Chattanooga or Ocean City, Maryland?

This is the widest gap between the two. Ocean City is a beach town first and last: about 16km of wide sand, public access from almost every street and lifeguards the whole way along. Assateague's wild dunes are close by when the boardwalk end gets crowded.

Chattanooga sits far inland, so swimming means fresh water. You get small roped areas on Chickamauga Lake and at Harrison Bay, plus cool creek holes up on the plateau. They are pleasant for an hour on a hot day, but nobody builds a trip around them.

The two eat about equally well but in very different ways. Chattanooga is Southern comfort cooking, meat-and-three plates, barbecue, catfish and biscuits, with chef-led kitchens and craft breweries around the Southside and Main Street.

Ocean City is about crabs: steamed blue crabs piled on brown paper with Old Bay, then crab cakes, oysters and boardwalk fries, custard and taffy. Beyond that the choice is thin and partly seasonal. Neither town will thrill a serious food lover.

Chattanooga has a real layer of history to explore. The 1863 battlefields on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, the old railway Terminal Station, the Hunter Museum on its bluff and the Bessie Smith Cultural Center fill two or three days.

Ocean City has little beyond the boardwalk itself, the Life-Saving Station Museum and an antique carousel at the inlet. For historic streets you would have to drive inland to Berlin.

In summer, Ocean City is the livelier place to go out. Big open-air bayside bars with sand floors fill at sunset, and dance bars along the Coastal Highway stay busy until closing, with a loud, young crowd. From October it goes almost silent.

Chattanooga's evenings are calmer and the same all year: craft breweries, cocktail bars and patios on the Southside, with Station Street as its busiest block. It suits a few beers and a conversation more than dancing late.

Chattanooga is the stronger outdoor base by some way. The Tennessee River cuts through the Cumberland Plateau here, so climbing walls, hang-gliding launches, mountain-bike trails and the wooded Tennessee River Gorge all sit at the edge of town. Cloudland Canyon, Fall Creek Falls and Ocoee whitewater are all within an easy drive.

Ocean City's landscape is flat and open: salt marsh, calm back bays and Assateague's dunes and wild ponies. It is good for kayaking, birding and offshore fishing, but it has no hills at all.

Chattanooga gives you more choice beyond town. Nashville and Atlanta are each about two hours away, the Huntsville rocket centre and the Jack Daniel's distillery at Lynchburg make good outings, and Chickamauga battlefield is just south.

From Ocean City the outings are smaller and quieter: historic Berlin, the pony island of Chincoteague, restaurants in Rehoboth Beach, and the ferry from Lewes to Victorian Cape May. No large city is within comfortable reach.

Both towns handle children well, but Ocean City edges ahead for a summer week. It has a lifeguarded beach, two boardwalk amusement parks, water parks, go-karts and a mini-golf course every few blocks, and rented condos make long stays easy. Avoid early June, when graduating teenagers take over parts of town.

Chattanooga suits a shorter, more varied break. The Tennessee Aquarium, the Creative Discovery Museum, the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City keep children busy, though you drive between most of them.

Both are car towns, and neither works well without one. Chattanooga has a compact, walkable centre linked by the Walnut Street Bridge and a free downtown shuttle, but the mountain sights and trails all need a car.

Ocean City is one long strip. The boardwalk and beach are easy on foot, and a summer bus and boardwalk tram help, but moving between neighbourhoods means the wide, busy Coastal Highway.

Neither town is a shopping destination, though Chattanooga has slightly more to browse. Its best are the boutiques and galleries on Frazier Avenue, Warehouse Row and good outdoor-gear shops. Ocean City offers boardwalk souvenirs, surf shops, taffy and an outlet centre over the bridge.

Costs are similar, and neither suits a tight budget. In Chattanooga the free trails and shuttle balance out paid attractions and car hire. Ocean City's prices follow the season: summer oceanfront rooms are expensive, while late May and September, along with shared condos, cut the bill sharply.

Chattanooga has a proper stage to offer. The gilded 1920s Tivoli Theatre hosts the city's symphony and opera, a community theatre puts on plays, and small bars play bluegrass and Americana.

Ocean City's entertainment is lighter: touring comedians and tribute acts at the convention centre, free bandstand concerts in summer and cover bands in the bars.

Neither town is a place for spa days, and both have only hotel and day spas. The difference is in pace. Chattanooga stays unhurried all year, with slow afternoons on the riverfront or in Bluff View. Ocean City is noisy in high summer, and quiet comes only in the shoulder months, on the empty northern beaches.