Chattanooga or Daytona Beach?

This is the widest gap between the two. Chattanooga has no sea at all, only small swimming areas at Chickamauga Lake and Harrison Bay and cool creek pools on the plateau, fine for an hour on a hot day and little more.

Daytona Beach is built around its shore. It has kilometres of flat, firm sand, with cars allowed on marked stretches, and a sea warm enough for swimming from late spring into autumn. Expect waves and rip currents rather than clear, calm water, so stay near the lifeguards. Ormond Beach and New Smyrna Beach have quieter sand.

Neither is a food destination, but Chattanooga gives you more to work with. Its Southern cooking runs from meat-and-three plates to smoked brisket, and the Southside and Main Street have a cluster of chef-led restaurants and craft breweries.

In Daytona the best meals are seafood eaten on a deck over the water at the fish camps along the Halifax River and towards Ponce Inlet. They are worth seeking out, because chain restaurants fill the main roads.

Chattanooga has more for a sightseeing day. The 1863 battlefields at Point Park and Missionary Ridge, the Hunter Museum on its bluff, the Walnut Street Bridge and the Bessie Smith Cultural Center make two or three days of history and art.

Daytona's story is speed: the Speedway tour and the land-speed records once set on the beach. Add the Museum of Arts and Sciences, with its Cuban art, and the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, which you can climb, and you have most of it. The rest of the town is largely motels and strip roads.

Daytona has the livelier evenings, though neither is a big night out. Beach and tiki bars, sports bars and the biker saloons of Main Street keep things going, and during Bike Week, Biketoberfest and race weeks the bars spill onto the street.

Chattanooga is quieter. Its breweries, cocktail bars and patios on the Southside and Station Street are made for beer and conversation, and most of them close early.

Chattanooga is the far stronger outdoor base. The mountains rise straight above town, the sandstone bluffs draw climbers from across the eastern United States, and the Tennessee River Gorge, the Ocoee whitewater and the waterfalls of Cloudland Canyon are all within about an hour.

Daytona's nature is flat and watery instead. You can kayak the Mosquito Lagoon among dolphins, go birding at Merritt Island or see manatees at Blue Spring in winter. It is gentle and rewarding, but there is nothing to climb.

Daytona is better placed for days out. St Augustine's Spanish fort and old streets, Kennedy Space Center and Orlando's theme parks are each about an hour away, which gives three easy and very different outings.

From Chattanooga, Nashville and Atlanta take about two hours each way and Huntsville's rocket centre an hour and a half, so these are long days. The Chickamauga battlefield and the distillery town of Lynchburg make easier, shorter trips.

Both work well with children, and Chattanooga has a little more variety. The Tennessee Aquarium, the Creative Discovery Museum and Lookout Mountain's Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City fill several days, and the carousel and splash fountains in Coolidge Park cost nothing.

Daytona offers a beach-based family stay instead, with wide sand, boardwalk arcades and condos with pools, and Orlando's parks an hour away. Plan around the rip currents and the crowds of Bike Week and spring break.

Neither city lets you leave the car at home for a whole stay, but Chattanooga gets you further without one. The first day or two, spent in the museums and along the river, needs nothing more than your feet and the free downtown shuttle. Things change once you head up Lookout Mountain or out to the bluffs and trails. Since that is what most visitors come for, the car usually arrives on day three.

In Daytona you will want a car from the first morning, unless you are happy to stay near your hotel. The hard sand is a fine path for a long walk or a bike ride along the shore. But meals away from the boardwalk, the Speedway, the state parks and every outing up or down the coast mean driving, and the buses run too rarely to help. During Bike Week and race weeks, allow extra time for every journey.

What you find differs more than how much, since few visitors come to either to shop. Chattanooga's Frazier Avenue has independent boutiques, galleries and good outdoor-gear stores, and Warehouse Row fills old railway buildings, while Daytona leans towards outlet brands, beach shops for swimwear and the motorcycle clothing of Main Street.

Daytona comes out a little cheaper. Older oceanfront motels and condo rentals keep rooms plentiful, and casual seafood keeps meals reasonable, as long as you avoid the big event weeks, when room rates jump.

Chattanooga's trails, parks and downtown shuttle are free, but the aquarium and the Lookout Mountain attractions charge full admission, which adds up for a family. In both, a hire car and tipping add to the bill.

Chattanooga has a slightly fuller stage. The gilded 1920s Tivoli Theatre and the Walker Theatre host touring shows and the city's own symphony and opera, and bars on the Southside put on bluegrass, country and Americana.

Daytona has no orchestra of its own, but a long-running winter series brings visiting orchestras and soloists, the Peabody Auditorium hosts Broadway tours, and the oceanfront bandshell has free summer concerts. For more choice, Daytona visitors drive to Orlando and Chattanooga visitors to the larger music cities in the region.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both the spas are mostly in hotels or small day spas. What differs is the kind of calm: Chattanooga offers quiet afternoons on the riverfront and porches in Bluff View, while in Daytona it means early walks on hard sand and a condo pool, as long as you avoid race weeks and Bike Week.