Chattanooga or Palm Beach?

There is no real contest here. Chattanooga is a river city far from the sea. Its swimming comes down to small designated areas on Chickamauga Lake and at Harrison Bay and cool creek holes on the plateau, which are fine for a hot afternoon but not for a beach vacation.

Palm Beach sits on the Atlantic with the Gulf Stream close by, so the water is clear and warm in every month. The town beaches are narrow in places, but Singer Island, Juno Beach and Delray are within half an hour. Peanut Island suits snorkellers and small children.

You will eat well in both for a few days without much excitement, but the styles are very different. Chattanooga serves casual Southern cooking: meat-and-three plates, barbecue, biscuits and catfish, with craft breweries around the Southside and brunch on the North Shore.

Palm Beach is the formal version, with French and Italian dining rooms and stone crab in season. West Palm Beach adds Cuban bakeries, Caribbean food and a waterfront green market. Chattanooga is the relaxed, cheaper place to eat, and Palm Beach is the one for a long lunch with a dress code.

Each has two or three days of sights, built on quite different histories. Chattanooga's is Civil War and railway history: the battlefields on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station, the Walnut Street Bridge and the Hunter Museum on its bluff.

Palm Beach's heritage is Gilded Age money, seen in Flagler's Whitehall mansion and in Mizner's Mediterranean Revival courtyards along Worth Avenue. Its art is a little stronger, thanks to the Norton Museum's American, European and Chinese collections across the lagoon.

Neither is a place for a big night. In Chattanooga, evenings mean breweries, cocktail bars and drinks on patios around the Southside and Station Street, and most places are quiet well before the small hours. Palm Beach island goes quiet after dinner and a hotel bar, so going out means crossing to West Palm Beach. There, Clematis Street has rooftop terraces and a couple of places to dance, which Chattanooga doesn't really have.

Chattanooga is by far the stronger base for the outdoors. Mountains rise straight above town where the Tennessee River cuts through the Cumberland Plateau. The sandstone bluffs, the hang-gliding launch, paddling in the gorge and the whitewater of the Ocoee offer a range of activity that flat Florida cannot match.

Palm Beach's nature is gentler and mostly under the sea. There are reefs along the Gulf Stream and the famous shallow dive site under the Blue Heron Bridge, and alligators and wading birds at Loxahatchee. Divers and wildlife watchers will find plenty, but for climbing, hiking or biking on varied ground, Chattanooga is the place.

Both have a fair range of day trips, but they work differently. From Chattanooga, Nashville and Atlanta are about two hours away and Huntsville's rocket centre is a little closer. All of them need a car, so the best trips make for long days.

Palm Beach has Miami about an hour away by fast train, so South Beach and Little Havana need no car. A string of resort towns such as Delray Beach and Jupiter are close by, but they resemble one another. Chattanooga's outings are more varied, from a Civil War battlefield to a whiskey distillery to a hilltop university town.

Chattanooga is the slightly easier choice for families because its attractions are built around children. Downtown has the Tennessee Aquarium and the Creative Discovery Museum, Lookout Mountain has the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City, and Coolidge Park has a carousel and splash fountains.

Palm Beach island is calm but formal and aimed at adults, so families head across the bridge to the zoo, the science centre and Manatee Lagoon. What it adds is the sea: gentle beaches and the shallow water at Peanut Island, which Chattanooga cannot offer.

In both, only the centre is walkable and you need a car beyond it. In Chattanooga, the Walnut Street Bridge and a free downtown shuttle link the riverfront, Southside and North Shore, but Lookout Mountain and the trailheads mean driving. Palm Beach is flat and easy to get around by bike on the Lake Trail, West Palm Beach has a free trolley, and the fast train to Fort Lauderdale and Miami is something Chattanooga lacks.

Palm Beach is much the better place to shop. Worth Avenue gathers the major luxury houses and jewellers among palm-shaded vias, the consignment shops sell designer pieces from wealthy residents' wardrobes, and Antique Row in West Palm Beach is a long strip of dealers.

Shopping in Chattanooga is modest: converted warehouses downtown, small boutiques along Frazier Avenue and a large mall out of town. Its one strength is outdoor gear, which suits the climbers and paddlers it attracts.

Neither is cheap, but Chattanooga costs a good deal less. Its hotels and casual meals cost less than in the big cities, and its trails, parks and riverfront are free, though family attractions, tipping and a hire car add up steadily.

Palm Beach is one of the most expensive resort towns in the country, and its winter hotels and restaurants are priced for the very rich. Staying in West Palm Beach or coming in the humid summer lowers the cost, but it is still the more expensive trip.

Palm Beach has the bigger stage, at least in winter. The Kravis Center brings touring Broadway shows, visiting orchestras, ballet and Palm Beach Opera's season. Palm Beach Dramaworks stages serious plays and the Society of the Four Arts holds chamber concerts, but from late spring the programme thins sharply.

Chattanooga has a smaller programme that runs all year, in the gilded Tivoli Theatre and the Memorial Auditorium, plus country, bluegrass and Americana bands in Southside bars. It leans to roots music rather than opera, and there is enough for an evening or two.

Palm Beach is the place to rest. The island is quiet and manicured, with early sea swims, beach yoga and the large spas of the oceanfront resorts. Here, though, wellness means an expensive day at a resort spa rather than anything communal.

Chattanooga has only hotel and day spas, and most visitors come to be active. Its restful side is a slow afternoon on the riverfront or on a porch in Bluff View, which is pleasant but no reason to choose it.