Baltimore or Gatlinburg?

Baltimore has the edge for swimming, but only just. Sandy Point State Park on the Chesapeake makes a decent family afternoon, though the water is brackish and has jellyfish in high summer, and the Atlantic surf is three hours away.

Gatlinburg has no beach at all. You cool off by tubing the Little River near Townsend or wading in mountain pools, which stay cold even in July, or you swim in Douglas Lake.

Baltimore has a food identity of its own. It is built on the blue crab: paper-covered tables of steamed crabs with Old Bay, lump crab cakes, and old market halls selling oysters and coddies. Little Italy, Hampden and Harbor East add some range.

Gatlinburg feeds crowds of tourists. The Parkway serves pancake breakfasts, barbecue, fudge and moonshine tastings. The better Appalachian dishes, such as trout and country ham, have to be hunted down, and keen eaters drive to Knoxville or Asheville.

The gap is wide here. Baltimore can fill two or three days of real sightseeing: the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Walters, both free, the star-shaped fort of 1814, the roundhouse of the B&O Railroad Museum, and the cobbles and brick warehouses of Fells Point.

Gatlinburg's own landmarks are an observation tower and amusement parks. Its culture lies elsewhere, in the studios of the arts and crafts loop and the preserved mountain cabins and mills at Cades Cove and along the Roaring Fork.

Baltimore is a bar town rather than a club town, but it has real choice. There are old taverns around the square in Fells Point, rooftops and sports bars on Federal Hill after Orioles games, and dive bars in Station North.

In Gatlinburg, an evening means strolling the lit Parkway, a moonshine tasting or a brewery terrace, and then the hot tub back at the cabin. Very little stays open late.

This is Gatlinburg's main reason to go. It opens directly onto the Smokies, with deep hardwood forest, Laurel and Grotto Falls, the Alum Cave climb to Mount LeConte and the high road to Clingmans Dome. Bears, deer and elk are easy to see. The drawback is traffic jams at the busiest trailheads.

Baltimore has gentler outdoor options: the wooded gorges of Patapsco Valley, the trout streams of Gunpowder Falls, and sailing out of Annapolis among ospreys and eagles. These are good for a half-day break from the city rather than the point of the trip.

Baltimore is much the better base for outings. Washington and Philadelphia are both about an hour away by train, Annapolis is closer still, and with a car you can reach Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry and the Eastern Shore villages.

Gatlinburg has a shorter list. Asheville and the Biltmore Estate, Cherokee across Newfound Gap, and Knoxville make worthwhile drives, but after those the options run out.

Gatlinburg is designed around children. Mini golf, alpine coasters, chairlifts and an aquarium line the Parkway, Dollywood is next door, and the park adds junior ranger badges and bears seen from the car. Expect queues and slow traffic in high season.

Baltimore offers a strong few days around the Inner Harbor, with the National Aquarium, the Science Center, Port Discovery and paddle boats all close together. Once those are done, families tend to need a car or taxi to get anywhere else.

Baltimore is slightly easier without a car. The harbour neighbourhoods link up along a waterfront promenade and by water taxi, and the trains to Washington and Philadelphia are excellent, although Hampden and the zoo still need a bus or taxi.

Gatlinburg's own strip is walkable and has a trolley, but most visitors stay in cabins on steep hillsides, and the park is only practical by car. That means sitting in Parkway traffic in October.

Neither is a shopping destination, but the browsing is different. Baltimore offers vintage clothes, kitsch and local art on 36th Street in Hampden, plus antiques and records in Fells Point. Gatlinburg's best buys are handmade quilts, pottery and brooms from the craft studios, with outlet malls in Pigeon Forge for brands.

Gatlinburg tends to cost slightly less, especially if a large group splits a cabin midweek or in winter, and the national park itself is almost free. The savings disappear on paid Parkway attractions and Dollywood tickets, and in leaf season.

Baltimore is cheaper than Washington or New York, and its two main art museums are free. But restaurant bills, harbourside hotels and frequent taxis add up as they do in any American city.

Baltimore has a real cultural calendar. The symphony plays at the Meyerhoff, Peabody Institute students and faculty give frequent concerts in Mount Vernon, touring Broadway shows come to the Hippodrome, and small indie and punk venues cluster around Station North.

Gatlinburg's entertainment is lighter. There are dinner shows and gospel revues in Pigeon Forge, plus bluegrass in the moonshine tasting rooms. That suits a family evening, but anyone after orchestral music or serious theatre has to drive to Knoxville.

Gatlinburg is the more restful of the two, though that comes from how you stay rather than from its spas. A hillside cabin with a hot tub, a rocking chair and mist on the ridges is very calm, as long as you stay well above the noisy Parkway.

Baltimore offers hotel spas and yoga studios, and quiet moments on the harbour promenade or in Druid Hill Park. The city's gritty pace means people looking for real rest usually leave for the Eastern Shore.