Destin or Nashville?

This is the single biggest difference between the two. Destin is built around its beaches: white quartz sand and clear green water from Okaloosa Island and Henderson Beach State Park through Miramar Beach to the dune lakes of 30A, with the shallow Crab Island sandbar on the bay side. You only need to watch the flags for rip currents on rough days.

Nashville is hundreds of kilometres from the sea. Its swimming happens at the small lake beaches and pontoon boats of Percy Priest and Old Hickory, which makes a hot summer afternoon and nothing more.

Nashville gives you more to eat your way through. It has fiery hot chicken, meat-and-three cafeterias with greens and fried okra, barbecue and Tennessee whiskey. On top of that come the chef-led kitchens of East Nashville and the Gulch, and the Kurdish, Mexican and Vietnamese places along Nolensville Pike.

Destin does one thing well, and that is Gulf seafood. Snapper, grouper and royal red shrimp come straight off the charter boats, and some places will cook your own catch on the harbour. Away from the water the coast highway is mostly chains, and the more ambitious cooking is out along 30A.

Nashville has a real sightseeing list, mostly about music. It includes the Country Music Hall of Fame, the National Museum of African American Music and a daytime tour of the Ryman. Beyond music there are the Parthenon replica in Centennial Park, the Frist in its Art Deco post office, and the plantation history of the Hermitage and Belle Meade.

Destin grew from a fishing village and kept almost nothing old. You get a small fishing museum, plus the temple mound and the air base's aircraft collection in neighbouring Fort Walton Beach, and then you have to drive on to Pensacola.

Nashville goes out far harder. Lower Broadway's multi-storey honky-tonks have a band on every floor until the small hours and draw crowds of hen and stag groups, while East Nashville's dive bars and Midtown's student crowd offer quieter options. It is drinking with live music rather than DJs and clubs.

Destin's evenings are flip-flops and frozen drinks on the harbour boardwalk decks and Okaloosa Island beach bars, and its liveliest party is often an afternoon raft-up at Crab Island. Outside summer and spring break most nights finish early.

Destin has more to do outdoors, and almost all of it happens on the water. Deep-sea charters reach big game fish quickly because the shelf drops off close to shore. There is calm paddling and sailing on Choctawhatchee Bay, dolphins in the pass, and the white dunes and rare coastal dune lakes of the state parks.

Nashville's outdoors is quieter green country. You can walk the trails around Radnor Lake and the forests of the Warner Parks, paddle the Harpeth River and cycle the Natchez Trace Parkway. It suits gentle walking in spring and autumn better than anything adventurous.

Nashville has the slightly better choice of outings, nearly all small towns and history. Franklin's Main Street and Civil War sites are half an hour away, and from there you can reach the village of Leiper's Fork, the Stones River battlefield and the whiskey distilleries around Lynchburg, with Chattanooga at the edge of a long day.

From Destin the options are the planned pastel towns of 30A, such as Seaside and Rosemary Beach, and Pensacola's colonial district, naval aviation museum and brick forts an hour west. After that the list runs out quickly.

Destin is the more natural family choice. Children get soft sand and gentle water on calm days, and parents get condos with kitchens and pools. The marine park on Okaloosa Island, the water park, mini golf and pirate-ship cruises fill the days away from the beach, though summer heat and traffic can tire children out.

Nashville works with children if you plan around the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere, the Adventure Science Center, the Lane Motor Museum and the Parthenon. You have to steer clear of Lower Broadway, which is loud adult territory late into the night.

Neither works without wheels, but Nashville at least has a walkable heart. Broadway, the Ryman, the Hall of Fame, the Gulch and the pedestrian bridge are all a short stroll apart. Beyond that core you rely on ride-hailing or a car to reach the Opry, the Hermitage or 12 South.

Destin is one long coastal highway that clogs in summer, with few safe crossings for walkers. Apart from the harbour boardwalk and the 30A bike trail, every trip is a drive.

The two are about even, with very different things to buy. Destin is resort retail: a large outlet centre near Miramar Beach, an open-air mall, swimwear and surf shops, and the more stylish boutiques and galleries of the 30A towns. Nashville is the place for cowboy boots and rhinestone shirts on Broadway, guitars, Hatch Show Print posters, and record shops and local designers in 12 South and East Nashville.

Both are expensive, and they ease up in different ways. Destin's costs are seasonal: beachfront condos, waterfront meals and charter fishing are dear from late spring through summer, but the coast becomes far cheaper from late autumn, when the sea is too cold to swim. Nashville's downtown hotels are expensive all year and peak at weekends. The free music in the Broadway honky-tonks, midweek stays and cheap hot chicken counters make up for some of that.

Here Nashville is in a different league. It has the Grand Ole Opry several nights a week, touring artists under the Ryman's famous acoustics, and songwriter nights where the writers of the hits play them on acoustic guitar. Add to that bluegrass near the Gulch, the Nashville Symphony in the Schermerhorn, and ballet and opera at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Destin's live entertainment is mostly cover bands on bar decks. Anything more ambitious means summer lawn concerts on 30A or a drive across the bay to the arts centre in Niceville.

Neither has a spa tradition, but Destin is the easier place to slow down. The big resorts around Sandestin and Miramar Beach have proper spas, and an early walk on empty sand or an afternoon on a balcony is restful in spring and autumn, less so amid summer traffic. Nashville's downtown runs on noise and late nights, and calm means retreating to the leafy streets of Belmont or Hillsboro.