Atlanta or Chattanooga?

Neither city has a beach, and the sea is hours from both. Atlanta's swimming happens at the big reservoirs about an hour north, where Lake Lanier has proper sandy swimming areas for a summer day by the lake. Chattanooga's swimming is closer to town but smaller: roped-off areas on Chickamauga Lake and cool creek pools on the plateau, good for an hour or two on a hot afternoon.

Atlanta is much the stronger food city. Both cook Southern, but Atlanta adds west-side soul food kitchens, a serious Sunday brunch habit and, above all, Buford Highway, where Korean, Vietnamese, Mexican and Ethiopian restaurants cook for their own communities.

Chattanooga eats well within a narrower range: meat-and-three plates, barbecue and catfish, with its chef-led restaurants and breweries grouped on the Southside. International cooking is thin, so a few days of eating there will satisfy you. Atlanta can keep a food lover busy for a week, as long as you have a car to get around.

Atlanta's sights carry more weight. The King birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue, together with the civil rights centre downtown, make it a place of national importance, and the High Museum gives it a real art collection.

Chattanooga's story is the Civil War and the railway: Point Park on Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and the old Terminal Station, plus the Hunter Museum on its river bluff. Each city fills two or three days, but Atlanta's history matters well beyond the region.

The gap here is wide. Atlanta has a club culture known across the country. Its big hip-hop rooms sit alongside Edgewood Avenue's dive bars, Midtown's large LGBTQ scene and Buckhead's dressy lounges, and they keep going well past midnight.

A night out in Chattanooga means breweries and cocktail bars on the Southside, with Station Street as the liveliest block, and most places close early. It suits a beer on a patio. Atlanta suits a late night, though you will need a ride between its districts.

Chattanooga is made for the outdoors in a way Atlanta is not. Lookout, Signal and Raccoon Mountains rise straight above town, with sandstone climbing, hang gliding, mountain-bike trails and paddling in the Tennessee River Gorge. The Ocoee whitewater and Cloudland Canyon are less than an hour away.

Atlanta has its leafy tree canopy, the BeltLine, Piedmont Park and Stone Mountain's granite dome nearby, but serious hiking means a two-hour drive to the Blue Ridge foothills. In both places spring and autumn are the seasons to be outside.

The two are evenly matched, and each is a day trip from the other, about two hours apart by car. Atlanta's outings are smaller Georgia towns: Athens with its college and music history, Dahlonega among the vineyards and Madison with its antebellum houses.

Chattanooga reaches bigger destinations instead, with Nashville for music, Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center and the Chickamauga battlefield just to the south. From either city, every trip needs a car.

Both are good with children, and both are built around a large aquarium. Atlanta's is the bigger, with whale sharks and belugas, and the city adds Zoo Atlanta's gorillas, Fernbank's dinosaurs, the puppetry centre and a theme park with roller coasters.

Chattanooga works on a smaller, calmer scale. Its aquarium and children's museum are a few blocks apart, and Lookout Mountain's Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City make a full day out. Atlanta has more to do, while Chattanooga has less traffic and a gentler pace.

Neither is easy without a car, but Chattanooga's visitor area is simpler to manage. The riverfront, the aquarium, Bluff View and the Southside are all within walking distance, linked by the Walnut Street Bridge and a free downtown shuttle.

Atlanta has one useful MARTA rail corridor from the airport to Buckhead and the BeltLine trail on the east side. Beyond those, the sprawl, the hills and heavy motorway traffic take over. In both cities, the sights outside the centre mean hiring a car.

Atlanta has more to shop for, mostly in Buckhead, where two big malls on Peachtree Road and the boutiques of Buckhead Village carry the luxury labels, and Little Five Points adds vintage clothes and records. Chattanooga is modest, with Warehouse Row, the small boutiques and galleries of Frazier Avenue, and outdoor gear as its one speciality. Neither city has a local craft or market quarter worth travelling for.

Costs come out about the same. Hotels in both cost less than in the most expensive American cities, and both add sales tax and tips to meals, plus a hire car and full admission at the family attractions. What you get for free differs: in Atlanta, the civil rights sites around the King park; in Chattanooga, the trails, the riverfront walks and the downtown shuttle.

Atlanta has a full performing arts calendar. The symphony and the Alliance Theatre are at the Woodruff Arts Center, the opera and ballet run full seasons, and the Fox Theatre hosts Broadway tours. On top of that come the major hip-hop, R&B and gospel tours that a music capital attracts.

Chattanooga has enough for an evening or two: the gilded Tivoli Theatre, a small symphony and opera company, and bands playing bluegrass and Americana in Southside bars. Visitors who travel for music usually drive to Nashville or Atlanta.

Neither is a place to unwind, but Atlanta has one real draw: the big Korean bathhouses in the northeastern suburbs, with hot and cold pools, saunas and long lounging halls. Chattanooga has only hotel spas and a few day spas, and no bathing tradition. What it offers instead is a quieter pace, such as an unhurried afternoon on the riverfront or a porch in Bluff View, which Atlanta's traffic rarely allows.