghum, plus barbecue and biscuits.

Savannah answers with Lowcountry seafood: shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, oyster roasts and family-style platters on long tables. Neither city goes far beyond Southern cooking. Pick Asheville for beer and farm-to-table dining, Savannah for coastal classics.

Savannah is the richer city to explore. Oglethorpe's grid of moss-hung squares, lined with Federal and Greek Revival houses, is a sight in itself, and the Telfair Museums, the Owens-Thomas House and Bonaventure Cemetery add depth.

Asheville's culture rests on one great house and one fine downtown. Biltmore easily fills a day, and the Art Deco streets around City Hall and the Grove Arcade reward a stroll, but after that its list runs short much sooner.

Savannah makes the livelier night out. To-go cups let evenings drift between River Street, City Market and townhouse cocktail rooms, students keep a few dance nights going, and St Patrick's Day turns the whole city into a street party.

Asheville is quieter and more about beer. Taprooms, dive bars and the Haywood Road strip in West Asheville make for a friendly evening, but most places wind down around midnight.

This is where Asheville pulls far ahead. Mount Mitchell, the Smokies, Pisgah National Forest and the Blue Ridge Parkway surround the city, offering ridge hikes, mountain biking, rafting and spectacular autumn colour.

Savannah's outdoors is flat and watery: paddling the salt-marsh creeks at high tide, dolphin trips, and herons and wood storks at Skidaway Island. It is pleasant in spring and autumn, but summer heat and insects cut outings short.

Savannah has the stronger list of outings, led by Charleston two hours north. Beaufort, Hilton Head, Fort Pulaski and the historic districts of Jekyll and St Simons islands are all easy drives along the coast.

From Asheville the excursions are mostly into the landscape. The towns nearby are small: Hendersonville, Brevard and Black Mountain. Cherokee's museum and Oconaluftee village are the most rewarding cultural trip.

Both work for families without being built for them, and neither has a big zoo, aquarium or theme park. Asheville suits active children, with black bears and red wolves at the nature centre, rope courses, river tubing and the Biltmore farmyard.

Savannah offers gentler treats: trolley tours, the free river ferry, ghost walks for older children and a beach day at Tybee with its sea-turtle centre. The catch is the summer heat on long walks.

Savannah is much easier without a car. Its historic district is flat and compact, and a free shuttle and a small river ferry fill the gaps, though Tybee and Wormsloe still need wheels.

Asheville's downtown is walkable but hilly. Biltmore, the Parkway and the trailheads all lie well out of town along slow, winding roads, so most visitors hire a car for the whole stay.

Asheville is a touch better for shopping, thanks to its Appalachian craft tradition. The potters, glassblowers and weavers of the River Arts District, the Folk Art Center and the boutiques of the Grove Arcade make it the place to buy something handmade.

Savannah's Broughton Street mixes boutiques with a few chains, and the art school's influence shows in its shops. River Street and City Market lean towards pralines and souvenirs.

Costs are much the same in both, and both are priced as popular weekend escapes. Asheville's rates jump on autumn leaf weekends, and Savannah's in spring and at festival time.

Both repay a midweek visit, and much of the best is free in each: Asheville's trails and Parkway, Savannah's squares and riverfront. The difference is that Asheville almost requires a hire car, while in Savannah you can often do without one.

Asheville offers more music on an ordinary night. Touring Americana and rock acts play its downtown venues, and bluegrass and old-time jams are easy to find. Shindig on the Green and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, running since 1928, keep the mountain tradition alive.

Savannah's high point is its spring music festival in historic theatres and churches. Outside that season, and the autumn jazz in Forsyth Park, there is much less to see.

Asheville has the deeper tradition of rest. It was a health retreat in the nineteenth century, and today it has retreats, yoga studios and large resort spas, with the riverside mineral tubs at Hot Springs about forty minutes away.

Savannah offers calm rather than treatments: a bench under the oaks or a quiet inn courtyard. Its summer humidity and busy River Street weekends make it harder to unwind.