Chattanooga or Destin?

Chattanooga is a river city, so swimming there means a designated lake area at Harrison Bay or a cool creek hole on the plateau. That is fine for an hour on a hot afternoon, but for anything more you will want a pool.

Destin is the opposite: a resort built around fine white sand and clear green Gulf water, from Okaloosa Island and Henderson Beach State Park to the dune lakes along 30A. The one caution is rip currents on rough days, so check the beach flags.

The two eat about equally well, but very differently. Chattanooga serves inland Southern cooking, with meat-and-three plates, smoked brisket, biscuits and a cluster of craft breweries on the Southside. Destin is all about Gulf seafood landed at the harbour, from grouper sandwiches to royal red shrimp, and some places will cook the fish you caught yourself.

Neither has much range beyond its speciality. Destin's coast highway is mostly chain restaurants with long summer waits, and Chattanooga's fine dining comes down to a handful of places.

Chattanooga is well ahead here. The Civil War battlefields at Point Park and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station, the Hunter Museum on its bluff and the Bessie Smith Cultural Center make two or three solid days of sightseeing.

Destin grew out of a fishing village and almost nothing historic survives. Apart from a small fishing museum, the nearest sights are the temple mound and the military aircraft collection in Fort Walton Beach, and for more history you have to go further along the coast.

Neither is a place for a big night out. Destin is a little livelier in season, with open-air bars on the harbour boardwalk, afternoon drinking among the boats at Crab Island and a few dance floors that stay open late in summer. Outside spring break and summer, most evenings end early.

Chattanooga is quieter but much the same all year: breweries, cocktail bars and music bars on the Southside and Station Street. They fill up at weekends and mostly wind down well before the small hours.

Chattanooga has the far richer setting. The ridges of the Cumberland Plateau rise straight above town, with rock climbing on sandstone bluffs, hang gliding from Lookout Mountain, and trails for hiking and mountain biking. Ocoee whitewater and the waterfalls of Cloudland Canyon are about an hour away.

Destin's outdoors is on flat water and sand. You can go deep-sea fishing close to shore, paddleboard on Choctawhatchee Bay, watch dolphins in the pass and follow boardwalks past the coastal dune lakes. There are no hills, and in summer the heat leaves only the early morning for long walks.

Chattanooga has more choice. Nashville and Atlanta are each about two hours away, and Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center is closer. Lynchburg, Sewanee and the Chickamauga battlefield make quieter outings, though the big cities mean long days.

From Destin the best outing is short: the planned pastel and whitewashed towns along Scenic Highway 30A, about forty minutes east. Pensacola, about an hour west, has a colonial historic district, the naval aviation museum and brick forts, and beyond that the list runs out quickly.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Chattanooga's appeal is its attractions: the Tennessee Aquarium, the Creative Discovery Museum, and Ruby Falls, Rock City and the Incline Railway on Lookout Mountain, plus the carousel and splash fountains in Coolidge Park.

Destin is a beach-and-pool vacation, with calm shallow water on good days and condos with kitchens. It also has a marine park with dolphin shows, a water park and harbour cruises. In both places you will drive between sights and plan around the summer heat, and in Destin parents also need to watch the rip-current flags.

You need a car for most of the trip in both, but Chattanooga is easier. Its riverfront, aquarium, Bluff View and Southside are all within walking distance, linked by the Walnut Street Bridge and a free electric shuttle.

Destin is strung out along a single coastal highway that jams in summer and has few safe crossings for walkers, so even getting from the beach to dinner usually means driving. Only the harbour boardwalk and the bike trail along 30A work well without a car.

Destin has more to shop for, mostly resort retail. There is a large outlet centre near Miramar Beach, an open-air mall, and swimwear and surf shops along the strips, while the 30A towns add more stylish boutiques and galleries.

Chattanooga's shopping is on a smaller scale, with shops in the converted railway warehouses of Warehouse Row and independent boutiques on Frazier Avenue. Its one real speciality is outdoor gear, which suits the climbers and paddlers who come here.

Neither is cheap, but Chattanooga is somewhat easier on the budget. Hotels and casual meals cost less than in the big American cities and many trails and parks are free, though the aquarium and the Lookout Mountain attractions charge full admission and you will still need a hire car.

From late spring through summer, Destin charges resort-coast rates for beachfront rooms, and charters and waterfront meals soon add up. It costs much less from late autumn to early spring, but then the sea is too cold for swimming.

Chattanooga has more on stage. The gilded 1920s Tivoli Theatre and the Memorial Auditorium host touring shows and the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and small venues on the Southside lean towards bluegrass, country and Americana. It is modest, but enough for an evening or two.

In Destin, the symphony and touring shows play across the bay in Niceville. Live music is mostly cover bands and acoustic sets on bar decks, plus outdoor summer concerts in the 30A towns.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, so the difference lies in the setting rather than the treatments. Chattanooga's spas are a few hotel and day spas, and the rest it offers comes from being small and slow-paced: a quiet hour by the river or in Bluff View between days on the trails and crags.

Destin is slightly better for a vacation built around rest. The large golf and beach resorts around Miramar Beach and Sandestin have fuller spas than anything in Chattanooga, and the sea does much of the work too. In spring or autumn, a morning walk along near-empty white sand is more soothing than a riverside stroll. In high summer the beaches fill and the coast road clogs, and that ease mostly goes.