Cocoa Beach or Memphis?

This is the clearest difference between the two. Cocoa Beach is a barrier island lined end to end with pale, firm sand, and the sea is warm enough for long swims from late spring into autumn. The water is greenish and rip currents need watching, so families stay near the lifeguards by the pier.

Memphis is hundreds of kilometres from any coast, and nobody swims in the fast, barge-laden Mississippi. Cooling off there means a pool, a splash pad or a drive to a country lake.

Memphis is a place to eat with purpose. Its pork barbecue, whether dry-rubbed ribs, pulled shoulder or the odd local barbecue spaghetti, comes with Delta tamales, catfish and soul cooking, and Cooper-Young adds a modern Southern layer.

Cocoa Beach eats well enough after a day in the sun, with rock shrimp, fish tacos and dockside raw bars along the Banana River. Beyond those grills and the chains on the main road, though, there is no food culture to plan a trip around.

Memphis has two stories of national importance to tell. Music runs from Elvis's preserved rooms at Graceland to the small studio where rock and roll was first recorded and the soul archive in Soulsville. Civil rights history is centred on the Lorraine Motel. The historic centre is patchy, so your time goes into a handful of strong museums.

Cocoa Beach has the pier and, now and then, the remarkable sight of a rocket climbing from Cape Canaveral, visible from the sand. For anything more, you leave town.

Cocoa Beach goes to bed early. An evening out means a beer on an open-air deck near the pier with a covers band, and spring break and long weekends bring a louder, younger crowd. Anyone after a club has to drive an hour to Orlando.

Memphis gives you a proper night out. At weekends Beale Street closes to traffic and turns into a party strip where you carry your drink from bar to bar and the crowd stays out late. Overton Square and the dive bars of Cooper-Young are the calmer local choice. The city has a few dance clubs and hip-hop nights, but no real club scene.

Cocoa Beach has the richer outdoors. You can paddle among manatees, dolphins and glowing plankton in the Indian River Lagoon, drive the alligator trails of Merritt Island refuge, watch turtles nesting on the undeveloped seashore, and surf some of the steadiest breaks on the east coast.

Memphis offers river views and big parks rather than wild country. You can walk the Big River Crossing into Arkansas, see the bison at Shelby Farms, or explore the old-growth woods of Overton Park and the bottomland trails at Meeman-Shelby Forest.

The day trips are broadly even in strength but very different in kind. From Cocoa Beach the headline is space: the Saturn V and shuttle Atlantis at the Kennedy Space Center, with Orlando's theme parks or quieter Winter Park an hour away. St Augustine is the one historic outing, and it makes a long day.

Memphis looks south into the Delta. You can follow Highway 61 to the juke joints of Clarksdale and the Blues Trail markers, or visit Faulkner's Oxford, Elvis's birthplace in Tupelo or the battlefield at Shiloh, all small places reached by car.

Cocoa Beach is the easier base with children, even though the town itself has almost nothing built for them beyond the sand and the pier. That simplicity is the appeal. The beach is a few streets from your room, so a day can run from a morning swim to an evening walk along the pier without anyone getting into a car. In summer, plan outdoor time for the morning, because afternoon heat and lightning storms often drive everyone indoors.

Memphis has more attractions made for children, but you have to work harder to enjoy them. The long-established zoo in Overton Park is the highlight, followed by the Children's Museum, the Pink Palace planetarium and the bison at Shelby Farms. The daily march of the ducks through the Peabody lobby is a small treat. Each of these needs its own drive, though, and the sticky summer heat quickly wears small children out.

You need a car in both, but for different reasons. Cocoa Beach is one long strip where the sand is a short walk and a bicycle covers downtown, yet the refuge, the space centre and the airport are all drives. Downtown Memphis is walkable, with heritage trolleys on Main Street, but Graceland, Midtown and Shelby Farms are spread far apart across a low, wide city.

Neither is a shopping destination, though Memphis has a little more to browse. It has independent record shops with vintage vinyl, plus vintage stores and local art on Broad Avenue and in Cooper-Young. Cocoa Beach is almost entirely surfboards, beachwear and souvenirs, and for boutiques you cross the causeway to Cocoa Village.

Memphis is a little kinder to the budget. Hotels away from the busy downtown weekends are reasonably priced, and a barbecue plate is cheap and filling. In Cocoa Beach, motels and older condos keep rooms within reach, but meals cost the full US price, and a hire car plus space centre tickets add up over a week. In both places, tipping is expected and big events push prices up.

In Memphis, live music is a reason to make the trip. House bands play blues and soul on Beale Street from the afternoon on, the Levitt Shell puts on free summer concerts where Elvis once played, and the Orpheum, the symphony, the opera and a respected ballet company cover the formal arts.

In Cocoa Beach, live music mostly means cover bands on beach-bar decks. The nearest theatre is a community playhouse in Cocoa Village or the regional arts centre in Melbourne.

Neither city has a spa tradition, but Cocoa Beach is the more restful place. Days there slow to early walks on the sand, sunsets over the river and quiet weekdays, with beach yoga on hand. A Memphis trip runs on music, barbecue and late nights, and the calm moments are a morning stroll in Overton Park or an evening on the river bluffs.