Chattanooga or New York?

Neither city is a beach destination, but only New York has the sea. Coney Island's boardwalk and the longer, surfier Rockaways are a subway ride away, and the Atlantic is good for swimming from late June to early September.

Chattanooga's water is fresh: small swimming areas on Chickamauga Lake and at Harrison Bay, plus cool swimming holes on the plateau for a hot afternoon. These are places for an hour, not a day.

Chattanooga does Southern comfort food well. Expect meat-and-three plates, brisket, catfish and grits, with chef-led places and breweries on the Southside, but there is little beyond that.

New York is in another league. You can eat Chinese in Flushing, Colombian and Tibetan in Jackson Heights and Italian on Arthur Avenue, find serious fine dining at the top end, and get slices, bagels and pastrami on every corner. A food lover could spend a week there without repeating a cuisine.

Chattanooga's story is the Civil War and the railway. Point Park on Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and the old Terminal Station tell it, and the Hunter Museum on its bluff and the Walnut Street Bridge round out a rewarding two or three days.

New York's museums alone would outlast most vacations. The Met, MoMA, the Natural History museum and the Cloisters come before you even reach the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Brooklyn Bridge.

An evening in Chattanooga means a brewery patio or a cocktail bar on the Southside, with Station Street the liveliest block, and most places are quiet before the small hours.

New York runs the other way. There are dive bars in the East Village, rooftop bars facing the skyline, Village gay bars with roots in Stonewall and Bushwick warehouse parties that go on past dawn, all linked by trains that run all night.

Here Chattanooga leads clearly. The Tennessee River cuts through the Cumberland Plateau right at the edge of the city, so the sandstone climbing, the mountain-bike trails in Prentice Cooper, the paddling in the gorge and the falls of Cloudland Canyon are all close at hand.

New York's nature is mostly designed: Central Park, Prospect Park, the High Line and the migrating birds of Jamaica Bay. Real hiking means a train up the Hudson to Breakneck Ridge, which is rewarding but takes a full day.

Chattanooga's outings are longer drives. Nashville and Atlanta are each about two hours away, and Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center is closer. Lynchburg, Sewanee and the Chickamauga battlefield are gentler options, but every one needs a car.

New York has the stronger list, and you can reach most of it by train: Philadelphia's colonial old town, Princeton, New Haven, the Gilded Age estates of the Hudson Valley, Dia Beacon and Storm King.

Both cities work well with children, in different ways. Chattanooga's attractions are made for them and the pace is relaxed: the Tennessee Aquarium and the Creative Discovery Museum downtown, then the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City on Lookout Mountain. You will need to drive between them.

New York has bigger attractions, such as the dinosaurs at the Natural History museum, the Bronx Zoo and the aircraft carrier on the Hudson. Against that, stairs-only subway stations, small hotel rooms and Midtown crowds make it more tiring with a pushchair.

Chattanooga's walkable core, from the riverfront across the Walnut Street Bridge to the North Shore, is covered by a free downtown shuttle. The mountains, the trails and every day trip still need a hire car.

New York needs no car at all. Manhattan's grid is easy on foot, and the round-the-clock subway, the ferries and Citi Bike reach almost everywhere. The express lines take some learning, though, and getting to and from the airports is awkward.

Chattanooga's shopping fills a pleasant hour or two: the converted railway buildings of Warehouse Row, the boutiques and outdoor-gear stores of Frazier Avenue, and the Hamilton Place mall for chains. Outdoor kit is its one real strength.

New York is worth the trip for shopping alone. It runs from the Fifth Avenue flagships and Madison Avenue luxury houses to SoHo's design brands and the vintage and record shops of Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

Chattanooga saves you money in two ways. Hotels and casual meals cost less, and a lot is free: the trails, the riverfront walks and the downtown shuttle. The aquarium, the Lookout Mountain attractions and a hire car still add up, so a family doing the main sights will spend steadily.

New York costs more at almost every turn, from small, expensive Manhattan rooms to theatre tickets, cocktails and observation decks. You can trim the bill by sleeping in Brooklyn, Queens or New Jersey and eating in Chinatown or from the food carts. The ferry, the parks and the High Line are also free. Even so, the savings only go so far.

Chattanooga has the gilded 1920s Tivoli Theatre, a modest symphony and opera season, and bluegrass and Americana bands in Southside bars. That is enough for an evening or two.

New York is the high point for performance anywhere. There is Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, the Philharmonic and City Ballet at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall. Add Village jazz cellars, Harlem gospel on Sundays and free Shakespeare in the parks in summer.

Chattanooga gives you calm, not treatments. There is no steam room or bathhouse worth crossing town for, but there is also none of the noise and crush you would need to escape. It is a small city, and nothing about a slow day by the river or among the galleries above it feels rushed. The rest comes from the place itself, not from anywhere built for it.

New York works the other way. The city wears you out, yet it has far better places to recover in on purpose. The East Village bathhouse has been heating its stone sauna and filling its cold plunge since the late 1800s, Brighton Beach has its Russian banyas, and big Korean-style spas are a short trip into Queens. For quiet without the steam, a morning in the Cloisters gardens or the Brooklyn Botanic Garden does the job.