Chattanooga or Pensacola?

This is where the two cities differ most. Chattanooga is a river city far inland, and its swimming is fresh water: a roped-off area at Chickamauga Lake or Harrison Bay, or a cold plateau creek on a hot afternoon. That is an hour's dip, not a beach vacation.

Pensacola's whole appeal starts here. Pensacola Beach and the Gulf Islands National Seashore run for miles along Santa Rosa Island, with white quartz sand and clear green water. The calm sound side suits toddlers, and quieter Perdido Key lies to the west. Mind the rip-current flags on rough days.

Both cities feed you well for a few days without giving you much range, and international cooking is thin in each. Chattanooga eats from the land: meat-and-three plates, smoked pork and brisket, fried chicken and biscuits. The chef-led kitchens and craft breweries are around the Southside and Main Street, and the North Shore is the place for a slow brunch.

Pensacola eats from the Gulf. Raw and chargrilled oysters, grouper sandwiches, royal red shrimp and gumbo with a Creole touch are at their best at the casual waterfront tables on the bay and the island. Be choosy out on the beach strip, though, where chains and tourist seafood houses take over. Downtown Palafox Street is the safer bet.

Both have two or three days of sights, but the history is different. Chattanooga's is about the Civil War and the railways: the 1863 battlefields on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station, and the Hunter Museum's American art on its bluff above the river.

Pensacola's past is older and more mixed, with Spanish, French and British rule still visible in the colonial and Victorian houses around Plaza Ferdinand and the Seville district. Its two big draws are the brick Fort Pickens and the huge National Naval Aviation Museum, which sits on an active base and requires ID checks.

Pensacola gives you more of an evening out. Palafox Street and the Seville Quarter fill up at weekends with locals and young Navy personnel, and in summer the island adds beach bars with sand floors and a party mood.

Chattanooga is quieter: breweries, cocktail bars and patios on the Southside and Main Street, with Station Street as its one lively block. Most places wind down early, so it is better suited to a beer and a conversation than a long night.

Chattanooga has the more dramatic landscape. The Tennessee River cuts through the Cumberland Plateau right at the edge of town, and the ridges bring climbing, hang gliding, mountain biking and gorge paddling. Cloudland Canyon and Fall Creek Falls are within easy reach for waterfalls.

Pensacola's nature is flat and watery: dunes, salt marsh, herons, ospreys and dolphins in the sound, best seen from a kayak or the seashore bike path. Divers have the sunken aircraft carrier offshore, and the clear Blackwater River is good for canoeing and tubing. There are no hills at all.

Chattanooga has the wider choice of outings, because it sits where three states meet. Nashville and Atlanta are a long but possible day, Huntsville's rocket centre is about an hour and a half away, and Lynchburg's whiskey distillery and Sewanee make quieter drives.

From Pensacola the best outing is Mobile, about an hour west, with its antebellum streets and battleship museum, and Fairhope across the bay. Heading east along the coast, Destin and Seaside are mostly more beach towns. You need a car either way.

Chattanooga has the edge for families because so much of it is built for children. The two-building Tennessee Aquarium and the Creative Discovery Museum are a few blocks apart. Lookout Mountain adds the steep Incline Railway, the underground waterfall at Ruby Falls and Rock City, and Coolidge Park has a carousel and splash fountains for a hot afternoon.

Pensacola works best when the sand is the main event, with shallow sound-side water for toddlers and condos with kitchens and pools. Away from the beach, the aviation museum, the lighthouse climb and the tunnels at Fort Pickens fill a few days, but there are no big attractions. Summer heat needs planning in both cities.

Chattanooga is easier to manage without a car for the first few days. The riverfront, Bluff View, the Southside and the North Shore are all within walking distance, linked by the pedestrian bridge and a free electric shuttle. You will still need to drive for the mountains and trails.

In Pensacola only the Palafox and historic district is walkable. The beach, the naval air station and Perdido Key lie far apart along highways and bridges, so for most visitors the hire car is in use from the first day.

Neither city is worth a shopping trip, and each gives you a short browse at most. In Chattanooga, Frazier Avenue on the North Shore has small boutiques, galleries and outdoor-gear shops, which are the city's one real specialty, while Warehouse Row downtown has a general mix of shops in old railway warehouses. In Pensacola, Palafox Street has antiques, gifts and Saturday market crafts, and the beach shops stick to swimwear and souvenirs.

Costs are much the same: moderate by American standards, with car hire, sales tax and tipping on top. Chattanooga's bills grow at the aquarium and the Lookout Mountain attractions, while its trails and riverfront are free. Pensacola depends more on the season. Beachfront rooms are expensive in summer and much cheaper out of season, and the aviation museum costs nothing.

A night at the theatre is much the same size in the two cities: regional in scale and good for an evening or two. Chattanooga's main stage is the gilded 1920s Tivoli, with the Walker Theatre in the Memorial Auditorium alongside it, for touring shows, comedy and the combined symphony and opera company. A community theatre on the North Shore puts on plays and musicals. The bands in the Southside and Main Street bars tend towards country, bluegrass and Americana, so the live music here has a clear regional sound.

Pensacola puts most of its programme under one roof, the restored 1925 Saenger downtown. There the symphony, the opera company and touring shows share the calendar with a ballet company, which makes Pensacola the better choice if you want to see dance. A long-running community theatre and a few bars with live bands make up the rest.

Neither has a spa or bathing culture beyond hotel and day spas, so the rest you get comes from the pace. In Chattanooga that means an unhurried afternoon on a porch in Bluff View or on the riverfront. Pensacola's version is an empty out-of-season beach on Santa Rosa Island or Perdido Key, which is the more restful of the two.