Gatlinburg or New Orleans?

Neither city is a place for a beach trip. Gatlinburg is deep in the mountains, so swimming means cold, clear river pools in the national park or the lakeshore at Douglas Lake, and the currents at the popular jumping spots need respect.

New Orleans has a slight edge because a long drive brings you to warm Gulf water around Bay St. Louis, though it is shallow and murky rather than clear. In both, a pool is what most visitors end up using.

This is one of the widest gaps between the two. Gatlinburg feeds a resort crowd with pancake houses, barbecue and Southern comfort food along the Parkway, and the real Appalachian dishes such as trout, country ham and stack cake have to be sought out.

New Orleans has a cuisine entirely its own, from Creole dining rooms in the French Quarter to po'boy shops in Mid-City, crawfish boils in spring and cocktails invented in its own bars. Food is reason enough to choose it.

Gatlinburg has little sightseeing in the conventional sense. Its best heritage is in the artisans' studios of the Arts and Crafts Community and in the old mountain cabins and mills out at Cades Cove and Roaring Fork, which you reach by car.

New Orleans has the French Quarter, an unusually complete colonial town, with Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral and the Cabildo at its heart, plus the Garden District mansions, the above-ground tombs and the National WWII Museum. Its interest is in the streets more than in a long list of museums, but there is far more to see.

The two cities could hardly be further apart after dark. Gatlinburg's evenings are a stroll along the lit Parkway, a moonshine tasting and an early night, and the strip is quiet by late evening.

New Orleans has no closing time and lets you carry a drink down the street. The choice runs from the neon crowds of Bourbon Street to the music bars of Frenchmen Street and the corner dives of the Bywater, and the night moves on foot from bar to bar rather than to the clubs.

Gatlinburg is a gateway to some of the finest forest in the eastern United States. Within minutes of town you are on trails to waterfalls, the road climbs over Newfound Gap to Clingmans Dome at about 2,025m, and black bears, deer and elk are regular sights. The drawback is weekend and leaf-season traffic on the park roads.

New Orleans offers a gentler, wetter landscape: cypress swamps and bayous with alligators and herons, the boardwalks of the Barataria Preserve and the live oaks of City Park. It is flat, and summer heat limits time outdoors.

Both cities have a handful of good outings and then run out. From Gatlinburg the best are mountain journeys, over the Newfound Gap road to Cherokee and its museum, or to Asheville and the Biltmore Estate.

From New Orleans the outings follow the river and the coast instead: the plantations of the River Road, with the Whitney the most affecting, the state capitol in Baton Rouge and the small Gulf towns such as Ocean Springs.

Gatlinburg is designed around children. The Parkway runs past an aquarium, mirror mazes, mini golf and alpine coasters, mountaintop parks are reached by gondola, Dollywood is a short drive away and the national park adds creek wading and junior ranger badges. Traffic and queues in high season are the price.

New Orleans works well for families by day, with Audubon Zoo, the Aquarium of the Americas, streetcar rides and the children's attractions in City Park. Evenings are another matter, and parents need to keep away from Bourbon Street and choose their routes after dark.

New Orleans is easier without a car. The French Quarter, the Marigny and the Warehouse District are flat and walkable, and the historic streetcars run to the Garden District and City Park, although they are slow and ride-hailing fills the gaps.

Gatlinburg's downtown strip is walkable and has a trolley, but most visitors stay in cabins up steep hillside roads, and the park and its trailheads really need a car, with long jams on busy weekends.

New Orleans has more to browse. Royal Street's antique dealers and galleries and the independent boutiques and vintage shops along Magazine Street give it real character, and Carnival masks are its own speciality.

Gatlinburg's Parkway is mostly fudge, T-shirts and novelty knives. Its rewarding buys are handmade quilts, pottery and brooms from the craft studios, with outlet malls a short drive away in Pigeon Forge.

Both are middling for a trip, with Gatlinburg a little easier on the wallet. A large cabin shared by a group and a national park that costs little to enjoy keep the basics down, but paid attractions and Dollywood add up fast for a family.

In New Orleans the bill is driven by rooms, with French Quarter hotels priced like a big city and steep taxes, while street music, walking and cheap po'boys cost little. Both cities become much dearer at their peak times, leaf season in the mountains and the big festival weekends in the city.

New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz, and music fills every night: brass bands, funk, zydeco and traditional jazz on Frenchmen Street and in the Quarter, second-line parades on Sundays and Jazz Fest in spring. The formal stage is small, but the music in the streets more than makes up for it.

Gatlinburg's entertainment is the family dinner show and country revue in nearby Pigeon Forge, with bluegrass pickers in the tasting rooms. Mountain music is its genuine thread.

Neither has a spa tradition, but Gatlinburg is the better place to unwind. A secluded hillside cabin with a hot tub, a rocking chair and mist on the ridges gives real quiet, as long as you stay above the noisy Parkway.

New Orleans offers a slow pace instead, with courtyard mornings and lazy afternoons in City Park, but the Quarter at night works against rest.