Boca Raton or Pigeon Forge?

This is where the two differ most. Boca Raton has a chain of public beach parks on its barrier island: South Beach Park by downtown, Red Reef Park with a reef close enough to snorkel from the sand, and Spanish River Park with shade among the sea grape. The sea is warm enough to swim in every month.

Pigeon Forge sits in the Tennessee foothills, far inland. Swimming there means Douglas Lake in summer, boulder pools in the national park's streams or the water park beside Dollywood. These are pleasant enough, but none of them can replace a beach.

Neither town is a place to travel for food, but Boca Raton has more range and polish. Around Mizner Park and Royal Palm Place there are steakhouses, sushi and waterfront seafood, with grouper, stone crab and Key lime pie as the local touches, and its Jewish community keeps up a strong tradition of delis and bagel bakeries.

Pigeon Forge cooks for big appetites rather than for interest: pancake houses, Southern buffets and barbecue along the Parkway, with moonshine tastings as its one local custom. Serious eaters leave both towns for a good meal, driving to Delray Beach and Miami from one and to Knoxville or Asheville from the other.

Both are thin on sights, but Boca Raton at least has a story to tell. Addison Mizner laid out its Mediterranean Revival resort town in the 1920s, and you can still see his style in the Old Town Hall and the pink-towered hotel. Add the art museum in Mizner Park and the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens just to the north.

Pigeon Forge's attractions are mostly built for fun, such as the half-scale Titanic and the illusion museums. Its history lies in the Old Mill of 1830 and in the log cabins and churches inside the national park.

Evenings in Boca Raton are low-key, but adults can choose between wine bars and cocktail lounges around Mizner Park, and Delray Beach's Atlantic Avenue, which stays open later, is only fifteen minutes away. Pigeon Forge winds down around ten, once the dinner shows and go-kart tracks close. A drink there means a sports bar, a brewpub or a moonshine tasting room, so most grown-ups head to Gatlinburg or back to the cabin's hot tub.

Pigeon Forge wins easily here because of the Great Smoky Mountains: forested ridges over 2,000m high, the Alum Cave climb to Mount LeConte, spring wildflowers, and black bears and wild turkey in Cades Cove. Fishing, tubing on the Little River and horse riding add to it.

Boca Raton's outdoors are flat and centred on water. You can kayak through the Intracoastal mangroves, snorkel or dive the nearshore reef, fish the Gulf Stream, join a turtle walk at Gumbo Limbo or see alligators in the Loxahatchee refuge. It is good for time on the water, but there is nothing to climb.

Boca Raton's position on the Gold Coast gives it the easier list of outings. Palm Beach, with the Flagler Museum and Worth Avenue, is to the north and Fort Lauderdale's canals are to the south. Miami is about an hour away by train as well as by car, although the whole list is one stretch of coast.

Pigeon Forge's outings vary more but take longer to reach. Knoxville is close, Cherokee lies over Newfound Gap, and Asheville and the Biltmore Estate take up most of a day.

Pigeon Forge exists for families. There is Dollywood with its rides, music and seasonal festivals, the water park next door, mountain coasters and mini-golf along the Parkway, and big cabins that sleep several households. The national park adds easy waterfall walks and bear spotting.

Boca Raton is quieter and gentler with small children. Its beach parks have lifeguards, Red Reef makes a good first snorkel and Gumbo Limbo has turtle tanks, but the bigger attractions are drives away. In both places the car shapes the day.

Both are car towns, and neither is easy without a car. Boca Raton has the better ways out: Tri-Rail and Brightline trains stop there, so you can reach Miami and Fort Lauderdale without driving, and the centre around Mizner Park is pleasant on foot.

Pigeon Forge has only a slow trolley along the Parkway to Gatlinburg, and you need a car to reach the national park trailheads. Its bigger nuisance is the slow traffic in summer, in October and through the Christmas weeks.

Boca Raton is the place to shop seriously. It has a large upscale mall west of downtown with luxury labels and leading department stores, open-air boutiques in Mizner Park and Royal Palm Place, and Worth Avenue within a drive. Pigeon Forge offers outlet malls with mid-market brands and plenty of souvenirs. Its crafts have more character, though: pottery and quilts around the Old Mill, and studios making brooms and baskets in the hills above Gatlinburg.

Pigeon Forge is clearly the cheaper place to stay. Thousands of motel rooms and cabins keep lodging reasonable outside the peak weeks, a shared cabin works out well when several families split it, and the buffets are inexpensive. The theme park days and dinner shows are what add up.

Boca Raton is one of the wealthiest towns on the Florida coast, and from December to April its hotels and restaurants charge accordingly. Room rates drop a long way in summer, in exchange for the heat and the storms.

Pigeon Forge puts on more live entertainment. Every night, dozens of theatres along the Parkway stage country and gospel revues, comedy, magic and dinner spectacles, and Dollywood has bluegrass on its stages during the day. The style is broad and sentimental rather than serious.

Boca Raton's programme is smaller but covers more kinds of performance: recitals from the Lynn University conservatory, a ballet company, musicals and open-air concerts at the Mizner Park Amphitheater, mostly in winter. For opera and orchestras, the Kravis Center and Miami's Arsht Center are within reach.

A resort spa near the Atlantic or a hot tub on a wooded ridge: that is the choice here, and Boca Raton makes rest the easier of the two. Its large hotels have full spas and pools, yoga studios are spread around the city, and the whole place keeps a quiet, well-kept pace. Neither town has thermal baths or any bathing culture.

In Pigeon Forge, peace depends on where you sleep. A hillside cabin with a porch, a fireplace and a private tub looking out over the ridges gives you real quiet. Down on the Parkway the neon, crowds and traffic undo it, so book high up.