Bethany Beach or Chattanooga?

This is where the two cities differ most, and Bethany Beach wins easily. A wide, lifeguarded Atlantic beach runs the full length of the town. You can easily reach other kinds of shore, from the wild dunes of Delaware Seashore State Park to the long sands of Ocean City, and the Inland Bays have calmer water for toddlers.

Chattanooga is a river city hundreds of kilometres inland. Swimming means a roped-off area at Chickamauga Lake or Harrison Bay, or a cold creek pool on the plateau. That is enough to cool off for an afternoon, but not for a beach vacation.

Bethany Beach eats like a seaside resort. You get steamed blue crabs cracked at paper-covered picnic tables, crab cakes, fried clams and boardwalk fries, mostly from places that open only in summer. The town's own choice is small, and for a proper spread of restaurants and craft beer you drive up to Rehoboth Beach. The roadside farm stands selling sweet corn, peaches and tomatoes in high summer are a real plus.

Chattanooga gives you more to work with over a few days. The cooking is Southern and unfussy, from meat-and-three plates and smoked brisket to catfish with grits. Chef-led kitchens and breweries cluster on the Southside, and brunch cafés line the North Shore. The range is still narrow, but the better tables are in town rather than a drive away.

Chattanooga clearly has more to see. There is the Civil War battlefield at Point Park on Lookout Mountain, the old Terminal Station, and the Hunter Museum of American Art on its bluff above the river. Walking the Walnut Street Bridge and visiting the Bessie Smith Cultural Center can fill two or three days.

In Bethany Beach, sightseeing barely goes beyond the carved totem pole at the boardwalk, a small local history collection and the wartime watchtowers along the shore. For a historic street you would drive to Lewes.

Neither city is for a big night out, but Chattanooga at least has somewhere to go. You can spend an evening among the breweries and cocktail bars of the Southside and Main Street, or on the short bar strip of Station Street, though most places close early. Bethany Beach proudly calls itself the Quiet Resort, and anyone wanting a late night drives up to the beach bars of Dewey Beach.

Chattanooga is far stronger here. Mountains rise straight above town, where the Tennessee River cuts through the Cumberland Plateau. They bring rock climbing on the sandstone bluffs, hang gliding off Lookout Mountain, trails in Prentice Cooper State Forest, and whitewater on the Ocoee less than an hour away.

Bethany Beach's outdoors is flat and gentle: paddleboarding on the Inland Bays, crabbing off the docks, and herons and ospreys over the salt marsh. Its high point is the wild ponies of Assateague Island, a different kind of outing from anything in the Tennessee hills.

From Bethany Beach the outings are shorter and smaller. The historic port of Lewes, the ferry across Delaware Bay to Victorian Cape May and the island village of Chincoteague all make easy days by the water. Inland, Berlin in Maryland has a well-kept Victorian main street. None of them is a major heritage destination.

Chattanooga has a slight edge because of the size of what is within reach. Nashville and Atlanta are each about two hours away. Those are long days, but they are real cities with music and museums, and Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center is closer. Nearer home there is the Chickamauga battlefield, though the list thins quickly once the big cities are done.

Both are easy with children, but the days look very different. In Bethany Beach a week means guarded beach, bike rides, crabbing and free concerts at the bandstand, with no big attractions and little open outside summer. Chattanooga is built around attractions: the Tennessee Aquarium, the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City. You will need to drive between them in the summer heat.

You need a car to reach both places and to see much beyond them, and once there they are about equally easy. Bethany Beach is a small, flat town where many visitors leave the car parked all week and cycle to the beach. Chattanooga has a walkable riverfront centre with a free downtown shuttle, but Lookout Mountain and the trailheads are a drive away.

Bethany Beach's own shops are a short row of surf and gift stores and bookshops full of beach reading. The real shopping is the spread of outlet malls outside Rehoboth Beach, a short drive north, where Delaware's lack of sales tax makes a bargain hunt worthwhile. Antiques shops on the inland roads and the galleries of Lewes add a little browsing.

Chattanooga is just as modest but more urban. Frazier Avenue on the North Shore has small boutiques, galleries and outdoor-gear stores, the converted railway buildings of Warehouse Row hold a mix of shops, and outdoor equipment is the one thing worth seeking out. Few people choose either place to shop.

Chattanooga is the easier city on the wallet. Its hotels and casual meals are moderate, and many trails and riverfront walks are free. The main costs are a hire car and paid entry to the aquarium and the mountain attractions.

Bethany Beach is expensive in July and August, when weekly beach-house rentals near the ocean are at their peak. It becomes much better value in June and September. Self-catering and free beach access help in any season.

Chattanooga has a real stage, which Bethany Beach lacks. The restored Tivoli Theatre hosts touring shows and the city's symphony and opera, there is a community theatre on the North Shore, and Southside bars put on bluegrass and Americana bands. In Bethany Beach, live performance means free summer concerts by the boardwalk bandstand, with families listening from blankets.

Neither city has spas worth travelling for, but Bethany Beach is a little better for doing nothing. It has leafy residential streets and an evening boardwalk with only the sound of the surf, and in spring and autumn the town goes almost silent. Chattanooga can be unhurried on a Bluff View porch, but most visitors there come to be active.