Fort Myers or Nashville?

Fort Myers is a real beach destination. Its barrier islands have wide strips of pale sand, and the Gulf water is gentle and shallow. You can choose the busy beach bars on Estero Island, the quieter sands of Lovers Key and Bonita, or the shell-covered tideline on Sanibel and Captiva. Expect half an hour or more in the car to reach them, and the occasional algae bloom.

Nashville is hundreds of kilometres from any coast. Swimming there means the roped-off areas at Percy Priest or Old Hickory Lake, and local summer weekends happen on pontoon boats rather than towels. That is a nice break on a hot day, not a reason to choose the city.

Nashville has a food identity of its own, and Fort Myers does not. In Nashville you can eat cayenne-soaked hot chicken, meat-and-three cafeterias with their greens and fried okra, smoked barbecue and biscuits. Chefs in East Nashville and Germantown take Southern produce in modern directions, and Nolensville Pike has Kurdish and Vietnamese cooking.

Fort Myers does casual Gulf seafood well: peel-and-eat shrimp, stone crab claws in season and fish tacos on a deck at sunset. Beyond a few independent places in the River District, though, most of the choice is chain dining along the highways.

Neither city is built on its old streets, but Nashville gives you several days of sightseeing where Fort Myers gives one. The Country Music Hall of Fame, the Ryman, the full-scale Parthenon in Centennial Park and the Art Deco Frist Art Museum are joined by Belle Meade and Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, which deal with the region's harder history.

In Fort Myers, the clear highlight is the riverside winter homes, laboratory and gardens of Edison and Ford, reached along palm-lined McGregor Boulevard. Add a stroll through the brick River District and a small museum, and you have seen most of the city.

In Fort Myers a night out usually means a drink at sunset and an early bed. The streets around the pier on Fort Myers Beach draw the biggest crowds, and they get rowdier in March when students arrive for spring break. Downtown, the River District's pubs and rooftop terraces are busiest on the evening of the monthly art walk. Through the winter season most of the people out are middle-aged or older, and the bars close their doors early.

Nashville goes later, louder and far more often. Country music spills out of the open doors of the Lower Broadway honky-tonks onto the pavement long after midnight, and at weekends groups out to celebrate a wedding turn the whole street into a shared celebration rather than a choice of separate bars. East Nashville's neighbourhood haunts and the student bars of Midtown make a calmer evening away from the strip. Neither city is much for dancing to DJs: in Nashville the night revolves around a live band, in Fort Myers around the sunset.

Fort Myers is the stronger choice for wildlife. Roseate spoonbills and herons gather at the Ding Darling refuge, bald cypress grows along the Corkscrew boardwalk, and you can paddle through mangrove tunnels on the Great Calusa Blueway. There are also dolphins in the bays and manatees in winter. The land is flat, though, and summer brings heat and insects.

Nashville's countryside is gentler and more varied: wooded hills around Radnor Lake, forest trails in the Warner Parks, easy canoeing on the Harpeth and cycling on the Natchez Trace Parkway. It is pleasant rather than remarkable, and best in spring and autumn.

These two are about equal for day trips, and both need a car. From Fort Myers, the outings stay with the coast: island villages on Sanibel and Captiva, polished Naples, quiet Boca Grande, and the Ringling museum and Ca' d'Zan in Sarasota for some art.

Nashville's trips lead inland to history and whiskey: the battlefields and Main Street of Franklin, the village of Leiper's Fork, the distilleries around Lynchburg and, for a long day, Chattanooga's riverfront and Lookout Mountain.

Fort Myers is slightly easier with young children, because its best attraction is free and close to hand: a calm, shallow sea and miles of beach for shell hunting. Dolphin trips and easy mangrove kayaking add some adventure, though there is no zoo or theme park.

Nashville has the things Fort Myers lacks: a good zoo at Grassmere, the Adventure Science Center with its planetarium and the Parthenon, which most children enjoy. You do need to plan around Lower Broadway, which is loud, crowded and aimed at adult drinkers.

Nashville at least lets you leave the car for part of the trip. Broadway, the Ryman, the Hall of Fame, the riverfront and the Gulch are all a short walk apart, and a pedestrian bridge crosses to the east bank. To reach the Opry, the Hermitage or 12 South, you will need ride-hailing or a car.

Fort Myers depends on the car almost completely. The beaches, Sanibel and the nature reserves are spread across a low-density county, the buses are too sparse to rely on, and in winter the bridges to the islands back up badly.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but they offer different things. Fort Myers has outlet and open-air malls along the highway, plus gift shops, galleries and shell shops on Sanibel's Periwinkle Way. Nashville has a stronger theme: cowboy boots and rhinestone shirts on Broadway, excellent guitar shops, letterpress concert posters, and independent boutiques and record shops in 12 South and East Nashville.

Fort Myers costs a little less, mainly because you have options. Hotels in town or near the interstate are much cheaper than those on the beachfront, summer rates fall sharply and the beaches and nature reserves cost little. Budget for a rental car, beach parking and the Sanibel causeway fee, and expect winter on the islands to be expensive.

Nashville's downtown hotels are pricey, especially on weekends and during big events, and ride-hailing costs add up. On the other hand, the honky-tonk music is free all day, and hot chicken counters and meat-and-three cafeterias keep meals cheap.

Here the two cities could hardly be further apart. Nashville is one of the world's music capitals. It has the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman's famous acoustics, songwriter nights in small rooms, bluegrass near the Gulch and Americana in East Nashville, plus a symphony in the Schermerhorn and ballet and opera at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Fort Myers has a decent winter season of touring musicals at the Barbara B. Mann hall, repertory theatre in a 1908 building and a regional orchestra. Otherwise it is cover bands in beach bars, and most of that stops in summer.

Fort Myers is much better for slowing down. On Sanibel and Captiva the buildings are low, bike paths run along the shore and nights are early, so long walks at the water's edge and a resort massage are easy to fit in. Spas are almost all inside hotels, though.

Nashville is designed for noise and late nights. To get some rest, stay in leafy Belmont or Hillsboro, but the city's day spas are no reason to choose it.