Detroit or Nashville?

Neither is a beach destination, but Detroit at least has real lake swimming. There is a small sandy beach on Belle Isle, and Lake St. Clair Metropark has a long, shallow, calm shore that is pleasant for a dip in high summer.

Nashville's version is an afternoon at Percy Priest Lake or Old Hickory Lake. The water stays warm for longer, but the swimming areas are small, and locals would rather take a pontoon boat out than lie on the sand.

Both cities eat well and in strongly local ways, but in different styles. Detroit's strength is its communities: Lebanese and Yemeni cooking in Dearborn, Mexicantown, and Hamtramck's Polish bakeries, alongside Coney dogs and square pizza. The best meals are often a drive away.

Nashville is Southern through and through, with hot chicken, meat-and-three cafeterias, barbecue and Tennessee whiskey. It also has chef-led kitchens in East Nashville and the Gulch, and Kurdish and Vietnamese places along Nolensville Pike. Choose Detroit for a wider spread of cuisines and Nashville for depth in one tradition.

Detroit has the broader and weightier sights. The Detroit Institute of Arts is a grand Beaux-Arts museum with a deep collection, and Rivera's Detroit Industry murals alone are worth the visit. The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village fill a day, and downtown's Guardian Building and the Fisher Building add Art Deco grandeur.

Nashville's sights centre on music, led by the Country Music Hall of Fame and a daytime tour of the Ryman. The Frist, the Parthenon replica and the Hermitage add some variety, but a visitor who is not drawn to music will run out of sights sooner than in Detroit.

Nashville is the easier and livelier night out. Lower Broadway is one long street party of honky-tonks with a band on every floor, going until the small hours. If the hen and stag groups are too much, East Nashville has calmer dive bars and cocktail lounges.

Detroit's nights are smaller and more specialised: techno in warehouses and serious little clubs, plus bars and taprooms in Corktown and Midtown, reached by taxi rather than on foot. It suits a dance-music fan better than Nashville, where DJs are scarce, but weeknights are quiet.

Nashville has the greener, more varied setting. Radnor Lake and the Warner Parks offer wooded hills, the Harpeth River is good for canoeing, and the Natchez Trace Parkway, ideal for cycling, starts right at the city's edge.

Detroit is flat, and its outdoors are about water: Belle Isle, the RiverWalk, and sailing or kayaking on Lake St. Clair. The metroparks add trails, wetlands and good autumn colour, but there are no hills to walk.

Nashville has slightly better day trips, built on Southern history. Franklin, half an hour away, has a handsome Main Street and Civil War battlefields. Nearby are the village of Leiper's Fork and the whiskey distilleries around Lynchburg, with Chattanooga at the far edge of a day out.

From Detroit the options are the university town of Ann Arbor, Bavarian-style Frankenmuth, Toledo's art museum and Windsor across the river, which is close but needs a passport. Both cities send you out by car.

The two are equally good with children, each with a good zoo, a hands-on science centre and plenty of driving. Detroit's highlight is Greenfield Village, with steam trains and horse-drawn rides, plus the small aquarium on Belle Isle, though winter cuts the options.

Nashville's extras suit summer, with a water park and splash pads, and the Lane Motor Museum and the Parthenon appeal all year. Lower Broadway, though, is an adult drinking strip that families will want to avoid in the evening.

Both are car-built cities with a walkable core, but Detroit's centre has rail. The People Mover loops downtown and the QLine streetcar runs up Woodward to the Midtown museums, so you can manage without a car if you stay along that line.

Nashville has only buses, but its downtown, from Broadway and the Ryman to the Gulch and over the pedestrian bridge, is easy on foot. In both cities, outlying sights such as the Opry and the Hermitage, or Dearborn and the zoo, need ride-hailing or a hire car.

The real difference is what you bring home. Detroit's best buys are made in the city: watches, leather goods and prints from small makers in Midtown and Corktown, plus vintage shops and the crafts and flowers at Eastern Market on market days. Dearborn and Mexicantown are good for sweets and specialist groceries.

Nashville sells its own image. Lower Broadway has boots, hats and rhinestone shirts, the city is a fine place to browse vintage and new guitars, and Hatch Show Print sells its letterpress concert posters. For a quieter look round, 12 South has boutiques and record shops. In both cities the big brands are in suburban malls you drive to.

Detroit is clearly the cheaper stay. Hotel rooms cost less than in most large US cities except on event nights, and everyday food is inexpensive. The main extra cost is a hire car and parking.

Nashville's downtown hotels are expensive and climb further at weekends when groups arrive, and ride-hailing adds up. What saves money is the free music, with no cover charge on Broadway, and cheap meals at hot chicken counters and meat-and-threes.

Both are real music cities, but Nashville is the one built around music. The Opry, the Ryman's famous acoustics, songwriter nights in small rooms, bluegrass and Americana mean live music at almost any hour. The Schermerhorn and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center cover symphony, ballet and opera.

Detroit's strengths lie elsewhere: the symphony in Orchestra Hall, a restored opera house, the Fox Theatre, and jazz clubs, with the free Detroit Jazz Festival over Labor Day. Choose Detroit for jazz, soul and classical music, and Nashville for country and songwriting.

Neither city is a place to unwind, and neither has a spa tradition, so in both, rest means a hotel spa. In Detroit the calm comes from the water, along the RiverWalk or on Belle Isle. In Nashville it comes from staying in leafy Belmont or Hillsboro, away from the noise of Broadway.