Atlanta or Fort Lauderdale?

This is the widest gap between the two. Atlanta has no coast at all. The nearest sea is four to five hours away by car, so swimming means the sandy shores of Lake Lanier on a summer weekend or a hotel pool.

Fort Lauderdale is built around its beach. A long, pale strip runs along the barrier island, with lifeguards, a palm-lined promenade and water warm enough to swim in all year. For quieter sand, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea to the north has a reef you can snorkel from the shore, and Hollywood's Broadwalk to the south has a more family feel.

Atlanta is the better place to eat. Southern cooking is at home here, from meat-and-three cafeterias to soul food on the west side and smoked barbecue. Buford Highway adds a long run of Korean, Vietnamese and Ethiopian kitchens that cook for their own communities.

Fort Lauderdale eats well on seafood, such as grouper or stone crab on a dock along the Intracoastal, and its Jamaican and Haitian suburbs are the best find. Beyond that it is terraces on Las Olas and hotel dining on the beachfront, and people who travel for food drive down to Miami.

Atlanta has much more to see, though not an old townscape, since the city burned in 1864. What carries weight here is the civil rights story: King's birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue, and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights downtown. The High Museum and the Carter library round out two or three good days.

Fort Lauderdale's sights fit into a single day: the Bonnet House in its gardens behind the beach, the Stranahan House on the New River and the NSU Art Museum. People come for the water, not the history.

Atlanta has the bigger night out. Its clubs play the hip-hop and trap the city exports. Edgewood Avenue has the dive bars, Buckhead the bottle service, and Midtown is the centre of a large LGBTQ scene. Each area is its own pocket, though, and you need a ride between them.

Fort Lauderdale is looser and smaller. The beach bars on A1A fill from late afternoon, Himmarshee Street draws a young crowd late into the night, and Wilton Manors has a well-known row of gay bars and drag shows. There is little club culture, and people looking for a big night head to Miami.

Both have good outdoors, on very different ground. Atlanta's is wooded and hilly: a tall tree canopy, the granite dome of Stone Mountain, Kennesaw's battlefield trails and river floats on the Chattahoochee. Two hours north are the Blue Ridge foothills and the start of the Appalachian Trail.

Fort Lauderdale is flat and wet. Here the outdoors means kayaking the canals, diving reefs and sunken wrecks just offshore, sport fishing, and airboat rides through the Everglades sawgrass less than an hour west. Atlanta suits hikers in spring and autumn. Fort Lauderdale suits people who want to be on the water.

Fort Lauderdale has slightly better day trips, mainly because Miami is under an hour away by car or fast train. Art Deco Miami Beach, Wynwood and Little Havana fill a day, and Palm Beach's Flagler Museum and Key Largo at the top of the Keys add to the choice.

Atlanta's nearby trips are pleasant rather than famous, and all of them need a car. There is the college town of Athens with its music history, the gold-rush square at Dahlonega, Madison's pre-Civil War houses and Chattanooga two hours north. Savannah is too far for a day.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Atlanta has a long list of big attractions: the Georgia Aquarium with its whale sharks, the gorillas at Zoo Atlanta, the dinosaurs at Fernbank, the Center for Puppetry Arts and Six Flags. The driving and the summer heat wear young ones out.

Fort Lauderdale is simpler. It has a gentle, lifeguarded beach with showers and parks behind it, plus the Museum of Discovery and Science and an airboat ride to see alligators. Families who want a week on the beach should pick the coast, and those who want a full programme of days out should pick Atlanta.

Both cities were built for the car, and neither is easy without one. In Atlanta the useful exception is MARTA's rail line, which runs from the airport through downtown and Midtown to Buckhead. The BeltLine's Eastside Trail also links a few neighbourhoods on foot.

Fort Lauderdale's car-free area is smaller but more pleasant: the beach, Las Olas and the New River, linked by water taxis on the canals and free trolleys. Fast trains to Miami make the main day trip easy without driving, which Atlanta can't offer.

Neither city is worth the trip for shopping, and what each does offer differs. Atlanta's strength is luxury in Buckhead, with two big malls facing each other on Peachtree Road and designer boutiques nearby. Little Five Points has the vintage clothes and record shops.

Fort Lauderdale has a pleasant main street, Las Olas Boulevard, with resort fashion, swimwear and galleries. Its real draw is the huge outlet mall out west in Sunrise for bargain hunters, and for luxury people go to Palm Beach or Miami.

Atlanta is the cheaper stay. Hotel rooms cost noticeably less than on either coast, Buford Highway and casual Southern cooking are fair value, and the civil rights sites are free. The costs that add up are car hire, tips and the steep tickets at the big family attractions.

Fort Lauderdale costs more for most of the year. Beachfront rates climb in the winter high season, and drinks at the beach bars add up quickly. The beach itself is free, and a summer visit or an apartment a few blocks back from the sand keeps the bill down.

The real difference is having resident companies. Atlanta has its own symphony, known for its choral recordings, as well as an opera, a ballet and the Alliance Theatre, which produces new work at the Woodruff Arts Center. The 1920s Fox Theatre takes the touring Broadway shows, major hip-hop, R&B and gospel tours fill the arenas, and halls such as the Tabernacle, a converted church, cover the middle ground.

Fort Lauderdale is a stop for touring shows. The Broward Center on the New River and the smaller Parker Playhouse bring in musicals, ballet and comedy, and the beach bars have cover bands. For an orchestra or an opera you go to Miami.

Fort Lauderdale is the easier place to unwind. That is less because of its spas, which are standard resort fare along with sunrise yoga on the sand, than because of its pace: slow walks on the promenade and warm, dry winter afternoons by the water.

Atlanta is not restful, with its sprawl, traffic and humid summers. It does have something the coast lacks, though: large Korean-style bathhouses in the northeastern suburbs, with hot and cold pools, saunas and long halls for lounging.