Asheville or Tampa?

Asheville is a mountain city several hours from the coast, so swimming there means chilly water: the rock slide at Sliding Rock, pools under the Pisgah waterfalls, tubing on the French Broad and the small sandy beach at Lake Lure. These are refreshing summer outings, nothing more.

Tampa is a proper beach base, though its own bay shore is mostly seawall. Across the bridges, Clearwater, St Pete Beach, Fort De Soto and Caladesi Island have fine white sand and a calm, warm Gulf. Most beach days still start with a drive, so anyone who wants the sea outside the window should stay on the islands.

Asheville eats and drinks better than its size suggests. Brewing leads, with taprooms across downtown, the South Slope and West Asheville, and the cooking draws on Appalachian farms: trout, ramps, heirloom corn, barbecue and biscuits. The weak spot is the narrow international range.

Tampa's strength is a heritage of its own. Ybor City's Cuban, Spanish and Sicilian roots give the pressed Cuban sandwich, deviled crab croquettes and the century-old Columbia Restaurant, and grouper and stone crab come from the bay. Beyond that the choice becomes generic American and thins out at the top end.

Asheville has the bigger draws. The Biltmore Estate, the Vanderbilts' château with Olmsted's gardens, takes a full day, and the downtown is lined with intact Art Deco and Beaux-Arts buildings, from the domed City Hall to the Grove Arcade.

Tampa's heritage is smaller and more focused: the brick cigar factories and Latin social clubs of Ybor City, and Henry Plant's minareted railway hotel, which now houses a university. Both cities take two or three days to see, but in Tampa art lovers tend to cross the bay to St Petersburg.

Tampa is the one for a late night. Seventh Avenue in Ybor City has dance clubs and a young weekend crowd that stays out until closing, SoHo has cocktail patios, and the Gasparilla pirate parade turns the bayfront into a huge winter party.

Asheville is more about an easy evening out. Brewery taprooms, cocktail bars and dives sit within walking distance downtown and on the South Slope, and there are summer drum circles in Pritchard Park, but only a handful of clubs and most places wind down by midnight.

Nature is Asheville's main reason to visit. The Blue Ridge Parkway, Pisgah National Forest and Mount Mitchell, the highest summit in the East, are close by, and the Great Smokies are an hour away. There are bald-top ridge hikes, rafting on the Nantahala and some of the country's best mountain biking, and the autumn colour is famous.

Tampa's outdoors is flat and watery: cypress swamp kayaking on the Hillsborough River, mangrove tunnels, winter manatees and the clear springs at Crystal River. These are rewarding half-days, but there is no scenery on Asheville's scale.

Both cities offer a similar number of outings, but of different kinds. From Asheville most trips go into the landscape: the waterfall country around Brevard, the Cherokee museum and Oconaluftee village, Carl Sandburg's home at Flat Rock and autumn orchards in the foothills.

Tampa's day trips lean towards towns and collections: the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg, the Ringling estate in Sarasota, the Greek sponge docks at Tarpon Springs and Frank Lloyd Wright's campus at Lakeland. They are varied, but none has much historic depth.

Tampa is the stronger family base. Busch Gardens pairs roller coasters with an animal park, ZooTampa and the Florida Aquarium fill easy afternoons, and the shallow Gulf beaches suit toddlers. Legoland and Orlando are within a day's reach.

Asheville works for outdoorsy children: the nature centre's black bears and red wolves, Sliding Rock, tubing, zip lines and the farmyard at Biltmore. With no zoo or theme park nearby, it is less suited to children who want rides and shows.

You will want a car in both cities, but Asheville is a little easier. Its compact downtown, the South Slope and the River Arts District can be walked, although Biltmore, the Parkway and the trailheads all mean driving on slow, winding roads.

Tampa sprawls more. The streetcar and the Riverwalk link downtown with Ybor City, but the beaches, Busch Gardens and every day trip involve bridges and interstates that clog at rush hour.

Asheville is the better place to buy something worth bringing home. Its Appalachian craft tradition fills the River Arts District studios and the downtown galleries with pottery, glass and weaving, and the Folk Art Center and the Grove Arcade add guild work and independent shops.

Tampa is mostly malls, with designer labels by the airport and the small open-air boutiques of Hyde Park Village. Its one distinctive buy is a cigar rolled by hand in Ybor City.

Neither city is cheap, and both get more expensive when a hire car is added. What differs is the timing. Asheville is priciest on October leaf-season weekends and easiest midweek and in winter, and Biltmore admission is a big expense, while the trails and the Parkway cost nothing.

Tampa's rates peak in winter and spring, especially at the beaches, and drop in the hot summer. Cuban bakeries keep lunch inexpensive, but theme park tickets can stretch a family budget.

Asheville has the more distinctive music. Bluegrass and old-time jams in pubs, buskers downtown, free summer fiddling and clogging at Shindig on the Green, and the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival, held since 1928, give it a living tradition, and touring Americana acts play most nights.

Tampa's strength is the formal stage. The Straz Center hosts opera, ballet and touring Broadway shows, and the ornate 1926 Tampa Theatre puts on concerts, but there is little local scene to seek out.

Asheville has a long history as a place to rest. It drew health-seekers in the nineteenth century, and that legacy lives on in retreats, yoga studios and big hillside resort spas. The riverside mineral tubs at Hot Springs are under an hour away, and cool evenings on inn porches complete the picture.

Tampa offers hotel spas and little else in the city, which is hot and car-bound. For a restful stay there, book on the Gulf islands and spend the days on long lunches and sunsets.