Cape May or Nashville?

This is Cape May's main reason to visit. A continuous sandy beach runs along the town's oceanfront, with lifeguards and gentle surf. The Point's beaches are quieter, and on the bay side at Sunset Beach you can hunt for Cape May diamonds.

Nashville is hundreds of kilometres from the coast. Its swimming happens at Percy Priest and Old Hickory lakes, where locals mostly go out on pontoon boats. That makes a pleasant hot afternoon, not a beach vacation.

Nashville eats better and more widely. Hot chicken, meat-and-three cafeterias, barbecue and Tennessee whiskey make up a strong local tradition. The chef-driven places in East Nashville and Germantown and the immigrant kitchens along Nolensville Pike add range.

Cape May's strength is narrower but fresh: scallops, flounder and oysters from its own fishing port, and long breakfasts on Victorian verandas. Beyond seafood, choice thins to fudge and taffy, and many kitchens cut back in winter.

Nashville has more to see, and most of it is about music. The Country Music Hall of Fame leads, with the National Museum of African American Music and a daytime tour of the Ryman close by. The Frist Art Museum, the Parthenon replica and the Hermitage add art and harder history.

In Cape May the town itself is the sight, a whole Victorian landmark district best seen on foot or by trolley. The Physick Estate and the lighthouse climb round it off, and a day or two covers it.

The two are very different. Nashville's Lower Broadway runs as one long party of multi-storey honky-tonks with live bands until the small hours. East Nashville's dive bars and cocktail lounges offer a calmer alternative, though dance clubs are scarce.

Cape May's evenings are porch-and-pub affairs: a few old bars near the mall with a cover band, and quiet by midnight. Anyone wanting more drives up to the Wildwoods.

Cape May has the stronger draw. Its position where the Atlantic meets Delaware Bay makes it one of North America's great migration sites for hawks, songbirds and monarch butterflies. Add summer dolphin boats, winter whale watching and kayaking in the back-bay marshes, though the land is entirely flat.

Nashville offers gentler green country instead: wooded trails at Radnor Lake and the Warner Parks, paddling on the Harpeth River, and cycling on the Natchez Trace Parkway. It has a few more hills, but nothing as distinctive as the cape.

Nashville's list is a little longer: Franklin's Main Street and Civil War sites half an hour away, the Jack Daniel's distillery in Lynchburg, and Chattanooga at the edge of a day out. They are pleasant small towns and history rather than big names.

Cape May's best outing is on the water, the ferry across the bay to colonial Lewes. The Wildwoods and Atlantic City are up the coast, and Philadelphia is possible but tiring.

Cape May is the easier family base, with lifeguarded sand, slow safe streets, surrey rides on the promenade, crabbing on the bay and a free county zoo nearby. The rides and arcades are in the Wildwoods, and some historic B&Bs turn away small children.

Nashville has good daytime attractions in the zoo at Grassmere, the Adventure Science Center and the Lane Motor Museum. But the downtown strip is loud adult territory at night, and every outing involves the car.

Inside town, Cape May is simpler. The historic district, promenade and Washington Street Mall are a short, flat walk or bike ride apart, though getting there means driving or taking the Delaware ferry.

Nashville's walkable core stops at downtown and the Gulch. The Opry, the Hermitage, East Nashville and 12 South are each a ride-hail or drive away, with buses as the only public transport and heavy rush-hour traffic.

Nashville gives shopping a real theme: boots, cowboy hats and rhinestone shirts on Broadway, some of the best guitar browsing anywhere, Hatch Show Print posters, and record shops and boutiques in 12 South.

In Cape May it is a gentle hour on the three-block Washington Street Mall, browsing bookshops, galleries and taffy counters.

Neither is cheap, but Nashville costs a little less. Most of its music is free in the no-cover honky-tonks, and hot chicken counters and meat-and-three cafeterias keep meals down. Weekends and event dates push hotel rates up, though.

Cape May in summer means premium B&B rates with minimum stays, plus beach tags and parking. Coming in spring or autumn, or staying in the Wildwoods, eases the cost.

This is Nashville's great strength. It has the Grand Ole Opry, touring acts at the Ryman, bands on Broadway from late morning, and intimate songwriter nights where the writers of the hits play them. The symphony at the Schermerhorn Center and opera and ballet at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center add a classical side.

Cape May offers a pleasant evening rather than a reason to come: repertory theatre in a converted church, a long-running chamber music festival in early summer, and concerts in Convention Hall.

Cape May is the more restful of the two, thanks to its pace: rocking chairs on porches, afternoon tea in guesthouse parlours, and sunsets over the bay, best in spring and autumn. A few hotels run day spas.

Nashville's mood is built around noise and late nights. Rest there means a hotel spa or a stay in leafy Belmont or Hillsboro.