Atlanta or Kansas City?

Neither city is anywhere near the sea, so swimming in both means lakes and pools. The difference is small. Atlanta's day out is Lake Lanier or Lake Allatoona, about an hour north, with sandy swimming areas and warm water in summer. Kansas City's lake beaches are in county parks on the edge of the metro area. They are smaller and closer, and better for a quick afternoon with children than a full day.

Both cities are worth eating in, but Atlanta covers more ground. Its Southern cooking runs from meat-and-three cafeterias to the soul food kitchens on the west side. Buford Highway adds miles of Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, Mexican and Ethiopian restaurants that cook for their own communities, and Inman Park and the Westside have chef-led dining rooms.

Kansas City goes deep on one thing rather than wide. Its hickory-smoked barbecue and burnt ends are a pilgrimage in their own right, and the old steakhouses are a reminder of its cattle-town past. Away from the smoke, the River Market counters and the Westside's Mexican kitchens are good. Still, someone who doesn't care about barbecue will find less to explore than in Atlanta.

Each city offers about two or three days of sightseeing, and neither has much old townscape. What differs is the subject. Atlanta's strongest sights tell the story of civil rights: Martin Luther King's birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue, and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. The High Museum and the Carter Library round out the visit.

Kansas City is stronger on art and on the buildings themselves. The Nelson-Atkins has an encyclopaedic collection, with especially fine Chinese art, and the WWI museum stands beneath the Liberty Memorial tower. Union Station and the Spanish-style Country Club Plaza give the streets more architectural interest than Atlanta's glass and concrete.

Atlanta is the bigger night out by some distance. Its clubs play the hip-hop and trap the city sends around the world, Edgewood Avenue packs small dance floors into a few blocks, and Midtown has one of the South's largest LGBTQ scenes. Buckhead covers the dressier, bottle-service end.

Kansas City is friendly but modest. You can choose the sports bars of the Power and Light District, Westport's student strip, or the cocktail and craft beer bars of the Crossroads. The club scene is small and weeknights end early. In both cities you'll need a ride between districts.

Atlanta wins clearly here. The city sits under a tall hardwood canopy, and within half an hour you can be on Stone Mountain's granite dome or floating the Chattahoochee between wooded bluffs. About two hours north are the Blue Ridge foothills, with waterfalls, gorges and the southern end of the Appalachian Trail.

Kansas City is surrounded by gently rolling prairie and farmland. Swope Park and Loose Park's rose garden are lovely for a stroll, and the reservoirs are good for boating. For real hiking, though, the Ozarks are several hours away.

Atlanta has the better range of outings by car. Athens has its music history and antebellum houses, Dahlonega has a gold-rush square and nearby vineyards, and Madison has preserved pre-Civil War streets. Chattanooga, with its aquarium and Lookout Mountain, is about two hours away.

Kansas City's trips are shorter and quieter: Truman's home in Independence, the university town of Lawrence, the river town of Weston and the Pony Express museum in St Joseph. They make pleasant half days, but none has Atlanta's mountain scenery.

Atlanta has more big attractions for children. The Georgia Aquarium has whale sharks and belugas, Zoo Atlanta is known for its gorillas, and Fernbank has dinosaur skeletons. The Center for Puppetry Arts is a real treat for young children, and Six Flags is on the edge of the city.

Kansas City is less spectacular but less tiring. Worlds of Fun and its water park, Science City inside Union Station, and the aquarium and Legoland Discovery Centre at Crown Center keep children busy. Easy parking and summer fountains to splash in make the days simpler than battling Atlanta's traffic.

Both cities are built for the car, and each has one useful transit line. Atlanta's MARTA rail runs from the airport through downtown and Midtown to Buckhead, so you can arrive and see the central sights without driving. Kansas City's streetcar along Main Street links the River Market, downtown, Union Station and Crown Center.

Once you leave those lines, the experience differs. Driving in Kansas City is easy, with free-flowing highways and plentiful parking. In Atlanta, rush-hour traffic on the motorways is notoriously heavy.

Atlanta has the wider choice. The two big malls facing each other on Peachtree Road and the boutiques of Buckhead Village cover luxury and department stores. Little Five Points adds vintage clothing and record shops.

Kansas City's Country Club Plaza is the more pleasant place to walk, with its 1920s Spanish-style towers and courtyards, but the stores are mostly the familiar national names. The Crossroads galleries and Westport's thrift shops fill in the rest. Neither city has a local craft, and souvenirs here tend to be barbecue sauce.

Costs are much the same in both cities: cheaper than the coasts, but not cheap. In each, car hire, tax and tips on every meal, and tickets to the big family attractions are what add up. The free sights differ. In Atlanta they are the civil rights sites around the King park, and Buford Highway is good value for dinner. In Kansas City, the Nelson-Atkins doesn't charge for general entry, parking is easy to find, and a barbecue lunch keeps you going all day.

Both cities have full programmes of symphony, opera, ballet and theatre, but their musical identities are very different. Atlanta is a centre of hip-hop, R&B and gospel, so major tours fill its arenas, and the Tabernacle and the ornate Fox Theatre host larger shows.

Kansas City's music is jazz. Small clubs around 18th and Vine and in Midtown put on live sets most nights, often with late jam sessions. On the formal side, the Kauffman Center's pleated-shell halls give the symphony and opera a striking home.

Neither city is a place to switch off, but Atlanta has one real draw: the big Korean bathhouses in the northeastern suburbs, about half an hour out. They have hot and cold pools, sauna rooms and lounging halls, and some stay open round the clock. The downside is the city's traffic and sprawl.

Kansas City offers only hotel and day spas, plus the old mineral-water resort of Excelsior Springs about forty minutes north. On the other hand, the gentler pace and quiet morning walks in Loose Park or the Nelson-Atkins sculpture park make it the less stressful city day to day.