Branson or Chattanooga?

Neither town is near the sea, but Branson has the better swimming. Table Rock Lake has clear water and sandy public swim areas, and you can rent a pontoon and spend a whole summer day out in a wooded cove.

Chattanooga's swimming is shorter and more casual: small roped-off areas at Chickamauga Lake and Harrison Bay, and cool creek pools up on the plateau for an hour on a hot afternoon. In both towns this is something for the summer months only.

Chattanooga eats noticeably better. Its Southern cooking runs from meat-and-three plates to chef-led kitchens on the Southside and Main Street, with craft breweries alongside and cafés on the North Shore. It is not adventurous, but you can eat well for a few days.

Branson's food is built for feeding crowds before a show: buffets, chains along the strip, fried catfish and set dinner-theatre menus. The Ozark touches, such as skillet cooking, cinnamon bread and cold-water trout, are the parts worth seeking out.

Chattanooga has real history to see. You can walk the 1863 battlefields at Point Park and Missionary Ridge, look at the American art in the Hunter Museum on its river bluff, and visit the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. It fills two or three good days.

Branson's sights are mostly made for entertainment, like the wax museums and the ocean-liner museum on the strip. Its heritage survives mainly in the frontier crafts shown at the 1880s-themed park and in the eclectic Ralph Foster Museum.

Chattanooga is the only one of the two with a night out, though a modest one. Breweries, cocktail bars and Station Street's short strip of bars fill up with students and young locals at weekends, and most places close early.

In Branson the evening is the show itself. When the theatres empty, the family and retired crowd go back to their hotels, and there are only a few brewpubs by the lakefront to stay on in.

Chattanooga's landscape is steeper and more dramatic. Lookout, Signal and Raccoon mountains rise right above the river, so you can climb sandstone bluffs, mountain-bike in Prentice Cooper and paddle the Tennessee River Gorge without a long drive. Cloudland Canyon and the Ocoee whitewater are about an hour away.

Branson's Ozark outdoors are softer and centred on the water: bass fishing and kayaking on Table Rock Lake, trout below the dam, glade walks in Hercules Glades and show caves. The big scenery there, the bluffs of the Buffalo National River, is a two-hour drive.

From Chattanooga you can reach two major cities, Nashville and Atlanta, plus Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center. Each makes a long but worthwhile day out, and the Chickamauga battlefield is close.

Branson's outings are smaller but appealing. Eureka Springs has Victorian streets on its steep hillsides, and Crystal Bridges in Bentonville is a fine art museum. From either base, every trip needs a car.

Branson is built around families. The Ozarks theme park, water parks, the showboat, zip lines, caves and dinner shows with stunts give children enough for a full week, and even the theatre shows are made to be suitable for all ages.

Chattanooga is easy with children too, but it fills fewer days. The Tennessee Aquarium, the Creative Discovery Museum, the Incline Railway and Ruby Falls are the highlights, with the carousel in Coolidge Park and old-fashioned Lake Winnepesaukah to round out a long weekend.

Chattanooga's centre is easier to manage on foot. The riverfront, the aquarium, Bluff View and the Southside are all within walking distance, the Walnut Street Bridge crosses to the North Shore, and a free electric shuttle runs through downtown. You still need a car for the mountains and the trails.

Branson is spread for several hilly kilometres along Highway 76, with patchy pavements and traffic that crawls on busy evenings. Only the lakefront shopping district and the small old downtown can be walked, so a hire car is part of the trip from the start.

Neither town is a reason to go shopping, and what makes each one interesting is quite different. In Branson it is handmade Ozark crafts, like blown glass, quilts and ironwork, often made in front of you, along with outlet malls and the stores at Branson Landing. In Chattanooga it is the outdoor-gear shops and small galleries along Frazier Avenue and the converted railway buildings of Warehouse Row.

Branson works out a little cheaper. There are plenty of motels, condos and lake cabins, and buffet meals keep everyday costs down, but show tickets and park entry add up, so bundled show-and-hotel packages are worth looking for.

Chattanooga's trails, riverfront walks and downtown shuttle cost nothing. Its hotels and meals cost a little more, though, and the aquarium and Lookout Mountain sights charge full family prices. Neither is a budget destination, and both need a hire car.

Branson exists for live entertainment. Its theatres put on country and bluegrass family acts, gospel quartets, tribute shows and large biblical productions with live animals, from morning until night, and Christmas is as busy as summer. The skill on stage is often real, but the range stays narrow.

Chattanooga has less on but more variety. The gilded 1920s Tivoli Theatre hosts the city's symphony and opera company and touring shows, and there is a long-running community theatre and some Americana in Southside bars. It is enough for a night or two.

In Branson, rest is something you book. A lodge resort on Table Rock Lake with a full spa, or a cabin on a quiet wooded cove, keeps you well away from the neon and traffic of the strip.

Chattanooga has fewer spas, mostly in hotels, but there is also less to get away from. The small city moves at an unhurried pace, and a slow afternoon by the river or on a porch in Bluff View is restful enough, though most visitors come to be active.