Atlanta or Baltimore?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Baltimore gets you to salt water sooner. Sandy Point State Park is about forty minutes away, a sandy strip by the Bay Bridge that is fine for a summer afternoon. The water is brackish, though, sea nettles drift in during high summer, and the Atlantic surf is about three hours off.

Atlanta has no coast within a day's reach. The nearest is four to five hours away. Swimming means Lake Lanier or Lake Allatoona, about an hour out, where the water is warm in summer but the day is a lake outing rather than a beach one.

Atlanta has the broader table. It is a natural place to eat Southern cooking, from meat-and-three cafeterias to west side soul food kitchens. Buford Highway adds a long run of Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Mexican and Ethiopian restaurants cooking for their own communities, so you can eat well for a week without repeating yourself.

Baltimore's cooking has a narrower focus but a strong identity. It centres on steamed blue crabs eaten off brown paper in summer and early autumn, lump crab cakes the rest of the year, and the stalls of Lexington Market. Little Italy and the Fells Point pubs round it out, but the range is shallower.

Baltimore has more to see and more old streets to see it in. The Baltimore Museum of Art's Matisse holdings and the Walters' collection, which runs from Egyptian antiquities to Fabergé, are both free. Fort McHenry is where the national anthem was born, and the cobbles of Fells Point and the townhouses of Mount Vernon reward simple wandering.

Atlanta lost most of its old fabric when it burned in 1864, so its sights are institutions rather than townscape. What it has carries great weight: the King birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue and the civil rights centre downtown, along with the High Museum and the Carter library.

Atlanta has the bigger and louder night. Its clubs play the hip-hop and trap the city is known for, Edgewood Avenue packs dive bars and small dance floors together, Midtown anchors one of the South's largest LGBTQ scenes, and Buckhead does bottle service. Each area stands apart from the others, so the night involves rides between them.

Baltimore is a bar town with only a small club scene. The old taverns around the Fells Point square, Federal Hill's rooftops after an Orioles game and Canton's calmer square make good evenings. The bars sit close enough together to walk between, but last call comes at 2am.

Atlanta's outdoors is the more striking of the two, and there is a little more of it. Within half an hour you can climb the granite dome of Stone Mountain or float the Chattahoochee. In about two hours you reach Amicalola Falls, Tallulah Gorge and the start of the Appalachian Trail in the Blue Ridge foothills.

Baltimore's outdoors is softer and more about water. Patapsco Valley's wooded gorges begin at the edge of the city, and Gunpowder Falls has trout streams. What it has to itself is tidal water: sailing the wide, sheltered Chesapeake out of Annapolis, past creeks and salt marshes, is an outing Atlanta's inland reservoirs cannot match.

This is where Baltimore pulls far ahead. Washington's museums and monuments and Philadelphia's Independence Hall are each about an hour away by train. Colonial Annapolis, Gettysburg and Harpers Ferry are all easy drives, so a week here can take in several of the country's major historic sites.

Atlanta's outings are pleasant rather than famous, and every one needs a car. You could see the college town of Athens, Dahlonega's gold rush square, the antebellum houses of Madison or Chattanooga's riverfront. Savannah, the one big name, is too far for a day.

With children, Atlanta can fill several days without repeating itself. The Georgia Aquarium's whale sharks and belugas, the gorillas at Zoo Atlanta and the dinosaurs at Fernbank are the big draws. The Center for Puppetry Arts, Six Flags and Stone Mountain's cable car add more, though you will spend a lot of time driving between them.

Baltimore's family attractions are fewer but closer together. The National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center, Port Discovery and the harbour paddle boats are all within a short walk. Fort McHenry's cannon and the B&O locomotives suit train-mad or school-age children.

Baltimore is the easier city without a car. Its harbour districts lie within walking distance of each other along the promenade, water taxis run to Fort McHenry, and Penn Station links you quickly to Washington and Philadelphia. You will still need a bus or taxi for Hampden, the art museum and the zoo.

Atlanta works on foot only along the MARTA corridor from the airport to Buckhead and on the BeltLine's Eastside Trail. Buford Highway, Stone Mountain and everything outside the city need a car or a ride, and the motorways jam at rush hour.

Atlanta is clearly the better city for shopping. Buckhead's two facing malls on Peachtree Road hold department stores and luxury labels, the streets of Buckhead Village add designer boutiques, and Little Five Points covers vintage and records.

Baltimore's shopping is quirky and small-scale: the kitsch and vintage of the Avenue in Hampden, antiques in Fells Point, and Old Bay souvenirs from the market halls. There is no department store or luxury street in the city.

The two cost about the same, but the money goes in different places. In Atlanta the big extras are car hire, parking and steep tickets at the family attractions. Hotels outside Buckhead are fair, Buford Highway is good value, and the civil rights sites are free.

In Baltimore the free Baltimore Museum of Art and Walters ease the budget, and hotels undercut nearby Washington. Taxis add up quickly, though, and a crab feast is a treat rather than a cheap dinner.

Opera and ballet are where the gap shows. Atlanta has resident companies for both, with full seasons, alongside its symphony, the Alliance Theatre's new plays, touring Broadway at the Fox and a steady flow of major hip-hop, R&B and gospel tours to its arenas.

Baltimore has a symphony at the Meyerhoff and touring Broadway at the Hippodrome, but no opera company of note. Its distinctive offerings are the frequent free concerts at the Peabody Institute and the indie and experimental bands in the small clubs of Station North.

Neither city is restful, but Atlanta has one real draw: the large Korean bathhouses in the north-eastern suburbs. They offer hot and cold pools, saunas and long lounging halls, and some are open round the clock.

Baltimore has no bathing tradition at all. Wellness there means a hotel spa or a yoga class in Harbor East, a quiet hour in the Walters galleries, or a drive out to the Eastern Shore.