Atlanta or Washington DC?

Neither city is a place to swim, and both leave the coast for a separate trip: four to five hours' drive from Atlanta, about three hours from Washington to the Delaware and Maryland shore.

The nearer water is quite different. Atlanta has big reservoirs about an hour north, Lake Lanier and Lake Allatoona, with sandy swimming areas and warm freshwater all summer. Washington has the Chesapeake Bay around Annapolis, about an hour away, where the beaches are small, the water is brackish and jellyfish turn up late in the season.

Both cities eat well, but in different ways. Atlanta has a cuisine of its own: fried chicken, shrimp and grits and barbecue in soul food kitchens and meat-and-three cafeterias, plus Buford Highway's long run of Korean, Vietnamese and Mexican cooking. You will need a car to reach much of it.

Washington's strength is its range more than a local tradition. Ethiopian food around Shaw and U Street, pupusas in Columbia Heights, and Chesapeake crabs and oysters in season. Eastern Market and Union Market are easy places to graze, and both are reachable without driving.

Washington is far ahead here. The Smithsonian museums line the National Mall beside the National Gallery, the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial and the Library of Congress, and nearly all are free, so you can drop into several in a day. It is enough for a week.

Atlanta lost most of its old townscape in 1864 and has no group of museums to match. What it has is focused and moving: the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park on Auburn Avenue and the Center for Civil and Human Rights, plus the High Museum of Art. That makes two or three good days, and it pairs well with Washington's African American history museum if you are visiting both.

Atlanta offers the bigger night out. Its big clubs play the Southern hip-hop and trap the city is known for, Edgewood Avenue packs dive bars and small dance floors into a few blocks, Midtown has one of the South's largest LGBTQ scenes, and Buckhead does bottle service. The drawback is that each area is its own pocket, and you need a ride between them.

Washington's nights centre on the 14th Street and U Street corridor, with rowdier Adams Morgan and the dive bars of H Street nearby. The scene leans towards cocktail bars, rooftops and after-work drinks, and it gets quiet early in the week.

Both cities are greener than you might expect, with similar mountains a couple of hours away: the Blue Ridge foothills and the start of the Appalachian Trail from Atlanta, Shenandoah National Park and Old Rag from Washington. The difference lies closer in. Atlanta's best outings are Stone Mountain's granite dome, the Kennesaw battlefield trails and floating the Chattahoochee, and you need a car for all of them.

In Washington you can reach the outdoors from the city itself. Rock Creek Park runs through the middle of town, the C&O Canal towpath leads out of Georgetown along the Potomac, and the rocky gorge at Great Falls is only half an hour upriver.

Washington has much the better choice of day trips. Old Town Alexandria is a short Metro ride away, Baltimore is under an hour by train, and Mount Vernon, Annapolis, Gettysburg, Antietam and Harpers Ferry are all within a comfortable drive. Philadelphia's Independence Hall is a long but worthwhile day by fast train.

Atlanta's nearby towns are pleasant rather than famous, and you need a car for every one. Athens has its college-town music history, Madison its pre-Civil War houses and Dahlonega its gold-rush square. Chattanooga is about two hours north, but Savannah is too far for a day.

Both are good with children, but they spend your day differently. Atlanta has the big paid attractions: whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium, Fernbank's dinosaurs, the World of Coca-Cola, the Center for Puppetry Arts and the roller coasters at Six Flags. Getting between them means driving in heavy traffic.

In Washington the highlights are free and close together. The Natural History and Air and Space museums and the National Zoo are a short way apart, and the Mall gives children a huge lawn to run on. Every Metro station has lifts for buggies, though there is no theme park nearby.

This is where the two differ most for a visitor. Washington's flat grid and colour-coded Metro reach the Mall, Arlington, Alexandria and the airport, bike-share docks are everywhere, and you only need a car for the countryside. The one awkward gap is Georgetown, which has no station.

Atlanta was built around the car. The MARTA rail line works well along the airport, downtown, Midtown and Buckhead corridor, and the BeltLine's Eastside Trail links a few walkable neighbourhoods. Beyond that, restaurants, parks and day trips mean driving on congested motorways and walking streets where the pavement soon runs out.

Neither city is worth the trip for shopping, and neither has a craft tradition of its own, but they shop differently. Atlanta's shopping is in malls, above all the two facing each other on Peachtree Road in Buckhead, with Little Five Points for vintage clothes and records.

Washington's is more on the street. M Street and Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown run past boutiques and antique shops in old brick buildings, Eastern Market has weekend craft stalls, and the Smithsonian shops are good for books and prints.

Atlanta is the cheaper stay. Hotel rooms cost noticeably less, especially outside Buckhead, and Southern cooking and the Buford Highway restaurants are fair value. The costs that add up are car hire, parking and steep entry to the big family attractions, though the King sites are free.

Washington's hotels are expensive all year, and its restaurants and cocktails are priced for expense accounts. The saving is that the museums, the zoo and the memorials cost nothing. Staying in Arlington or near a suburban Metro station also helps.

Atlanta has the edge for popular music. Hip-hop, R&B and gospel are what the city sends out to the world, so major arena tours come through often, and the Tabernacle and the small rooms of Little Five Points and East Atlanta Village cover everything in between. Washington's music is more local in character: clubs and the restored Lincoln and Howard theatres around U Street, go-go at neighbourhood shows, and summer evenings on the lawn at Wolf Trap.

On the stage, Washington goes deeper, and that gives it a slight edge overall. Arena Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Studio Theatre and Woolly Mammoth all make their own productions, and Ford's Theatre and the Folger let you see a play in a historic setting. Atlanta's main producing company is the Alliance Theatre, and the Broadway shows at the Fox are touring productions. For classical music the two are about even, with the Atlanta Symphony, opera and ballet on one side and the National Symphony and Washington National Opera on the other.

Neither is a restful city, but Atlanta has one real draw. The large Korean-style bathhouses in the northeastern suburbs, about half an hour out, offer hot and cold pools, sauna rooms and lounging halls, some open round the clock.

Washington has no bathing tradition, and beyond hotel spas, rest is something you find for yourself: an early walk around the Tidal Basin, or a quiet bench at Dumbarton Oaks or the National Arboretum.