Chattanooga or Naples, Florida?

Naples is built around its beach, and Chattanooga does not have one. In Naples, fine sand runs the length of the city, with access paths from the streets of Old Naples, the pier as a meeting point, and quieter dunes at Barefoot Beach and Delnor-Wiggins Pass. The water is calm and clear, and the evening ritual is watching the sun set over the Gulf.

Chattanooga is a long way inland. Swimming there means a designated lake area at Chickamauga Lake or Harrison Bay, or a cold creek pool on the plateau after a hike. These are pleasant on a hot summer afternoon, but nobody should pick the city for them.

The two eat about equally well, just in different styles. Chattanooga is Southern comfort food: meat-and-three plates, biscuits, barbecue and catfish, with craft breweries clustered on the Southside and along Main Street. Naples is more polished, with white-tablecloth dining on Fifth Avenue South and Gulf grouper, shrimp and winter stone crab at the dockside fish houses near Tin City.

Neither has much international cooking or street food. Naples gives you the smarter long dinner and Chattanooga the more relaxed and cheaper one.

Chattanooga has more history to explore. The 1863 battle sites at Point Park and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station, the Hunter Museum's American art above the river and the Bessie Smith Cultural Center make two or three full days of sightseeing.

Naples is a young resort town, and a day covers it. That day might take in the Baker Museum's modern art, the vintage race cars at the Revs Institute and Palm Cottage, with a look at the Mediterranean-style houses of Old Naples.

Neither is a party town, but Chattanooga gives you more to do after dinner. Brewery taprooms, cocktail bars and the short bar strip on Station Street draw students and young locals at weekends, and in warm weather people sit out on the patios.

In Naples, the evening means a sunset drink, then a wine bar or piano lounge on Fifth Avenue South, with an older crowd and most places quiet before midnight. In the summer months it is quieter still.

Both sit next to big landscapes, but Chattanooga's is the more active one. Lookout, Signal and Raccoon mountains rise straight above town, with climbing on the sandstone bluffs, hang gliding, hiking in Prentice Cooper State Forest and whitewater on the Ocoee. Cloudland Canyon and Fall Creek Falls add waterfalls within easy reach.

Naples is entirely flat, and its nature is about wildlife and water. Kayaking the mangroves of Rookery Bay and the Ten Thousand Islands, or walking the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp, can bring alligators, wading birds and sometimes manatees. These outings are best in the dry winter.

Chattanooga is close to three states, so it has more good destinations within a day's drive. Nashville and Atlanta are each about two hours away, Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center is closer, and Lynchburg, Sewanee and the Chickamauga battlefield make quieter trips.

From Naples, the outings are gentler. The Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, the shelling beaches of Sanibel and the fishing village of Everglades City are easy drives, while Sarasota and Miami are at the limit of a comfortable day. Both cities need a car for all of these.

Both work well for children, in different ways. Chattanooga is a city of attractions: the Tennessee Aquarium, the Creative Discovery Museum, the steep Incline Railway, Ruby Falls underground and Rock City, with the carousel in Coolidge Park for downtime.

Naples is about days on the sand, where the shallow Gulf, shelling and dolphins spotted from the beach keep younger children happy. The zoo's boat ride and mangrove trips round it out, but there is no big aquarium or theme park nearby.

Chattanooga is a little easier without a car. Its downtown is compact, a free electric shuttle runs through it, and the Walnut Street Bridge connects the riverfront and Bluff View to the North Shore on foot. You will still want a car for Lookout Mountain and the trails.

In Naples, only the flat grid of Old Naples is walkable or easy by bike. Everything else, including the northern beaches and the Everglades, is along wide roads that need a car, and winter traffic slows them down.

Naples is the better place to shop, though the choice is narrow. Fifth Avenue South and Third Street South have jewellers, galleries and resort-wear boutiques under the palms, and there is an open-air designer mall plus outlets half an hour north.

Chattanooga's shopping is mostly practical. There are converted warehouses at Warehouse Row and independent boutiques on Frazier Avenue, and the one real strength is outdoor gear, which fits a trip spent climbing and paddling.

Chattanooga is clearly the cheaper of the two, though it is not a bargain. Hotels and meals cost less than in the big cities and many trails are free, but the aquarium and the Lookout Mountain attractions charge full admission, and most visitors hire a car.

Naples is expensive in its winter high season, when resorts and restaurants charge for a wealthy crowd. Summer costs much less, but that is the hot, stormy season. Staying inland or in Fort Myers and cooking for yourself is the main way to save.

Both have a modest arts scene, but they differ in style and in season. Naples has a winter season led by the Naples Philharmonic in its own hall, with touring Broadway shows and chamber music for its seasonal residents, and almost nothing in summer.

Chattanooga's programme runs all year at the gilded Tivoli Theatre, with a small symphony and opera company. In the evenings, bars on the Southside play bluegrass and Americana. Serious music fans can drive two hours to Nashville.

Naples is the better place to slow down. Its big beachfront resorts have full spas that day visitors can use, and long sunset walks, golf and a town of people there to unwind set the pace.

Chattanooga offers hotel spas and a quiet afternoon on a Bluff View porch, and that is about all. Its visitors mostly come to be active, and neither city has thermal springs or a bathing culture.