Clearwater or Memphis?

This is the largest gap between the two. Clearwater Beach is a long barrier-island strand of fine white sand running into calm, clear water you can wade far out into. If the busy stretch around Pier 60 feels crowded, Sand Key, Caladesi Island and Honeymoon Island are close by.

Memphis has nothing comparable. The Mississippi is a working river of barges and strong currents, so in summer swimming means a hotel pool or a drive to a country lake.

Memphis eats far better, and in a style that is entirely its own. Pork is smoked in cinder-block pits and served as dry-rubbed ribs, pulled shoulder or barbecue spaghetti, and it sits alongside catfish, fried chicken, Delta tamales and the breweries and coffee bars of Cooper-Young.

In Clearwater the high point is a blackened grouper sandwich at a dockside shack, with stone crab in season. Beyond that the beachfront is mostly chains, and the more interesting meals are the Greek tavernas up in Tarpon Springs.

There is little contest here. Clearwater offers a bluff-top downtown with a restored 1920s theatre and small local collections, and that is about all. Memphis has two subjects of real national importance: rock and roll and soul at Graceland, Sun Studio and Stax, and the civil rights movement at the museum built around the Lorraine Motel. Its historic townscape is patchy, but the museums alone fill several days.

Memphis gives you a real night out. Beale Street closes to traffic at weekends, people carry their drinks from bar to bar and stay out late, and Overton Square and Cooper-Young offer a quieter local alternative.

A Clearwater evening peaks at sunset by the pier and then winds down over a few drinks at tiki decks with cover bands. It gets louder only in spring break season.

Both landscapes are dead flat, but Clearwater's is the more rewarding to be out in. It has mangrove channels to kayak, seagrass flats, dolphins in the harbour, manatees in winter and wild pine flatwoods on the island state parks, so most of the outdoors is on the water.

Memphis has the big brown river, best seen from the Big River Crossing on foot or by bike, as well as the bison and lakes of Shelby Farms and an old-growth stand in Overton Park. These are good city parks rather than a reason to make the trip.

Clearwater's outings cover far more ground. There is Dalí and a fine arts museum in St Petersburg, the brick cigar factories and Cuban social clubs of Ybor City, the Greek sponge harbour at Tarpon Springs and the Ringling and Ca' d'Zan in Sarasota. The Orlando theme parks are about two hours away. That mix of art, history and rides gives it the edge for a varied week.

Memphis sticks to one theme and does it well. Highway 61 runs south into the Delta to Clarksdale's juke joints and the Blues Trail markers, and further out are Faulkner's house in Oxford, Elvis's birthplace at Tupelo and the battlefield at Shiloh. The towns are small and, as from Clearwater, every outing needs a car, but for a blues or history pilgrim the list fits together.

Clearwater is much the easier place to bring children. Gentle surf and a lifeguarded beach mean small children can paddle safely, the marine aquarium's rescued dolphins and turtles are a hit, and condos with kitchens and pools make long stays simple. Busch Gardens and Adventure Island are within reach for bigger days out.

Memphis has a fine zoo, a children's museum, the Pink Palace planetarium and the Peabody ducks. Beyond those, its strongest sights are aimed at teenagers and adults.

Both places are built for the car, and buses are little help to a visitor in either. The difference lies in where you can manage on foot. In Clearwater it is the beach island, with a trolley down to Sand Key and a ferry across to downtown. In Memphis it is the downtown grid, taking in Beale Street, the riverfront and the Civil Rights Museum, with heritage trolleys on Main Street. Graceland and Midtown still mean a drive or a ride-hail.

Neither city is worth the trip for shopping, and both send serious shoppers out to suburban malls. What you would take home differs. From Clearwater it is beachwear and natural sponges from Tarpon Springs. From Memphis it is vintage vinyl, blues and Elvis memorabilia, and the small boutiques of Broad Avenue and Cooper-Young.

Memphis is the cheaper of the two. Hotels are reasonably priced outside the busiest weekends, and a barbecue lunch or soul-food plate costs little, though Graceland's admission and a hire car add up.

Clearwater charges resort prices for beachfront rooms, especially in the late-winter and spring peak. Mainland motels, condos with kitchens and the free beaches help, and summer brings lower rates in exchange for heat and storms.

Music is one of the main reasons to visit Memphis. House bands play blues and soul on Beale Street every night, free summer concerts fill the lawn at the Levitt Shell, and the Orpheum, the symphony, the opera and the ballet cover the formal side.

Clearwater manages touring acts at Ruth Eckerd Hall and smaller shows at the Capitol Theatre. Otherwise you are left with cover bands at the beach bars, and opera or ballet means the drive to Tampa.

Neither has a spa culture worth travelling for, but Clearwater is far easier to unwind in. The days drift between hotel pools, balconies, long lunches and quiet evenings by the marina. Memphis pulls you towards museums, music and late nights, and its calm moments are mostly an early walk in Overton Park or watching the river from the bluffs before the heat sets in.