Baltimore or Pigeon Forge?

Neither is a beach destination, but Baltimore at least has one within reach. Sandy Point, about forty minutes away, has a sandy strip by the Bay Bridge and warm, brackish water in high summer, though sea nettles and closures after heavy rain can spoil it. The Atlantic surf is a separate three-hour journey.

Pigeon Forge is far inland. Swimming there means Douglas Lake, the boulder pools in the national park's streams, Dollywood's water park or the hotel pool.

Baltimore has the real food culture of the two. You can spend a summer evening at a brown-paper crab feast with Old Bay and mallets, eat lump crab cakes all year, and browse Lexington Market and Cross Street for oysters and coddies. Little Italy and the chef-led kitchens of Hampden and Harbor East add some range.

Pigeon Forge feeds people well but simply: pancake houses, Southern buffets, barbecue and chains along the Parkway. Moonshine tastings and Old Mill fudge are its only local touches. For a memorable meal you drive to Knoxville or Asheville.

Baltimore has far more to see. The Baltimore Museum of Art holds one of the largest Matisse collections anywhere, the Walters runs from Egyptian antiquities to Fabergé, and Fort McHenry is where the national anthem was born. The cobbles of Fells Point and the townhouses of Mount Vernon make the streets worth exploring too.

Pigeon Forge was built for entertainment, so its sights are a half-scale Titanic and illusion museums. The Old Mill of 1830 and the crafts at Dollywood are the real heritage, and history lovers are better off at the log cabins and churches inside the national park.

Baltimore is a good bar town. It has taverns in centuries-old buildings around the Fells Point square, rooftops in Federal Hill that fill after Orioles games, and dives with an artistic crowd in Station North. Clubs are scarce, but a few evenings out are easy.

Pigeon Forge's evenings are family time, with dinner shows and lit-up go-kart tracks that wind down around ten. Adults who want a drink usually head to Gatlinburg or settle into the cabin hot tub.

Pigeon Forge wins by a long way, because the Great Smoky Mountains begin half an hour up the road. Forested ridges rise above 2,000m, and the trails run from the short walk to Laurel Falls to the steep Alum Cave route up Mount LeConte. Black bears and wild turkey graze in Cades Cove, and you can go tubing on the Little River.

Baltimore's outdoors are milder. The wooded gorges of Patapsco Valley, trout streams on the Gunpowder and the urban forest of Leakin Park are all close by, and kayaks on the harbour or a sail out of Annapolis add the water. The real mountains are an hour and a half west.

Baltimore sits on one of the best corridors in the country for day trips. The Smithsonian museums in Washington and Independence Hall in Philadelphia are each about an hour by train, and colonial Annapolis is closer still. With a car, Gettysburg, Harpers Ferry and the maritime villages of the Eastern Shore are within easy reach.

Pigeon Forge's options are fewer and all by road. Gatlinburg's crafts loop, Knoxville's Market Square, Cherokee over Newfound Gap and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville are the highlights, and after those the list thins quickly.

Pigeon Forge exists for families. Dollywood, with its coasters, music and seasonal festivals, is the centre of it, with the water park, mini-golf, zip lines and mountain coasters along the Parkway, and the cabins are built to sleep large groups. The catch is driving between stops in slow peak-season traffic.

Baltimore makes a good few days with children, because the National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center and Port Discovery sit together around the Inner Harbor. Fort McHenry's cannon and the B&O locomotives add more, but beyond the waterfront the city is uneven.

Baltimore is the easier of the two without a car. The Inner Harbor, Fells Point, Federal Hill and Little Italy link up along a waterfront promenade, water taxis run out to Fort McHenry, and trains reach Washington and Philadelphia. Its single metro and light rail lines are of limited use, though, so Hampden and the zoo mean a taxi.

In Pigeon Forge a car is essentially required. The town is a multi-lane strip, the trolley is slow and skips the hillside cabins, and the park trailheads can only be reached by road.

Neither is a shopping destination, and the difference is in what you find. Baltimore has vintage clothes, kitsch and local art on Hampden's Avenue, plus antiques and record shops in Fells Point. Pigeon Forge has outlet malls of American mid-market brands, pottery and quilts near the Old Mill, and craft studios above Gatlinburg making brooms and baskets.

Costs come out roughly level but fall in different places. In Baltimore, the big art museums are free and hotels are cheaper than in Washington, while restaurant bills with tip and frequent taxis push the daily total up. In Pigeon Forge, a cabin shared between families and buffet breakfasts cost little, but theme park tickets, dinner shows and a hire car soon add up.

Baltimore offers the wider programme. The Baltimore Symphony plays a full season at the Meyerhoff, the Peabody Institute gives frequent free concerts, and touring Broadway shows come to the Hippodrome. There are indie and punk clubs in Station North, and Pennsylvania Avenue has a long jazz history.

Pigeon Forge has plenty of shows but a narrow range: country and gospel revues, comedy, magic, dinner spectacles every night, and bluegrass on Dollywood's stages. Anyone after orchestral music or straight theatre has to drive to Knoxville.

Pigeon Forge is the more restful base, thanks to its cabins rather than its spas. A porch with a rocking chair and a private hot tub looking over the wooded ridges makes for easy, quiet evenings, as long as you stay well above the neon of the Parkway.

Baltimore's pace is urban and gritty. Its wellness amounts to hotel spas and a few yoga studios, so calm comes from a morning walk on the harbour, shade in Druid Hill Park or the hush of the Walters galleries.