Cape May or Pigeon Forge?

This category clearly goes to Cape May. A continuous strip of sand runs along the promenade with lifeguards and usually gentle surf, the Point has quieter beaches, and on Sunset Beach you can hunt for Cape May diamonds. The swimming season is short, but from late June to mid-September it is a real beach town.

Pigeon Forge sits in the Tennessee foothills, far from any coast. Swimming means Douglas Lake, wading pools among the boulders of mountain streams, or the water park beside Dollywood.

Cape May eats noticeably better. As a working fishing port it puts scallops, flounder and local oysters on menus everywhere, from dockside shacks to dining rooms in restored Victorian houses, and long porch breakfasts are part of the stay. The catch is that many kitchens cut back or close in winter.

Pigeon Forge cooks for volume: pancake houses, Southern buffets, barbecue and chain restaurants along the Parkway, with moonshine tastings as its one local tradition. For serious Appalachian or modern Southern cooking you have to drive to Knoxville or Asheville.

Cape May has the stronger sense of place. The whole town is a National Historic Landmark district of gingerbread cottages and porched hotels, with the Emlen Physick Estate and the climbable lighthouse as the main visits. It is small, though, and a day or two covers it.

Pigeon Forge's sights are built for fun rather than heritage: the half-scale Titanic, illusion museums and car collections. The Old Mill of 1830 and the crafts at Dollywood are its real history, and anyone after more drives into the national park to see the log cabins and churches.

Neither place is for a big night out, but Cape May at least has somewhere to sit with a drink. There are pubs and hotel bars around the pedestrian mall and the beachfront, often with a cover band in summer, and the town is quiet by midnight.

In Pigeon Forge, evenings mean dinner shows and go-karts rather than bars, with a few sports bars, brewpubs and moonshine tasting rooms. Adults in either place drive elsewhere for a louder night: to the Wildwoods from Cape May, to Gatlinburg from Pigeon Forge.

Pigeon Forge has far more to offer outdoors because it is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains. Forested ridges rise above 2,000m, trails run from the short walk to Laurel Falls to the Appalachian Trail on the crest, and in Cades Cove you can see bears and deer from the loop road. Spring wildflowers and October colour are high points, though the park traffic is heavy.

Cape May's nature is flat and coastal, but it is exceptional for birds. Autumn migration funnels hawks, songbirds and monarch butterflies through Higbee Beach and the state park at the Point, and dolphin boats almost always find dolphins in summer.

The outings are about equally good, but they differ in kind. From Cape May, the ferry across Delaware Bay to colonial Lewes is the highlight, Atlantic City is about an hour up the coast, and Philadelphia's museums make a long, tiring day.

Pigeon Forge has a city close by in Knoxville, forty minutes away. Over Newfound Gap is Cherokee, with its Oconaluftee village, and Asheville and the Biltmore Estate make a full day out by interstate. Its trips lean more towards mountain heritage, while Cape May's run along the shore.

Pigeon Forge is built for children. Dollywood's coasters, shows and seasonal festivals, the water park, mountain coasters and mini-golf fill a week, and large cabins and water-park hotels suit big groups. The downside is the driving between stops, the traffic at peak times and the summer heat on the strip.

Cape May is gentler and suits younger children. They get lifeguarded beaches, surrey rides on the promenade, crabbing on the bay and the free county zoo nearby. For rides you go to the Wildwoods, and some historic-district B&Bs do not take small children.

Cape May is far easier once you have arrived. The historic district, the promenade and Washington Street Mall are a short, flat walk apart, bikes do the rest, and a summer trolley helps. Getting there is the hard part, with no passenger rail, and outlying places like the Point and the zoo are easier by car.

Pigeon Forge is a long strip on a multi-lane road where you can only walk inside individual attraction complexes. The Parkway trolley is slow and does not reach the hillside cabins, so a car is close to essential, especially for the national park trailheads.

Shopping is about equal in both, and minor in both, but the two are quite different. Cape May is for browsing: independent boutiques, bookshops and home stores on the three-block Washington Street Mall, plus antique dealers and galleries in the historic streets.

Pigeon Forge has big outlet centres selling mid-market American brands, as well as genuine mountain crafts. You can buy pottery, quilts and stone-ground cornmeal at the Old Mill, and brooms, baskets and woodwork from the studios above Gatlinburg.

Pigeon Forge is clearly cheaper. Thousands of motel rooms and cabins keep lodging reasonable outside the peak weeks, and buffets and breakfast houses cost little. The money goes on theme park tickets, dinner shows and the car.

Cape May is expensive in summer, with premium B&B rates, minimum stays, restaurant bills like a big city's, beach tags and paid parking. Spring and autumn are kinder, and many budget visitors stay in the Wildwoods and come in for the day.

Pigeon Forge puts on far more shows. Dozens of Parkway theatres stage country and gospel revues, comedy, magic and dinner shows every night, and Dollywood has bluegrass and Appalachian music on its stages all day. The style is broad and sentimental, with no serious drama or classical music.

Cape May's offer is smaller but more serious: a professional company's season of plays in a converted church, historic American drama, and a long-established chamber music festival in late spring. It fills an evening but it is not a reason to visit, and outside summer there is little on.

Cape May is slightly more restful, especially in spring and autumn. You have rocking chairs on porches, afternoon tea in guesthouse parlours, sunsets over the bay and a few spas in hotels and guesthouses, though summer weekends are busy.

In Pigeon Forge, the calm is in the cabins: private hot tubs, fireplaces and porches looking over wooded ridges, as long as you book high up and away from the neon and traffic of the Parkway. Neither town has thermal baths.