Atlanta or Pittsburgh?

Neither city is a place for a beach vacation. Both are far inland, and swimming means a lake or a pool. The difference is in the kind of lake. Atlanta's Lake Lanier is about an hour away, and in summer its water is warm enough for a long, lazy swim.

Pittsburgh has the small wooded beaches of Lake Arthur closer to town. Its real asset is Presque Isle, a proper sandy shore on Lake Erie, but that is two hours' drive away and the water is noticeably cooler.

Atlanta is the stronger city for eating, thanks to two things. One is Southern cooking in its home setting, from meat-and-three cafeterias to Sunday brunch. The other is Buford Highway, a long run of strip malls where Korean, Vietnamese, Mexican and Ethiopian kitchens cook for their own communities.

Pittsburgh's food is narrower but has a clear character. You will find Eastern European dishes such as pierogies and haluski, sandwiches with the fries stacked inside, and chef-led kitchens in old Lawrenceville warehouses. Its Strip District market street is also easier to enjoy on foot than Atlanta's spread-out dining, most of which needs a car.

The two are about level, but they tell very different stories. Atlanta's heritage is twentieth-century and about people. Auburn Avenue, with King's birth home and Ebenezer Baptist Church, and the civil rights centre downtown make it one of the places to understand that movement. Because the city burned in 1864, there is little old townscape to wander.

Pittsburgh's sights come from steel money and are more about art and buildings. It has the Carnegie Museums, the Warhol, the Gothic Cathedral of Learning and the Richardson courthouse. Its finest sight is the view from Mount Washington over the bridges and three rivers.

Atlanta is a much bigger night out. It is the home of Southern hip-hop and trap, with large clubs playing that music, small dance floors packed along Edgewood Avenue, one of the South's largest LGBTQ scenes in Midtown and dressy lounges in Buckhead.

Pittsburgh is a bar city. You can choose between cocktail and brewery bars on Butler Street, the student crawl on East Carson Street and fans in black and gold on game nights. It is easygoing and fun but has little in the way of clubs. In both cities the scenes sit in separate neighbourhoods linked by rides.

These two are evenly matched outdoors, with different landscapes. Atlanta has a tall tree canopy, the granite dome of Stone Mountain and floats on the Chattahoochee close to town, and the Blue Ridge foothills and the start of the Appalachian Trail are two hours north.

Pittsburgh's green is steeper and wetter. There are ravine trails in Frick and Schenley parks, and you can kayak under the downtown bridges. The Great Allegheny Passage cycle trail leaves straight from the city towards the whitewater gorge at Ohiopyle.

Atlanta has the wider choice of outings. Within two hours you can reach college-town Athens, the gold-rush square and vineyards of Dahlonega, the antebellum houses of Madison, Alpine-style Helen, or Chattanooga with its riverfront and Lookout Mountain.

Pittsburgh has one outstanding trip, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, and it pairs well with nearby Kentuck Knob and Ligonier's fort. Beyond that, and the Flight 93 memorial, the list soon runs out. In both cases you need a car.

Both cities are good with children. Atlanta's attractions are bigger: the Georgia Aquarium with its whale sharks, Six Flags' roller coasters, the Fernbank dinosaurs and a puppetry centre with shows for young audiences. The price is long drives between them and summer heat.

Pittsburgh works at a gentler scale. The science centre, children's museum and aviary are grouped together on the North Side, Kennywood has old wooden roller coasters, and the inclines are a treat in themselves. Its hills, though, make a car useful with small children.

Pittsburgh is clearly easier to get around without a car. Its downtown is compact, and you can walk across the bridges to the North Side or along the river to the Strip District. The T and the two inclines cover much of what a first-time visitor wants to see. Oakland and Lawrenceville are harder, reached by commuter buses or a ride.

In Atlanta, a visitor without a car is limited to the MARTA corridor from the airport to Buckhead and the BeltLine's Eastside Trail. The best restaurants, Stone Mountain and anything further afield mean driving in heavy motorway traffic.

Atlanta has far more to shop for, though it is American retail rather than anything local. Buckhead's two big malls on Peachtree Road and the designer boutiques nearby cover luxury and department stores, and Little Five Points adds vintage clothes and records.

In Pittsburgh, shopping is browsing more than buying. You can wander the Strip District's stalls, the independent shops of Butler Street and Walnut Street in Shadyside. Big brands mean a drive out to the suburban malls.

Both are cheaper than the coastal cities, and Pittsburgh stretches a budget a little further. Its downtown hotels are fairly priced on most nights, and beer and the Strip District's food cost little. Prices go up only on big game and concert weekends.

Atlanta's rooms are reasonable away from Buckhead and convention weeks, but car hire, parking and the steep entry charges at its headline family attractions add up quickly. The free civil rights sites around the King park help to balance that.

These two are closely matched, with different strengths. Atlanta's edge is popular music: hip-hop, R&B and gospel bring a steady run of major tours to its arenas and to the Tabernacle. The ornate Fox Theatre and the symphony, known for its choral recordings, cover the formal side.

Pittsburgh keeps its symphony, opera, ballet and Broadway tours within a few downtown blocks, at Heinz Hall and the Benedum Center, so an evening at the theatre is a short walk from your hotel. The Hill District, setting of August Wilson's plays, gives it a jazz heritage Atlanta does not share.

Neither city is restful, but Atlanta has the more interesting option. The large Korean bathhouses in its northeastern suburbs have hot and cold pools, sauna rooms and lounging halls, and some of them open round the clock.

Pittsburgh has no bathing tradition. Unwinding there means a hotel spa, the warm glasshouses of Phipps Conservatory or a quiet walk in Frick Park. For a proper spa stay, people drive out to the resort hotels of the Laurel Highlands.