Chattanooga or Rehoboth Beach?

This is the widest gap between the two. Chattanooga is far inland, so swimming means a small designated area at Chickamauga Lake or Harrison Bay, or a cool creek hole on the plateau. These are good for an hour on a hot afternoon but not for a beach day.

Rehoboth Beach is the opposite. Pale Atlantic sand runs the length of town, with lifeguards, moderate surf and quieter stretches at Cape Henlopen and Delaware Seashore State Park. Its only limit is the calendar, because the sea is warm only from late June into September.

The two eat about equally well, but in different styles. Chattanooga serves Southern comfort food such as meat-and-three plates, fried chicken, smoked brisket and catfish, with chef-led restaurants and breweries on the Southside and Main Street.

Rehoboth draws on the Mid-Atlantic shore instead: steamed blue crabs, crab cakes, raw bars and boardwalk fries doused in vinegar, plus more serious restaurants along Rehoboth Avenue than most beach towns have. Its kitchens scale down out of season, while Chattanooga's table is much the same all year.

Chattanooga has considerably more to see. The 1863 battlefields at Point Park and Missionary Ridge, the old Terminal Station, the Hunter Museum on its bluff and the Bessie Smith Cultural Center make two or three solid days.

Rehoboth began as a Methodist camp-meeting town in the 1870s, and its cultural life rests on the Rehoboth Art League and a small museum house. Visitors keen on history there usually end up in Lewes or at the wartime towers in Cape Henlopen.

Neither is a place for clubbing, but Rehoboth has the livelier summer nights. Its piano lounges, drag nights and LGBTQ bars around Baltimore Avenue give evenings a social side, and Dewey Beach next door has big deck bars full of younger visitors.

Chattanooga's evenings centre on breweries and cocktail bars on the Southside, with Station Street the busiest block, and most places are quiet early. The trade-off is the season: Rehoboth's scene shrinks sharply after summer, while Chattanooga's stays much the same all year.

Chattanooga is the stronger outdoor base by a distance. Ridges rise straight from the Tennessee River, the sandstone bluffs draw climbers from across the East, and the Ocoee whitewater, Cloudland Canyon and Fall Creek Falls are all within reach.

Rehoboth's landscape is flat and coastal, with tall dunes at Cape Henlopen, salt marsh, pine woods and sheltered bays for kayaking and paddleboarding. It suits easy bike rides and looking for dolphins rather than anything demanding.

Both need a car, and both run out of ideas after a few outings, but the trips are different in kind. From Chattanooga you can drive two hours to Nashville or Atlanta for big-city music and museums, or to Huntsville for the rocket centre, and the Chickamauga battlefield is close by.

Rehoboth's outings are shorter and smaller. Historic Lewes is ten minutes away, the ferry crosses Delaware Bay to Victorian Cape May, and small coastal towns such as Berlin and Chincoteague are within reach. The days out are easier, but there is no big city.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Chattanooga's draws are the Tennessee Aquarium, the Creative Discovery Museum and, on Lookout Mountain, the Incline Railway, Ruby Falls and Rock City. They work in any season but mean driving between them.

Rehoboth offers a simpler beach-house routine: lifeguarded sand, gentle rides at Funland, ice cream and mini-golf, all close together. It is easiest in summer and has little for children once the season ends.

Rehoboth is the easier of the two once you are there. Downtown, the boardwalk and the beach are a few minutes' walk apart, the town is flat and full of bikes, and a seasonal trolley runs to Dewey Beach and the outlets.

Chattanooga's walkable core is pleasant but small. The Walnut Street Bridge and a free downtown shuttle link it together, but the mountains, trails and day trips all need a car. Rehoboth's own problem is getting there: there is no train, and the highway clogs on summer weekends.

Rehoboth gives shoppers more reason to linger. Delaware has no sales tax, which draws people to the large outlet centres outside town, and Rehoboth Avenue has independent boutiques, bookshops and galleries alongside the beachwear.

In Chattanooga, shopping means a handful of boutiques and outdoor-gear stores on Frazier Avenue, the converted warehouses of Warehouse Row and a big mall on the edge of town. Its one real strength is climbing and hiking equipment.

Neither suits a tight budget, but Chattanooga costs less. Hotels and meals are cheaper than in the big American cities, and the trails, parks and riverfront are free, though attraction tickets and a hire car add up.

In summer, Rehoboth charges the rates of a prosperous resort for rooms near the beach, meals and parking. The beach is free and the lack of sales tax helps when shopping, and a spring or autumn visit brings costs down sharply.

Chattanooga has more on stage. The gilded 1920s Tivoli Theatre and the Walker Theatre host touring shows and the season of the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and small Southside venues play bluegrass, country and Americana.

Rehoboth's live performance is mostly a summer affair: free bandstand concerts, piano bars and a small theatre company staging musicals and cabaret, plus an autumn film festival. Neither will satisfy someone who travels for music, and from Chattanooga that traveller would head to Nashville.

Neither has a spa culture to speak of, and both have only a few hotel and day spas. The difference lies in the kind of calm. In Chattanooga it means a slow afternoon on the riverfront or a porch in Bluff View, in a city most people visit to be active.

Rehoboth's calm depends on the season. In June, in September and on autumn weekends, the boardwalk empties, and bike rides under the pines and quiet evenings make for a restful break, though high summer is anything but.