Chattanooga or Pigeon Forge?

Neither place has a beach, but Chattanooga has more fresh-water swimming. Chickamauga Lake and Harrison Bay State Park have marked swimming areas, and the plateau creeks hold cool swimming holes that locals use on hot afternoons.

In Pigeon Forge, swimming mostly means the water park beside Dollywood and the hotel pool. The wading pools in Smokies streams and the shores of Douglas Lake are an outing rather than part of the routine.

Chattanooga eats noticeably better. Its Southern cooking is still unfussy, but there are chef-led restaurants and craft breweries around the Southside and Main Street, and brunch cafés on the North Shore, so a few days of good meals come easily.

Pigeon Forge eats in bulk along the Parkway: pancake breakfasts, buffets of fried chicken and cobbler, steakhouses and chains. Moonshine tastings and Old Mill fudge are the only local flavour, and for an ambitious meal people drive to Knoxville or Asheville.

Chattanooga has the real history. The 1863 battlefields at Point Park and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station, the Hunter Museum of American Art on its bluff and the Bessie Smith Cultural Center make two or three worthwhile days.

Pigeon Forge's sights are made for entertainment, such as the half-scale Titanic and the illusion museums. Its one genuine piece of the past is the 1830 Old Mill, along with the mountain crafts on show at Dollywood. Anyone curious about Appalachian history ends up among the log cabins and churches of the national park.

Chattanooga is no party city, but it does give adults a night out. Breweries, cocktail bars and patios on the Southside fill up at weekends, and the short strip of Station Street is the liveliest block. In Pigeon Forge the evening means go-karts, dinner shows and neon attractions that wind down around ten. Grown-ups who want a bar usually drive to Gatlinburg.

Both are excellent bases for the outdoors, but for different things. Chattanooga is about sport right above town. There is climbing on the sandstone bluffs, hang gliding off Lookout Mountain, paddling in the Tennessee River Gorge, and the Ocoee whitewater within an hour.

Pigeon Forge is about one great national park. The Smokies begin half an hour up the road, with ridges over 2,000m, the climb to Mount LeConte, the Appalachian Trail and bears in Cades Cove. The town itself sits in a plain valley, so every outing starts with a drive.

Chattanooga has the slightly wider range of outings. 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 days out.

Pigeon Forge's best outings are closer together. Knoxville is about forty minutes away and Gatlinburg is next door. Cherokee is over Newfound Gap, and Asheville and the Biltmore Estate fill a long but rewarding day. From either place, the list thins out quickly after these.

Pigeon Forge is built for families, and it shows. Dollywood, with its rides, music shows and seasonal festivals, anchors the stay, with the water park, mountain coasters, zip lines and mini-golf around it. The cabins and suites are sized for large groups. The catch is slow traffic between attractions in peak weeks.

Chattanooga is a good family destination on a smaller scale. The Tennessee Aquarium, the Creative Discovery Museum and the splash fountains in Coolidge Park suit a few days. Lookout Mountain adds the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City.

Chattanooga at least has a centre you can walk. The riverfront, Bluff View and the Southside are close together, the Walnut Street Bridge crosses to the North Shore, and a free electric shuttle covers downtown. You still need a car for the mountain and the trails.

Pigeon Forge is a multi-lane commercial road, and you can walk only inside individual attraction complexes. The Parkway trolley is slow, does not reach the cabins, and is no help for reaching park trailheads.

Neither is a shopping destination, and what they sell differs. Chattanooga has the converted warehouses of Warehouse Row and the boutiques, galleries and outdoor-gear stores on Frazier Avenue. Pigeon Forge has big brand outlet malls, plus quilts, pottery and cornmeal at the Old Mill and the craft studios above Gatlinburg, among a lot of fudge and T-shirts.

Costs come out much the same, with Pigeon Forge a little easier on a group. Its many motels and rental cabins keep lodging reasonable outside the peak weeks, a shared cabin is cheap per head, and breakfast houses and buffets cost little.

In Chattanooga the savings are in the free parks, trails and downtown shuttle. Hotels and meals cost less than in the big cities, but not as little as at the resort. In both places, paid attractions, tips and a hire car add up quickly for a family.

For an evening show, Pigeon Forge has far more on. Dozens of Parkway theatres stage country and gospel revues, comedy, magic and dinner spectacles every night, and Dollywood adds bluegrass and Appalachian music on its stages through the day. It is all broad family entertainment, though.

Chattanooga's programme is smaller but covers what Pigeon Forge lacks. The gilded Tivoli Theatre hosts touring shows and the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and small bars on the Southside put on bluegrass and Americana bands.

Neither has much in the way of spas, so the difference lies in how each lets you slow down. In Chattanooga you can idle on the riverfront or a porch in Bluff View in a quiet, small-city way. In Pigeon Forge, the way to rest is a hillside cabin with a hot tub and a view over the ridges, as long as you book well away from the strip.