Atlanta or Cape May?

These two are about as far apart as they could be. Atlanta is an inland city, and the coasts are a long drive away, so swimming means a hotel pool or a weekend at Lake Lanier's sandy coves, where the water is warm but the setting is a family lake day.

In Cape May the beach is the main reason to come. A continuous strip of sand runs below the promenade, the surf is usually gentle and there are lifeguards, and by late summer the sea is warm. Cape May Point offers quieter sand, and on the bay side you can hunt for Cape May diamonds.

Atlanta is much the stronger place to eat. It has fried chicken, collards and shrimp and grits in meat-and-three cafeterias and west-side soul food kitchens, a serious Sunday brunch habit, and the long run of Buford Highway restaurants cooking Korean, Vietnamese, Mexican and Ethiopian food for their own communities.

Cape May does one thing well: fresh catch from its busy fishing port, especially scallops, flounder and oysters, eaten at dockside shacks or in Victorian dining rooms. Beyond the seafood and porch breakfasts the choice drops off to fudge and taffy, and summer dinners often mean a queue.

Atlanta offers more, and its sights carry more weight. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, with his birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights make it a key city for the civil rights story. Add the High Museum, the Atlanta History Center and the Carter Library, and the whole round fills two or three full days. What it lacks is an old streetscape, since most of the city was rebuilt after 1864.

Cape May is the reverse. It has few institutions, but the whole town is a National Historic Landmark of gingerbread cottages and porched hotels. A walking or trolley tour, the Physick Estate and a climb up the lighthouse cover it in a day or two.

Atlanta is the place to go out. Its big clubs play the Southern hip-hop and trap the city is known for. Edgewood Avenue packs dive bars and small dance floors into a few blocks, Midtown has one of the South's largest LGBTQ scenes, and Buckhead does bottle service. Each area is its own pocket, though, so you need a ride to get between them.

Cape May's evenings are a pub or hotel bar near the pedestrian mall, perhaps with a cover band, and bed before midnight. For anything louder, people drive up to the Wildwoods.

There is little to choose between them, but the outdoors is very different in each. Atlanta has a tall hardwood canopy, the granite dome of Stone Mountain and river floats on the Chattahoochee. Real hiking is a couple of hours north, in the Blue Ridge foothills, at Amicalola Falls and at the start of the Appalachian Trail.

Cape May is completely flat and is all coast and marsh. Its draw is wildlife: hawks and monarch butterflies funnelling through the Point in autumn, shorebirds in spring, dolphins off the harbour in summer, plus easy kayaking in the back bays.

Atlanta has the wider choice. You can visit the college town and music history of Athens, Madison's pre-Civil War houses, Dahlonega's gold-rush square among the vineyards, and Chattanooga's riverfront and Lookout Mountain, which together fill several varied days out.

From Cape May the best outing is the ferry across Delaware Bay to colonial Lewes. The Wildwoods' boardwalk is minutes away and Atlantic City is about an hour off. Philadelphia is within reach but makes a tiring day.

Both work well with children, but in different ways. Atlanta offers big attractions: whale sharks and belugas at the Georgia Aquarium, gorillas at the zoo, Fernbank's dinosaurs, the Center for Puppetry Arts and the roller coasters at Six Flags.

Cape May offers a simpler, old-fashioned seaside week. There are lifeguarded sand, surrey rides on the promenade, crabbing on the bay, dolphin boats and a free county zoo nearby. Note that some historic-district B&Bs turn away small children.

Cape May is the easier of the two once you are there. The historic district, the promenade and the Washington Street Mall are a short, flat walk apart, and a bike covers the rest. The catch is getting there, as there is no passenger rail.

Atlanta is built around the car. MARTA's single useful rail corridor links the airport, downtown, Midtown and Buckhead, and the BeltLine joins a few walkable neighbourhoods. Nearly everything else means driving through heavy traffic or booking a ride.

Atlanta offers far more choice. The facing malls on Peachtree Road in Buckhead carry department stores and luxury labels, Little Five Points has vintage and records, and the BeltLine markets mix local makers with chains.

Cape May's shopping is a three-block pedestrian street of boutiques, bookshops and taffy counters, plus some antiques and galleries in the historic district. It is pleasant on a rainy afternoon, but nobody comes for it.

Atlanta is the cheaper stay. Hotels outside Buckhead are reasonable for a large American city, Buford Highway and casual Southern cooking are fair value, and the civil rights sites cost nothing. Car hire and the big attractions' entry charges are what push the bill up.

Cape May in summer is expensive, with premium B&B rates, minimum stays, big-city dinner prices, beach tags and paid parking. Coming in spring or autumn, renting a house as a group, or staying in the Wildwoods all help.

Atlanta has a full performing arts calendar. The Atlanta Symphony and the Alliance Theatre are based at the Woodruff Arts Center, opera and ballet run full seasons, and touring shows come to the Fox Theatre. On top of that, as a hip-hop, R&B and gospel centre the city brings in a steady flow of major concerts, from arenas down to the Tabernacle.

Cape May has small-scale theatre in a converted church, a long-running chamber music festival in late spring and summer band concerts in Convention Hall. It makes a nice evening out, but the programme thins sharply out of season.

Neither is a classic place for rest, and the restful option in each is very different. Atlanta's most unusual one is the large Korean bathhouses in the northeastern suburbs, with hot and cold pools, sauna rooms and lounging halls, some open round the clock.

Cape May has no bathhouses. Its calm comes from the pace: porch rocking chairs, afternoon tea in guesthouse parlours and sunsets over the bay. It works best in spring or autumn, since summer weekends get busy.