Chattanooga or Memphis?

Neither city is a place for a swimming trip, but Chattanooga at least has somewhere to get in the water: small swimming areas at Chickamauga Lake and Harrison Bay State Park, and cool creek pools on the plateau above town. Nobody swims in the fast, barge-filled Mississippi at Memphis, so cooling off there means a pool, a splash pad or a drive out to a country lake.

Memphis is the better place to eat, mainly because of its barbecue. It serves dry-rubbed ribs, pulled-pork sandwiches with slaw and local oddities such as barbecue spaghetti, everywhere from neighbourhood pits to big downtown dining rooms, with Delta tamales and soul food alongside.

Chattanooga cooks in the same Southern style, with meat-and-three plates, fried chicken, brisket and catfish, and its chef-led restaurants and breweries are on the Southside and Main Street. It has no signature dish worth the trip, though. Both cities have little international cooking or fine dining.

Memphis has the stronger sights by a wide margin. The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel and the music sites of Graceland, Sun Studio and Stax tell stories that matter far beyond the city, even if the historic centre around them is patchy.

Chattanooga's heritage is narrower. It has the Civil War battlefields at Point Park and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station, the Hunter Museum on its bluff and the Walnut Street Bridge. That is a pleasant two or three days rather than a reason to come.

Memphis goes out harder. Beale Street closes to traffic at weekends, people carry drinks from bar to bar and the crowd stays out late. Overton Square and Cooper-Young offer a looser, more local scene.

Chattanooga's evenings mean breweries, cocktail bars and patios on the Southside and Station Street, and most places wind down well before the small hours. Neither city has much club culture.

This is where Chattanooga pulls far ahead. The Tennessee River cuts through the Cumberland Plateau right at the city, so climbing bluffs, hang-gliding launches, mountain-bike trails and paddling in the gorge all start minutes from downtown. The Ocoee, Cloudland Canyon and Fall Creek Falls are all within reach for a day.

Memphis sits on flat floodplain, and its outdoors are gentle and urban. You can walk or cycle the Big River Crossing into Arkansas, paddle and ride at Shelby Farms, or walk in the old-growth woods of Overton Park.

Both cities need a car for day trips and offer about as much, but the theme differs. From Chattanooga the pull is to other cities: Nashville and Atlanta about two hours away, Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center a little closer, and the Chickamauga battlefield just to the south.

Memphis looks south into the Delta, to blues country along Highway 61 and Clarksdale, Faulkner's house in Oxford, Elvis's birthplace at Tupelo and the battlefield at Shiloh. It is the better list for music pilgrims, while Chattanooga's suits travellers who want to see other cities.

Chattanooga is the better family choice. The Tennessee Aquarium and the Creative Discovery Museum are a few blocks apart by the river, Lookout Mountain adds the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City, and Coolidge Park has a carousel and splash fountains.

Memphis has one excellent draw in its zoo, plus the Pink Palace planetarium and the bison at Shelby Farms. Most outings mean a drive, though, and its big music and civil rights museums suit teenagers better than young children.

You will need a car in both cities once you leave the centre, but more of what you came for in Chattanooga is within walking distance. The riverfront, aquarium, Bluff View and Southside are close together, with a free shuttle and the Walnut Street Bridge across to the North Shore. The walkable downtown and Main Street trolleys in Memphis reach Beale Street and the Civil Rights Museum, but Graceland, Midtown and Shelby Farms lie kilometres apart.

Neither city is worth a trip for shopping, and the best buys are different in each. Chattanooga's speciality is outdoor gear, found on Frazier Avenue among boutiques and galleries, with Warehouse Row downtown. In Memphis the finds are musical, from vintage vinyl to blues and Elvis memorabilia, with small vintage shops in Cooper-Young and on Broad Avenue.

Memphis stretches a budget a little further. Hotels are reasonable outside the busy downtown weekends, and a barbecue lunch or soul-food plate is cheap and filling, though the big spring festivals push costs up.

In Chattanooga, the free trails, riverfront and shuttle help, but the aquarium and the Lookout Mountain attractions add up quickly for a family. In both cities, a hire car, tipping and full-price admission to the main attractions mean a trip is never truly cheap.

Memphis is a music city in a way Chattanooga is not. House bands play blues and soul on Beale Street from the afternoon on, Midtown venues add rock and hip-hop, and the Levitt Shell in Overton Park puts on free summer concerts. For the formal arts there are the Orpheum, a symphony, an opera company and a respected ballet company.

Chattanooga has the gilded Tivoli Theatre, a small symphony and opera company, and bluegrass and Americana in a few Southside bars. That is enough for an evening or two, and music lovers based there often drive to Nashville.

Neither city has a spa tradition, so the difference is the pace. Chattanooga is the quieter, gentler place, with unhurried afternoons on the riverfront or on a porch in Bluff View. Memphis is more about late nights and heavy meals, and its calm moments come on early walks in Overton Park or in the evening, watching the river from the bluffs.