Chattanooga or Miami?

These two are not close. Chattanooga is a river city with only fresh water. There are small swimming areas on Chickamauga Lake and at Harrison Bay, and cool creek pools on the plateau, each good for an hour on a hot afternoon.

Miami has one of the best-known beach strips in the country, with pale sand running the length of Miami Beach and calmer water at Crandon Park and Bill Baggs on Key Biscayne. Seaweed and summer storms sometimes get in the way, but you can swim in any month.

Chattanooga eats well within a narrow Southern range: meat-and-three, fried chicken, barbecue and catfish, with chef-led restaurants and breweries on the Southside and Main Street. A few days is enough to cover it.

Miami has far more variety. Cuban cooking from the ventanita windows of Little Havana is the base, with Venezuelan, Peruvian, Haitian and Nicaraguan food across the city, fresh seafood, and a serious upscale tier in Brickell and the Design District. Avoid the tourist tables on South Beach's main strips.

Chattanooga's sights are about the Civil War and the railways. You can see the 1863 battlefields on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station, the Hunter Museum on its bluff and the Walnut Street Bridge. Most of this history is outdoors on the ground where it happened, not in galleries.

Miami has more to see, though little of it is old. Its strengths are the 1930s architecture of the Art Deco Historic District and the villa and gardens of Vizcaya. For contemporary art there are Wynwood's murals, the Perez Art Museum and the galleries of the Design District.

Chattanooga's evenings are quiet. There are breweries, cocktail bars and patios on the Southside, with Station Street the liveliest block, and most places are quiet well before the small hours.

Miami is one of the world's party cities. Its South Beach clubs have international DJs and bottle tables, downtown venues stay open until dawn, Brickell has rooftop bars and Calle Ocho has Latin dance nights. Chattanooga cannot match it, but you need money and stamina for Miami's late nights.

Chattanooga has the stronger outdoors, and much of it is steep. The Tennessee River cuts through the ridges, with Lookout, Signal and Raccoon mountains rising above town. There are sandstone bluffs for climbing, trails in Prentice Cooper and waterfalls at Cloudland Canyon and Fall Creek Falls.

Miami's nature is flat and wet but quite different. Alligators and wading birds in the Everglades are within an hour, and Biscayne National Park and Key Largo add kayaking through mangroves and snorkelling on reefs, which Chattanooga cannot offer. Go in winter, because summer heat and mosquitoes make it hard going.

Chattanooga has the wider choice within driving range. Nashville is about two hours away for music, and so is Atlanta for museums. There is the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, and quieter outings to Lynchburg, Sewanee and the Chickamauga battlefield.

From Miami the options are fewer. You can see Fort Lauderdale's canals, the mansions and Flagler Museum in Palm Beach, and the seafood shacks of the Upper Keys. Key West is too far for a comfortable day, so most visitors spend spare days at the beach.

Both work well with children, in different ways. In Chattanooga the main attractions are close together: the Tennessee Aquarium, the Creative Discovery Museum and the carousel in Coolidge Park. Lookout Mountain adds the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City.

Miami is more of a beach-and-pool trip, with calm water at Key Biscayne and North Beach, plus Zoo Miami and the Frost Science Museum. Distances are longer, and families with young children usually stay away from South Beach's party side.

In both cities you need a car once you leave the centre. Chattanooga's downtown is small and walkable, with a free shuttle and the Walnut Street Bridge across to the North Shore. The mountains, trails and day trips all mean hiring a car.

Miami is bigger and slower to cross. South Beach is easy on foot or by bike, and the free Metromover links downtown and Brickell. The Metrorail does not reach the beach, though, so getting to Wynwood or Little Havana means ride-hailing and heavy traffic.

Shopping is a reason to choose Miami. The major fashion houses have flagship stores in the Design District, and there are the exclusive Bal Harbour mall, the huge Aventura Mall, outlet malls on the western edge and Lincoln Road for mainstream brands.

Chattanooga has the converted warehouses of Warehouse Row and small boutiques on Frazier Avenue. Its one specialty is outdoor gear, which suits a trip spent on the trails.

Chattanooga is the cheaper of the two, though it is not a budget destination. Hotels and casual meals cost less, and the trails and riverfront walks are free. Attraction tickets and a hire car still add up.

Miami costs more at almost every turn, with resort fees, parking charges and expensive club drinks on Miami Beach. Free beaches, Cuban lunch counters and a base on the mainland bring the cost down. Summer room rates are lower too, if you can put up with the heat.

Miami has the fuller programme. The Adrienne Arsht Center hosts Florida Grand Opera and touring shows, Miami City Ballet is a company of real standing, and the New World Symphony plays in its Gehry building. In Little Havana you can hear salsa and timba bands.

Chattanooga's stages centre on the gilded Tivoli Theatre and the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and Southside bars have country, bluegrass and Americana. It is enough for an evening or two.

Neither city is a wellness destination, but Miami has more. The resort hotels have large spas with ocean views, yoga on the beach at sunrise is common, and a long-established Russian and Turkish bath house adds some bathing culture. Key Biscayne and Surfside are the calm places to stay.

Chattanooga has only hotel spas and a few day spas. Its way of relaxing is the slow pace of a small city, with an afternoon by the river or on a porch in Bluff View.