Atlanta or Charleston?

On beaches the two could hardly differ more. Atlanta is hours from either coast, so swimming means Lake Lanier or Lake Allatoona on a hot weekend, or the hotel pool.

Charleston has three barrier-island beaches within half an hour: Folly, with its surf and pier, the dune-backed sands of Sullivan's Island and the wider, more resort-like Isle of Palms, with quieter Kiawah further south. The water is tidal and greenish rather than clear, but this is real Atlantic beach life, and it combines easily with days in the old town.

Both are serious Southern eating cities, but they cook different Souths. Atlanta is the place for fried chicken, meat-and-three plates and west-side soul food. Along Buford Highway, its strip malls add Korean, Vietnamese, Ethiopian and Mexican cooking that Charleston simply does not have.

Charleston's strength is Lowcountry and Gullah Geechee cooking: she-crab soup, Carolina Gold rice and oyster roasts in winter, served in townhouse dining rooms and creekside seafood shacks. Most of it sits close together around King Street and the French Quarter. In Atlanta you need a car to reach the best food, while in Charleston you need to book ahead.

Charleston is the more rewarding city to wander. Its peninsula of Georgian and antebellum houses, church steeples and cobbled lanes south of Broad Street is the main sight. The house museums, Fort Sumter and the International African American Museum tell the story of the city's wealth and of slavery where it happened.

Atlanta lost most of its old buildings in 1864, so its weight rests on a few institutions. The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park and the civil rights centre have no equal in Charleston, and the High Museum is the stronger art museum. Each city fills two or three days, but in Charleston the walk between sights is half the pleasure.

Atlanta offers by far the bigger night out. Its club culture is known nationally and rooted in hip-hop and trap. Edgewood Avenue has dive bars and small dance floors, Midtown has one of the South's largest LGBTQ scenes, and Buckhead has dressy lounges, though each area is a separate ride from the others.

In Charleston, a night out means bars: rooftops, cocktail rooms and oyster bars on upper King Street, older taverns in the French Quarter and a few beach bars on Folly. There is little dancing, and most places close by around 2am.

Both cities have plenty of green on hand, but the country is very different. Atlanta has hills and tall trees: the granite dome of Stone Mountain, Kennesaw's battlefield trails and the Chattahoochee are close by. For proper hiking, the Blue Ridge foothills, Amicalola Falls and the start of the Appalachian Trail are about two hours north.

Charleston is flat marsh and water, best explored by kayak through tidal creeks where dolphins often appear. The ACE Basin and the Francis Marion forest add alligators, birdlife and quiet trails. Hikers will prefer Atlanta and paddlers Charleston.

Charleston has the stronger set of day trips. Within half an hour are the old plantations: Middleton Place, Magnolia and Drayton Hall on the Ashley River, Boone Hall in Mount Pleasant and McLeod on James Island. Their gardens and grand houses sit alongside a frank account of the enslaved people who worked them. Savannah makes a full day at about two hours' drive, and Beaufort is a quieter antebellum river town close to Gullah culture on the sea islands.

From Atlanta the choices are pleasant rather than memorable: Athens with its college-town music history, the old gold-rush town of Dahlonega among the vineyards, the pre-Civil War houses of Madison, and Chattanooga's riverfront and Lookout Mountain. Savannah is twice as far from Atlanta, so it needs an overnight stay rather than a day out.

Atlanta has much more to fill a family week. The Georgia Aquarium with its whale sharks, the gorillas at Zoo Atlanta, the dinosaurs at Fernbank, the puppetry centre in Midtown, a large theme park and the cable car at Stone Mountain make a long list. The driving and summer heat do tire small children.

Charleston is calmer and easier to manage. It has its own aquarium and children's museum, an aircraft carrier to climb through at Patriots Point, and the beaches. But it has no zoo or theme park, and house tours rarely hold young children's attention.

Neither city is easy without a car, but Charleston is much simpler once you are in the centre. Its flat historic peninsula is only about 3km across, and walking, pedicabs and the free shuttle cover it. You only need a car for the beaches and plantations.

In Atlanta, MARTA rail serves the airport, downtown, Midtown and Buckhead well, and the BeltLine links a few neighbourhoods on foot. Away from that corridor, the sprawl, missing pavements and heavy motorway traffic mean you need a car or a ride-hailing app every day.

Atlanta shops in malls, Charleston along a single street. In Atlanta the serious buying happens in Buckhead, where two big malls on Peachtree Road hold the department stores and luxury labels. Little Five Points offers a scruffier contrast of vintage clothing and record shops.

Charleston's King Street changes as you walk it, from antiques and galleries at the lower end through fashion brands to independent boutiques further up. The city also has a real local craft in the Gullah sweetgrass baskets woven and sold at City Market. Go to Atlanta for big labels, and to Charleston for an afternoon's browsing and a souvenir worth keeping.

Atlanta is easier on the wallet. Its hotels cost noticeably less than coastal ones, especially outside Buckhead, and its Southern and Buford Highway cooking is fair value. Car hire, parking and entry to the big family attractions still add up.

Charleston's historic inns and well-known restaurants charge as much as far larger cities, and spring and autumn weekends push room rates higher. Its old streets and beaches are free, but staying cheaply means a room in the suburbs and a drive in every day.

Atlanta has a full programme all year. The Atlanta Symphony and the Alliance Theatre play at the Woodruff Arts Center, opera and ballet companies run full seasons, and the Fox Theatre hosts touring Broadway shows. Major hip-hop, R&B and gospel tours pass through its arenas and halls all year.

Charleston's high point is Spoleto Festival USA in late spring, when opera, dance, theatre and jazz fill the city for more than two weeks. The rest of the year brings the Dock Street Theatre, the Gaillard Center, local bands and Gullah storytelling, a smaller but distinctive offer.

Charleston is the easier place to slow down, while Atlanta has the only real bathing culture of the two. In Charleston the old town does most of the work, with shaded gardens, quiet church courtyards and evenings by the water at White Point Garden. For treatments there are the resort spas out on Kiawah Island.

Atlanta's sprawl and traffic are harder to escape. Its large Korean community, though, has brought big bathhouses to the northeastern suburbs, about half an hour from the centre, with hot and cold pools, sauna rooms and long lounging halls.