Chattanooga or Marco Island?

This is where Marco Island wins most clearly. The western shore is a broad crescent of pale sand on a shallow, calm Gulf, with good shelling at low tide. Tigertail's lagoon and sandbar are made for wading, and the Naples beaches are close if you want a change.

Chattanooga is far from any coast. Swimming there means the small roped-off areas at Chickamauga Lake and Harrison Bay, or a cool plateau creek on a hot afternoon. That is pleasant for an hour or two, but it is no substitute for a beach.

Chattanooga eats better, though neither place will thrill a serious food lover. It has hearty Southern cooking: meat-and-three plates, biscuits, brisket and catfish. The Southside and Main Street have chef-led restaurants and craft breweries, and North Shore cafés serve brunch.

Marco Island has a narrower range built around Gulf seafood. Grouper, shrimp and winter stone crab are served at waterfront grills, and Goodland's dockside fish platters are the most memorable meals. For anything more ambitious you drive to Naples.

Chattanooga has real history to explore. The 1863 battlefields at Point Park and along Missionary Ridge are part of the country's oldest national military park. You can also see the surviving Terminal Station, the Hunter Museum's American art on its bluff and the Bessie Smith Cultural Center. That is a couple of full days of sightseeing.

Marco Island was built mostly from the 1960s on, so there is little to see beyond canals and condominiums. Its one main stop is the historical museum, which tells the story of the Calusa people and the famous carved wooden figures found on the island.

Neither is a party place, but Chattanooga has more going on after dark. Breweries, cocktail bars and music bars cluster on the Southside, and Station Street is the liveliest block, busy with students and young locals at weekends.

On Marco Island, a night out means a sunset drink and a late dinner, perhaps with a guitarist in a resort lounge. The island is quiet soon after, and the crowd is mostly retirees and families.

Both places are strong outdoors, but in completely different landscapes. Chattanooga has the edge for anyone who wants physical challenge. The Tennessee River cuts through the Cumberland Plateau's ridges, with sandstone bluffs for climbing, hang gliding from Lookout Mountain, trails through Prentice Cooper State Forest, and Ocoee whitewater and Cloudland Canyon within about an hour.

Marco Island is entirely flat and built around water and wildlife. You can paddle through the mangroves of the Ten Thousand Islands, watch dolphins and manatees, fish for snook and tarpon, or take an airboat into the Everglades and Big Cypress. It is gentler and better for spotting wildlife than for working up a sweat.

Chattanooga has more varied outings within reach. Nashville and Atlanta are about two hours away, and Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center is about an hour and a half. Lynchburg's distillery and hilltop Sewanee make quieter days, and the Chickamauga battlefield is close by.

From Marco Island, Naples is the easy half-hour outing. The Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers and the old trading post at Chokoloskee are worth a morning. Beyond those, the best excursions are into the swamps rather than to towns.

Chattanooga has more attractions built for children. The Tennessee Aquarium and the Creative Discovery Museum are downtown. On Lookout Mountain there are the steep Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City, and Coolidge Park has a carousel and splash fountains.

Marco Island suits young families in a simpler way, with soft sand, calm shallow water, shelling and dolphin-spotting boat trips. Resort pools and kids' clubs fill the rest of the day. For a zoo or a children's museum you drive to Naples.

You will need a car in both places, but less of the time in Chattanooga. Its compact downtown is walkable, a free electric shuttle runs along it, and the Walnut Street Bridge links it to the North Shore. Lookout Mountain and the trails still mean driving.

Marco Island is small and flat enough to cycle in the cooler months. Beyond that, buses are almost absent and the airport is about three quarters of an hour away by road. Many beachfront hotels are close to the sand and little else.

Neither place is worth visiting for shopping, and each has a different speciality. In Chattanooga, Frazier Avenue's outdoor-gear stores and boutiques and the converted warehouses of Warehouse Row are the highlights. On Marco Island you get resort wear, shell souvenirs and small galleries, with the upmarket boutiques of Fifth Avenue South half an hour away in Naples.

Chattanooga is the cheaper trip, though not a budget one. Hotels and casual meals cost less than in big American cities, trails and riverfront walks are free, and so is the shuttle. Attraction tickets and a hire car are what push up the bill.

Marco Island is expensive, especially from January to April, when resort rooms and condos are in demand and restaurants price for a well-off winter crowd. Summer room rates and condos with kitchens soften the cost, but a car is unavoidable here too.

Chattanooga offers more to see, though the programme is modest. The gilded 1920s Tivoli Theatre and the Memorial Auditorium host the symphony and opera and touring shows, and Southside bars play bluegrass and Americana.

Marco Island has a small community theatre and musicians in the resort bars in winter. For orchestral concerts you drive to Naples' performing arts centre, and in summer there is little on.

Marco Island is the better place to unwind. Its beachfront resorts have full-service spas and pools overlooking the Gulf, yoga classes and day spas fill the plazas, and the whole island moves slowly.

Chattanooga offers mostly a gentle pace: an afternoon on the riverfront or a porch in Bluff View. Spa options are limited to hotels and a few day spas, and the city is geared to activity rather than rest. Neither place has any bathing tradition.