Fort Myers or Gatlinburg?

This is where the two part company most sharply. Fort Myers has a string of barrier-island beaches with fine pale sand and calm, shallow Gulf water. Fort Myers Beach is the lively one, Lovers Key and Bonita are quieter, and Sanibel and Captiva are known for shelling.

Gatlinburg is landlocked in the mountains. The nearest thing to a swim is tubing on the Little River near Townsend or a dip in Douglas Lake. The river water is cold and can run fast, so most people settle for the cabin hot tub.

Neither town is a reason to travel for food, but Fort Myers eats noticeably better. Gulf seafood is the point here: grouper sandwiches, stone crab claws and peel-and-eat shrimp on a deck at sunset. The River District adds a few independent kitchens and breweries.

Gatlinburg feeds a resort crowd with pancake houses, barbecue, fudge and moonshine tastings along the Parkway. Proper Appalachian cooking, such as trout, country ham and stack cake, takes some finding, and keen eaters head to Knoxville or Asheville.

Fort Myers has the one sight that rewards a proper visit: the Edison and Ford Winter Estates, with the inventors' riverside homes, laboratory and gardens. The palm-lined McGregor Boulevard and the brick streets of the River District round off a day.

Gatlinburg's town is a strip of attractions with little history in it. Its heritage lies in the working studios of the Arts and Crafts Community and in the log cabins, mills and churches of Cades Cove and the Roaring Fork, which are excursions into the park rather than sights in town.

Fort Myers gives you more of an evening out, though it is still modest. There are rooftop and cocktail bars in the River District, a monthly art walk, and sunset crowds at the beach bars by the pier, which get rowdy at spring break. In Gatlinburg the night means strolling the lit Parkway, a moonshine tasting and an early return to the hot tub, and the strip is empty by late evening.

Both are outdoor places, but Gatlinburg's setting is in another league. The national park starts where the Parkway ends. Trails run from short waterfall walks to the climb up Mount LeConte, the road climbs over Newfound Gap towards Clingmans Dome, and you can expect bears, deer and elk, spring wildflowers and October colour.

Fort Myers is flat country of mangroves and cypress swamp, and its strength is wildlife on water. Ding Darling refuge is superb for spoonbills and herons, and there are the mangrove tunnels of the Great Calusa Blueway, dolphins in the bays and wintering manatees. It suits paddlers and birders rather than walkers.

There is little between them on range, but the trips feel quite different. From Fort Myers they follow the coast: manicured Naples, the island villages of Sanibel, Captiva and Boca Grande, and Sarasota's Ringling museum for a dose of art, with Everglades City to the south-east.

From Gatlinburg the trips cross the mountains. Asheville and the Biltmore Estate are the highlights, and Cherokee's museum and Oconaluftee village tell the Eastern Band's story. Knoxville's market square is about an hour away. Both places need a car for all of it.

Gatlinburg is set up for children in a way Fort Myers is not. The Parkway is a run of aquarium, mazes, go-karts and mountaintop parks reached by gondola, Dollywood and its water park are close by, and big cabins with games rooms suit several families together. The park adds junior ranger badges and creek wading.

Fort Myers is the better pick for very young children who mainly want calm, shallow water and shells to collect. It also has dolphins, manatees and the Shell Factory for a rainy afternoon, but no big theme park, and Orlando is about three hours away.

Gatlinburg is the easier of the two without the car. Its downtown strip is compact and walkable, and a trolley loops out to Pigeon Forge, so a downtown hotel lets you park for a day or two. Cabins and trailheads still need driving.

In Fort Myers the car is unavoidable. The beaches, Sanibel and the reserves are spread across a sprawling county with thin bus service, and in winter the bridges to the islands back up badly.

Neither is a shopping destination, and each has a highway outlet mall for brand bargains. The difference lies in the browsing. Fort Myers offers shell shops and galleries along Sanibel's Periwinkle Way and in the Captiva villages. Gatlinburg's best buys are handmade quilts, pottery and brooms sold from the artisans' own studios on the Arts and Crafts loop, which is more distinctive than its strip of fudge and T-shirt shops.

Gatlinburg is the gentler on the wallet, especially for groups sharing a large cabin midweek or in winter, and the national park itself costs little to enjoy. Its expense lies in the paid attractions and Dollywood, which add up quickly for a family.

Fort Myers is dearest exactly when it is most pleasant. Beachfront rooms on Sanibel and Estero Island are expensive from January to April, and you have to add the rental car, beach parking and the causeway toll. Staying inland or visiting in summer brings the costs down a lot.

Fort Myers has a little more formal culture in its winter season. Touring Broadway shows play the Barbara B. Mann hall, a repertory company works in a restored 1908 theatre and a regional symphony gives concerts, though the programme mostly stops in summer.

Gatlinburg goes for the family show instead. There are dinner theatres and gospel and country revues in Pigeon Forge, and bluegrass pickers in the tasting rooms. For anyone curious about Appalachian mountain music, that is the more authentic experience.

The two are evenly matched here. Neither has a bathing tradition, and spas in both are mostly resort affairs. The way you unwind differs: in Fort Myers it is the low-rise calm of Sanibel and Captiva, bike paths and a walk along the tideline. In Gatlinburg it is a secluded cabin above the trees, with a hot tub and mist on the ridges, well away from the noisy Parkway.