Chattanooga or Chicago?

Chattanooga's swimming is a few roped-off areas on Chickamauga Lake and Harrison Bay, plus cool creek holes up on the plateau. These are fine for a hot afternoon but are not real beaches.

Chicago has proper sandy beaches inside the city, from Oak Street beside the Gold Coast towers to the volleyball strand at North Avenue, all on fresh Lake Michigan water. Swimming there is only realistic for about ten summer weeks, but in that time the beaches give a city trip a real beach afternoon.

Chattanooga feeds you well in the Southern way, with meat-and-three plates, brisket, catfish and grits, and a cluster of chef-led kitchens and breweries around the Southside. Beyond that the choice is narrow, with little foreign cooking and only a few fine-dining tables.

Chicago is a serious food city. Its own staples, deep-dish and tavern-cut pizza, Italian beef and the dressed hot dog, sit alongside the tasting menus of Randolph Street. The real depth is in the neighbourhoods: Mexican cooking in Pilsen, South Asian on Devon Avenue and Vietnamese on Argyle Street. You could eat for a week without repeating a cuisine.

Chattanooga's history centres on the 1863 battles, which you can follow from Point Park on Lookout Mountain and along Missionary Ridge. Add the Hunter Museum on its bluff, the old Terminal Station and a walk over the Walnut Street Bridge, and two or three days covers it.

Chicago is in another league. It is where the skyscraper grew up, and a river cruise past the Rookery and the Mies towers is a lesson in architecture. The Art Institute's Impressionists, the Field Museum and Wright's Robie House add days more. Neither city has much heritage before the 19th century.

An evening in Chattanooga means a brewery patio, a cocktail bar or a band on Station Street. There is hardly any club scene, and the city is mostly asleep well before the small hours.

Chicago keeps going until 4am, and each neighbourhood offers a different kind of night. There are dive and cocktail bars in Wicker Park and Logan Square, clubs in River North, the gay bars of Northalsted and house nights that draw on the city's role in creating the genre. Summer rooftops and winter taverns change the setting with the seasons.

This is where Chattanooga wins clearly. The Tennessee River cuts through the Cumberland Plateau right at the city's edge, and Lookout, Signal and Raccoon Mountains rise straight above the streets. That puts climbing on sandstone bluffs, hang gliding, gorge paddling and forest trails close to your hotel, with Ocoee whitewater and the falls of Cloudland Canyon within about an hour.

Chicago's nature is the lake. The 29km shore path is a fine day on foot or by bike, and Lincoln Park offers good birding. For dunes or canyons you have to drive to Indiana Dunes or Starved Rock, and there are no hills anywhere.

From Chattanooga, two major cities are within reach. Nashville's music and Atlanta's museums are each about two hours away, Huntsville's rocket centre is closer, and Lynchburg, Sewanee and the Chickamauga battlefield make quieter outings. Every one of them needs a car.

Chicago has fewer worthwhile outings, though the easiest is car-free: Milwaukee, a train ride away for its lakefront art museum and breweries. Oak Park's Wright houses are on the city's edge. Lake Geneva and the Michigan harbour towns make pleasant drives rather than strong reasons to go.

Both cities have a great aquarium to build a family day around: the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga and the Shedd in Chicago. Chattanooga adds the steep Incline Railway, Ruby Falls in its cave and Rock City, and its small scale keeps a family trip easy, although you will be driving between sights in summer heat.

Chicago gives children more to do. The Museum of Science and Industry, with its coal mine and U-boat, the Field Museum's dinosaurs, the free Lincoln Park Zoo and lifeguarded summer beaches could fill a week. Its trouble is winter cold, not lack of choice.

Chattanooga's centre is easy on foot, with a free electric shuttle and the Walnut Street Bridge linking downtown to the North Shore. Once you head for Lookout Mountain, the trails or any day trip, you need a car.

In Chicago you can leave the car behind. The L runs from both airports into the Loop, and the flat downtown grid puts Millennium Park, the Art Institute and the Museum Campus within walking distance of each other. Travelling between outer neighbourhoods often means a slow bus, and January wind makes walking hard work.

Chattanooga is not a shopping destination. Warehouse Row and the boutiques of Frazier Avenue are pleasant to browse, outdoor gear is the one real strength, and the big chains are out at Hamilton Place mall.

Chicago is a real shopping city. The Magnificent Mile has the flagships and vertical malls, and Oak Street has the luxury labels. The old Marshall Field's building on State Street is worth a visit for its Tiffany ceiling alone. For independent fashion, records and vintage, try Wicker Park and Andersonville.

Neither city is cheap, and Chattanooga is only a little easier on the wallet. Its hotels and casual meals cost less, and its trails and riverfront are free, but most visitors pay for a hire car, and the aquarium and Lookout Mountain attractions all charge admission.

Chicago's costs are in downtown hotels, high taxes and sit-down restaurants. You save on transport, though, because the L replaces a car, and taquerias, the lakefront and Lincoln Park Zoo cost little or nothing.

Chattanooga gives you an evening or two. You might catch a touring show in the gilded Tivoli Theatre, the small Symphony and Opera's season, or bluegrass and Americana in a Southside bar. Serious music fans tend to drive to Nashville.

Chicago is one of the best reasons in the country to buy tickets. It has the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Lyric Opera, Steppenwolf and the Goodman, nightly improv at Second City, and electric blues and late jazz sets in the clubs. In summer there are free concerts at the Pritzker Pavilion.

Neither city is somewhere to go purely to unwind, and they offer different kinds of rest. Chattanooga has no bathing tradition beyond hotel spas, and its calm comes from being small: a slow afternoon on the riverfront or a porch in Bluff View.

Chicago has real bathing. A Russian-and-Turkish bathhouse in Wicker Park has run steam rooms and cold plunges since the early 1900s, and a Korean-style bathhouse lies in the northern suburbs. In winter, the warm glasshouses of the Garfield Park and Lincoln Park conservatories are a good escape.