Atlanta or Ocean City, Maryland?

Ocean City is built around about 16km of soft Atlantic sand, with lifeguards along the whole shore and public access from almost every street. Assateague, just to the south, adds wild beach backed by dunes.

Atlanta is four to five hours' drive from either coast. The nearest you get is a lake day at Lanier or Allatoona, which have warm water and sandy swimming areas but are weekend outings for local families, not a reason to travel.

Atlanta gives you two serious food trips in one. There is Southern cooking in meat-and-three cafeterias, soul food kitchens on the west side and barbecue, and there is the long strip-mall run of Buford Highway with its Korean, Vietnamese and Ethiopian cooks. BeltLine food halls and chef-led places in Inman Park add more, though you need a car to reach much of it.

Ocean City does one thing well: steamed blue crabs with Old Bay on brown paper, crab cakes, and boardwalk fries and frozen custard. Beyond that the choice is mostly diners, chains and bar food, and many kitchens cut back outside summer.

Little of Atlanta's old townscape survived the fire of 1864, but its civil rights sites carry national weight. King's birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church stand on Auburn Avenue, and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights is downtown. With the High Museum and the Atlanta History Center, they fill two or three solid days.

In Ocean City the heritage is the boardwalk itself. There is also a small Life-Saving Station Museum and an early twentieth-century carousel at the inlet, which make an hour's diversion rather than a reason to come.

Atlanta's nights run all year and cover a wide range. There are the big hip-hop clubs, dive bars on Edgewood Avenue, Midtown's large LGBTQ scene and the dressy lounges of Buckhead. Each area is its own pocket, though, so you take a ride between them.

Ocean City is a summer party strip. Its sand-floored bayside bars fill at sunset, sports bars and dance bars line the Coastal Highway, and the crowd is loud and young. The scene is simpler and seasonal, and most of it closes from October to May.

Atlanta has more variety within reach. Close to the city are the granite dome of Stone Mountain, the battlefield trails of Kennesaw and the wooded bluffs of the Chattahoochee. About two hours north are the Blue Ridge foothills, Amicalola Falls and the southern start of the Appalachian Trail.

Ocean City's outdoors is flat and watery. Assateague has dunes, marsh and wild ponies, the back bays are good for kayaking and paddleboarding, and the town is a well-known base for offshore marlin fishing. The landscape is low and open, with no hills to climb.

Neither city has a famous destination on its doorstep, but Atlanta has the wider choice. You can visit Athens and its music history, the gold-rush square at Dahlonega among the vineyards, the antebellum houses of Madison, or Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain about two hours north.

From Ocean City the outings are quiet Delmarva towns such as Berlin and Snow Hill, the pony village of Chincoteague, and Rehoboth Beach or Lewes further up the coast. These are pleasant half days rather than places worth the trip on their own.

Ocean City is the easier family choice in summer. It has a lifeguarded beach a few minutes from almost any street, amusement parks on the boardwalk, water parks and mini-golf, and condos with kitchens that make longer stays simple. Avoid early June, when graduating teenagers take over parts of town.

Atlanta's strength is its big attractions: the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium, the gorillas at Zoo Atlanta, the dinosaurs at Fernbank and the rides at Six Flags. These work in any season, but getting between them means driving in heavy traffic and, in summer, sticky heat.

Atlanta was laid out for the car, and a visitor feels it as soon as they step off the one rail corridor. MARTA runs from the airport through downtown and Midtown to Buckhead and reaches the main sights, and the BeltLine trail links several walkable neighbourhoods. Beyond that the city sprawls over hilly ground, restaurants and attractions sit far apart and rush-hour traffic is heavy, so most days involve a car or a ride.

Ocean City is easier for a beach stay, because everything a beach week needs lies along one narrow strip. The sand is a few minutes' walk from almost any street, a summer bus runs the length of the Coastal Highway and a tram rolls along the boardwalk. You still need the car to get there and to reach Assateague or the mainland, and the highway is unpleasant to walk beside, but you will hardly use it for a week of beach and boardwalk.

Atlanta has proper big-city shopping. Two large malls face each other on Peachtree Road in Buckhead, with designer boutiques nearby, and Little Five Points adds vintage clothing and record shops.

Ocean City sells T-shirts, surf gear, taffy and fudge along the boardwalk, and there is an outlet centre on the mainland. Neither city has a local craft worth taking home.

Overall costs come out much the same, but they hit in different places. In Atlanta, hotels are cheaper than on either coast and food on Buford Highway is fair value, while car hire, parking and tickets for the big attractions add up. The King sites are free.

In Ocean City the beach is free and boardwalk food is cheap, but oceanfront rooms on summer weekends are expensive. Sharing a condo, or coming in late May or September, brings the bill down.

Atlanta has a full performing arts season. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra plays at Symphony Hall, the Alliance Theatre stages serious new work, and there are opera and ballet companies and Broadway tours at the Fox Theatre. Major hip-hop, R&B and gospel tours come to its arenas and to the Tabernacle.

Ocean City offers touring comedians and tribute bands at the convention centre, free summer concerts at the boardwalk bandstand and cover bands in the bars.

Neither is a place to slow down, but Atlanta has one real draw. The big Korean bathhouses in the northeastern suburbs have hot and cold pools, saunas and long lounging halls, and hotel spas in Buckhead and Midtown add massages and treatments.

Ocean City has only a few day spas, and summer there is noisy. Its calm comes in the shoulder months, with an early walk on an empty beach at the quieter northern end.