Chattanooga or Galveston?

This is the biggest gap between the two. Galveston has sand along most of its Gulf side, from the busy Seawall stretch to the quieter West End, and summer water warm enough to stay in for hours. The sea is brown-green and rip currents form by the jetties, but it is a real beach destination.

Chattanooga is hundreds of kilometres inland. Swimming means small roped-off areas on Chickamauga Lake or a cold plunge in a plateau creek, so a beach-minded visitor would do better with the hotel pool.

Both cities feed you well for a few days without being worth the trip for food alone, but the menus point in different directions. Chattanooga cooks inland Southern food: meat-and-three plates, biscuits, smoked brisket and catfish, with craft breweries clustered on the Southside.

Galveston looks to the Gulf, with oysters, shrimp, snapper and po'boys eaten by the water, plus Tex-Mex and barbecue. It also has more fried platters aimed at beach crowds, so the better independent cooking is downtown around the Strand.

Each city gives you a day or two of history, and the subject decides between them. Chattanooga's story is about war and railways: the 1863 battlefields at Point Park and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station and the Hunter Museum on its bluff.

Galveston has the stronger townscape. Whole rows of cast-iron Victorian storefronts on the Strand, porch-fronted houses in the East End and the Gothic Bishop's Palace are easy to enjoy on foot. The 1900 hurricane and the tall ship Elissa give its smaller museums a maritime and disaster theme you won't find inland.

Neither city is for a late night, and both go quiet early. In Chattanooga you would spend the evening in a brewery or cocktail bar on the Southside, with the short Station Street strip as the busiest block.

Galveston's evenings split between pubs in the Victorian buildings downtown and open-air bars along the Seawall that fill with Houston day-trippers on summer weekends. Mardi Gras is the one time the island throws a big street party.

Chattanooga is far ahead here. The Tennessee River cuts through the Cumberland Plateau right at the city's edge, giving it climbing bluffs, launch sites for hang gliders, mountain-bike trails and a gorge to paddle. The Olympic whitewater of the Ocoee and the waterfalls of Cloudland Canyon and Fall Creek Falls are within easy driving distance.

Galveston's outdoors is flat and watery. Spring bird migration at Bolivar Flats and High Island is a real draw, and there are marsh trails, fishing piers and dolphins off the ferry. Anyone who wants a view from a height or a proper hike will find none.

From Chattanooga, the big cities make for long days out. Nashville and Atlanta are each about two hours away by car, which leaves time for music or museums but little else. Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center is a little closer. Quieter options are the Jack Daniel's town of Lynchburg, the hilltop university town of Sewanee and the Chickamauga battlefield just south of town.

Galveston's best outings are nearer. Space Center Houston is under an hour away, and Houston's Museum District, with the Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel, is not much further. You can stop at the Kemah boardwalk or the San Jacinto Monument on the way. Once you have seen Houston and taken the ferry to Bolivar, there is little else to visit. Both cities have a space centre within reach, and every outing from either one needs a car.

Both are easy family choices, and the difference is between a day of sightseeing and a day in the water. Chattanooga's draws are the two-building Tennessee Aquarium, the children's discovery museum and the Lookout Mountain trio of the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City.

Galveston works as a beach resort. It has shallow, lifeguarded water at Stewart Beach, a waterpark and rides on the Seawall pier, while the Moody Gardens pyramids cover rainy or very hot days. In both places you'll need a car to get between attractions.

Neither city is easy without a car, but Chattanooga keeps more of a visit within walking distance. Its main sights sit close together by the river, so an afternoon can take you from the aquarium up to Bluff View, over the Walnut Street Bridge to the North Shore and back to the Southside without driving. You need the car mainly for Lookout Mountain, the trails and the day trips.

Galveston's attractions are spread along about 50km of narrow island, so far less of it is close at hand. Only the Strand district really works on foot, with a heritage trolley to parts of the Seawall and a flat beachfront that is easy to cycle outside high summer. Moody Gardens, the West End and the state park all mean a drive. Getting there also takes more planning, because no train reaches the island and the trip from Houston's airports means a car, a shuttle or a long taxi ride.

Chattanooga's shopping is mostly for outdoor people. On Frazier Avenue on the North Shore, gear stores sit beside small boutiques and galleries, and Warehouse Row has shops in converted railway warehouses downtown. For chain stores, there is the large Hamilton Place mall on the edge of the city.

In Galveston, shopping is about browsing. The Victorian storefronts of the Strand and Postoffice Street hold antique shops, galleries and sweet shops, and the Seawall has swimwear and shell souvenirs. For fashion or a proper mall you would drive to Houston, and shopping is not a reason to choose either city.

Costs are much the same, moderate by American standards, with tax, tipping and a hire car to add in both places. In Chattanooga the spending goes on admission to the aquarium and the Lookout Mountain attractions, while the trails and riverfront are free. Galveston's free public beaches keep days cheap, but Seawall rooms charge far more on summer weekends, and a weekday or off-season visit costs noticeably less.

Chattanooga has a little more going on. The gilded Tivoli Theatre and the Memorial Auditorium host a symphony and opera company with a regular season, and Southside bars put on bluegrass and Americana bands.

Galveston centres on the Grand 1894 Opera House, a beautiful Victorian room for touring shows and the community symphony, with mostly cover bands in the bars. Either way you'll find an evening or two, not a reason to plan the trip around performances.

Neither has a spa culture, so in both, relaxing means slowing down rather than booking treatments. In Chattanooga that means a quiet afternoon on the riverfront or a porch in Bluff View between active days. In Galveston it means an unhurried ride along the Seawall, the old East End streets and calm evenings, best outside busy summer weekends.