Gatlinburg or Gulf Shores?

This is where the two differ most. Gulf Shores is built around a long strand of fine white sand. It runs from Fort Morgan to the Florida line, with quiet dune-backed stretches in Gulf State Park and a warm, green Gulf through the summer. The main hazard is rip currents, so the flag system matters.

Gatlinburg has no beach at all. Swimming there means cold river pools in the national park, tubing on the Little River near Townsend or a drive of about forty minutes to the shore of Douglas Lake. For most visitors the cabin hot tub is the nearest thing to a swim.

Gulf Shores eats better. The draw is Gulf seafood brought in fresh: deep-water Royal Reds, chargrilled oysters, snapper and a gumbo with Louisiana in it, served at waterside shacks or cooked in your own condo kitchen with shrimp bought from the local markets.

In Gatlinburg, meals lean on pancake houses, barbecue and Southern comfort food made for crowds, with fudge and moonshine tastings in between. Proper Appalachian dishes such as trout, country ham and stack cake do exist, but you have to look for them. Neither town offers much fine dining.

Neither town is a sightseeing destination, and both are thin on museums and historic streets. What they do have is quite different. Gatlinburg's heritage is living craft: the Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community loop of working studios, plus the pioneer cabins, mills and churches out in the park at Cades Cove and along the Roaring Fork.

Gulf Shores has one solid sight, the brick star fort at Fort Morgan, which played its part in the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864. It fills a morning, but little else in the resort competes with it.

Gulf Shores has more of an evening. Big open-air beach bars with sand underfoot keep going late in summer, and the legendary ramshackle roadhouse on the state line at Perdido Key stays loud well into the night. Spring break brings a younger crowd.

Gatlinburg's evenings are gentler. People stroll the lit Parkway, stop at a moonshine tasting room or a brewery terrace, then head back to the cabin. Neither town has clubs.

Gatlinburg is far ahead here. Within minutes of town you are in deep hardwood forest, with trails ranging from the easy walk to Laurel Falls to the climb up Mount LeConte. The road over Newfound Gap climbs towards 2,025m at Clingmans Dome, and bears, deer and elk are regular sights. Spring wildflowers, synchronous fireflies and October foliage give each season its own reason to come.

Gulf Shores offers a quieter, flat landscape of dunes, marsh and back bays. Its strengths are cycling the Gulf State Park trails, birdwatching on the western peninsula during migration, dolphin cruises and kayaking the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.

The two are about level, and both need a car. From Gatlinburg the outings go across the mountains: Asheville and the Biltmore Estate, Cherokee's museum and Oconaluftee village, the heritage railway at Bryson City and Knoxville's old market square.

From Gulf Shores they follow the coast. Mobile has ironwork balconies and the battleship USS Alabama, Fairhope has its bayside pier, Pensacola has the naval aviation museum, and there is a car ferry across the bay to Dauphin Island.

Both are made for family vacations, but they run at different paces. Gatlinburg is busier. The Parkway is packed with an aquarium, mirror mazes, alpine coasters and chairlift rides, Dollywood is close by, and the national park adds creek wading and junior ranger badges.

In Gulf Shores the beach is the entertainment. Children dig in soft sand, with a water park, a small zoo and the Ferris wheel at Orange Beach for hot afternoons. Children need watching in the surf, and Gatlinburg brings traffic and long queues instead.

Gatlinburg is easier without a car, though only up to a point. The downtown strip is compact enough to walk, and a trolley loops through town and out to Pigeon Forge. The park and the hillside cabins still need a car.

Gulf Shores is spread for miles along one beach road, with almost no public transport. Apart from cycling inside Gulf State Park, you will drive everywhere.

Gatlinburg gives shoppers more reason to browse, mainly because of the Arts and Crafts Community. There you can buy quilts, pottery, brooms and woodwork straight from the people who made them. The outlets at Pigeon Forge are close by too.

Gulf Shores sells mostly beachwear, souvenirs and fishing gear, and its main draw is the outlet mall in Foley. That makes a decent plan for a rainy day, but there is no local craft to look for.

Overall costs are similar, but each town follows its own calendar. Gatlinburg is cheapest midweek and in winter, especially with a big shared cabin. Prices peak in October's leaf season and around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, and the paid attractions add up quickly for a family.

Gulf Shores is most expensive in June and July. Its winter and shoulder-season rentals drop sharply, and the beaches and park trails cost nothing.

Both towns offer popular entertainment rather than concert halls, in different forms. Around Gatlinburg it is the dinner shows and country and gospel revues of Pigeon Forge, with bluegrass played in the tasting rooms and mountain music at Dollywood.

Gulf Shores has bands playing daily on beach-bar stages and touring country and rock acts at the Orange Beach amphitheatre in the warmer months. There is also a songwriters' festival on the state line every November.

Neither town has a spa culture beyond a few resort treatment rooms. Gatlinburg is slightly more restful if you stay above the town in a secluded cabin with a hot tub, a rocking chair and mist on the ridges.

Gulf Shores relaxes in its own way: an unhurried week of sunsets from a condo balcony, best outside the busy summer weekends.