Atlanta or Orange Beach?

Atlanta is inland, four to five hours from either coast, so a beach is out of reach as a day out. The nearest you get is a lake day at Lake Lanier, about an hour north, with sandy swimming areas and warm summer water.

Orange Beach is built around the sea: fine white quartz sand, low dunes and clear green water on calm days, with gently shelving shallows that suit children. Alabama Point and the state park beaches give more room away from the condo towers. Watch the flags for rip currents, and expect the water to be too cool for swimming in winter.

Atlanta has much more range on the plate. Meat-and-three cafeterias, west side soul food kitchens and serious Sunday brunches show Southern cooking at home, and Buford Highway adds Korean, Vietnamese, Mexican and Ethiopian restaurants cooking for their own communities. Food halls along the BeltLine and chef-led places in Inman Park round it out, though much of it is a drive away.

Orange Beach does one thing well: Gulf seafood eaten by the water. Royal Red shrimp, chargrilled oysters, snapper and West Indies salad at back-bay fish houses make for a few memorable dinners. Beyond those, the menus along the main road start to look alike.

Atlanta gives a visitor real things to see, and its strongest card is the civil rights story: the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park on Auburn Avenue and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. The High Museum of Art, the Atlanta History Center and the Carter Presidential Library add two or three solid days, even if the old townscape was largely lost in 1864.

Orange Beach has little beyond a small museum of Native American and fishing history. Anyone wanting forts or old streets must drive to Pensacola or Mobile.

Atlanta's nights have a national name thanks to the hip-hop and trap played in its big clubs. Edgewood Avenue packs dive bars into a few blocks, Midtown is one of the South's largest LGBTQ scenes, and Buckhead does dressier lounges. Each area is its own pocket, though, so moving between them takes a ride.

Orange Beach is about sand-floored beach bars and waterfront decks, above all the Flora-Bama roadhouse on the state line. It gets loud at spring break and on summer weekends and is quiet the rest of the year, with no dance clubs at all.

Both give a good share of outdoor time, but on very different ground. Around Atlanta the outdoors means height and woodland: the granite dome of Stone Mountain, the Kennesaw battlefield trails, floating the Chattahoochee, and the Blue Ridge foothills with Amicalola Falls about two hours north.

Orange Beach is flat and watery. Visitors kayak the back bays, take dolphin cruises out of Perdido Pass and go out on charter fishing boats. A paved backcountry trail runs past alligator ponds, and Bon Secour refuge is good for birding during the migrations. Choose Atlanta for hills and hiking, Orange Beach for paddling and fishing.

The two are evenly matched for outings, and both need a car. From Atlanta you head for small towns and hills: college-town Athens, Dahlonega among the vineyards, the pre-Civil War houses of Madison, or Chattanooga about two hours north.

Orange Beach's trips lean more towards coastal history and are closer to hand. The Spanish quarter and brick forts of Pensacola are under an hour away, Mobile has its antebellum streets and battleship park, and a car ferry crosses from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Atlanta is a city of big attractions: whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium, gorillas at Zoo Atlanta, dinosaurs at Fernbank and shows at the Center for Puppetry Arts. The catch is the traffic and driving between them.

With young children, Orange Beach has a slight edge for its easy routine. Condos with kitchens and pools, shallow water and sandcastle days are all close together, with dolphin boats and mini golf for a change. Rip currents and the midsummer sun need close watching.

Neither works well without a car, but Atlanta gives a visitor more to work with. The MARTA rail line links the airport, downtown, Midtown and Buckhead, so the main sights and Piedmont Park can be reached without driving, and the BeltLine's Eastside Trail joins several neighbourhoods on foot.

Orange Beach strings everything along one coastal highway with little useful public transport. Walking rarely gets you beyond your own block, and summer traffic crawls. A bicycle on the paved trails is the main alternative.

Atlanta has the fuller range. The Buckhead malls on Peachtree Road carry department stores and luxury labels, Buckhead Village has designer boutiques, and Little Five Points brings vintage clothing and record shops. None of it is distinctively local.

Orange Beach sells beachwear, souvenirs and fishing gear along the main road and around the marina. For brand names, visitors drive twenty minutes inland to the outlet mall at Foley.

Overall costs come out close, but they work differently. Atlanta's hotels are cheaper than those on either coast, Buford Highway and casual Southern cooking are fair value, and the civil rights sites are free. What adds up is entry to the big family attractions, plus car hire and parking.

Orange Beach depends heavily on the season. Beachfront rooms are expensive in summer, but rates drop sharply from late autumn to early spring. Families sharing a large rental with a kitchen bring the bill down further, and the beach itself costs nothing.

Atlanta has a full stage calendar. The Atlanta Symphony plays at the Woodruff Arts Center, the Alliance Theatre stages new work, and the opera and ballet run full seasons. The 1920s Fox Theatre hosts touring Broadway shows, and as a centre of hip-hop, R&B and gospel the city draws major tours to its arenas and to the Tabernacle.

Orange Beach offers country and rock tours at the marina amphitheatre in the warmer months and cover bands in the beach bars. Its standout is the November Frank Brown songwriters' festival. There is no theatre, opera or classical music.

Neither is a spa destination, and the ways to unwind differ. In Atlanta the best option is the Korean bathhouses in the northeastern suburbs, with hot and cold pools and lounging halls, though the city's traffic and sprawl keep the pace far from restful.

Orange Beach has only a few resort spas, but it offers slow mornings and sunsets over the back bays. That calm is at its best outside spring break and summer weekends.