Gatlinburg or Rehoboth Beach?

Only one of these is a beach destination. In Gatlinburg, swimming means a cold river pool in the national park or a lakeshore about forty minutes' drive away, and most visitors settle for a hot tub or a hotel pool.

Rehoboth is built around its wide, pale-sand beach in front of the boardwalk, with lifeguards and moderate surf. Wilder stretches lie at Cape Henlopen and Delaware Seashore State Park. The catch is that the swimming season only runs from roughly mid-June to September.

Rehoboth gives a food lover more to work with. Its chef-led restaurants along Rehoboth Avenue, the blue crabs and raw bars of the Mid-Atlantic shore and its strong craft beer add up to proper eating, at least in summer.

Gatlinburg feeds crowds rather than enthusiasts. The Parkway is lined with pancake houses, barbecue and Southern comfort cooking, and moonshine tasting rooms supply the local drink. Real Appalachian dishes such as trout, country ham and stack cake take some seeking out.

Neither town has much in the way of museums or grand monuments, and both send visitors interested in history elsewhere. What they do have differs. Gatlinburg's heritage is craft: weavers, potters and broom-makers working in their own studios on the Arts and Crafts Community loop, with pioneer cabins and mills out in the park at Cades Cove.

Rehoboth's heritage is quieter and lives in its streets. Shaded lanes and cottages survive from its founding as a Methodist camp meeting, and there are galleries at the Rehoboth Art League in its garden in Henlopen Acres.

Rehoboth is the one for evenings out. Its long history as an LGBTQ resort gives it piano bars, lounges and drag nights downtown, and Dewey Beach next door adds big deck bars for a younger crowd. All of it is mainly a summer affair.

In Gatlinburg, an evening means a stroll along the lit Parkway with fudge and a moonshine tasting, perhaps a brewery terrace, and then back to the cabin. By late evening the strip is empty.

Here Gatlinburg is in a different league. The Great Smoky Mountains begin where the Parkway ends. You get waterfall walks, the climb up Mount LeConte, Clingmans Dome at close to 2,025m, black bears and elk, plus rafting on the Pigeon River.

Rehoboth's outdoors is flat and gentle: Cape Henlopen's dunes and pine woods, the bike trail to Lewes, kayaking on the inland bays and dolphins offshore in summer. It is pleasant for an easy day, but there is nothing to climb.

Both towns have a modest list of outings, and both need a car to reach them. From Gatlinburg the draw is the mountains and the Cherokee story: Asheville and the Biltmore Estate an hour and a half away, Cherokee over Newfound Gap, and Knoxville and the Bryson City railway closer by.

Rehoboth's outings are small historic towns on the water. Lewes is ten minutes away, the ferry crosses to Victorian Cape May, and Berlin's main street and Chincoteague lie to the south. There are fewer big sights and more seaside strolling.

Both are made for children, but Gatlinburg packs in more. The Parkway has an aquarium, alpine coasters and parks reached by chairlift, Dollywood is nearby, and easy park walks come with bear sightings. Big shared cabins make group trips simple, as long as you accept the traffic and queues.

Rehoboth is simpler: lifeguarded sand close to the rental house, Funland's gentle rides on the boardwalk and calm bay water at Cape Henlopen. It suits small children well in summer, but little is laid on for them out of season.

Rehoboth is the easier place to be without driving. Downtown, the boardwalk and the beach are a short, flat walk apart, bikes are everywhere, and a seasonal trolley runs to Dewey Beach and the outlets. Getting there still means driving a highway that clogs on summer weekends.

Gatlinburg's Parkway strip is walkable and has its own trolley, but most cabins sit up steep, winding roads and the park needs a car. On busy weekends and in October, park traffic can stall for long stretches.

Rehoboth has the edge, helped by Delaware's lack of sales tax. It has large outlet centres on the highway and independent boutiques, bookshops and galleries along Rehoboth Avenue.

Gatlinburg's Parkway is mostly souvenirs, candy and moonshine. Still, the handmade quilts, pottery and brooms sold from the craft community's studios are more memorable than anything the beach town offers.

Gatlinburg usually costs less. A big cabin shared by a group, or an older motel midweek in winter, is good value, and the national park costs little to enjoy. Parkway attractions and Dollywood tickets do add up for a family, though.

Rehoboth charges full resort prices in high summer for rooms near the beach, for meals and for parking. It only becomes reasonable in spring and autumn, although the sand itself is always free.

Neither has a serious concert hall or theatre, so the difference is in style. Gatlinburg offers mountain music: bluegrass in the tasting rooms and on the street, with dinner shows and gospel revues in Pigeon Forge and Dollywood's own programme nearby.

Rehoboth's live performance is lighter and more seasonal: free bandstand concerts on summer evenings, piano bars, a small company staging musicals and cabaret, and a film festival in autumn.

Gatlinburg's calm comes from where you sleep: a secluded hillside cabin with a hot tub on the deck, a rocking chair and mist settling over the ridges. Stay above the Parkway, though, because the town centre is all traffic and amusement noise.

Rehoboth's calm depends on the season. In June, September and on autumn weekends the town slows to long walks on an empty boardwalk and bike rides under the pines, while high summer is loud and crowded. Spa choice is thin in both towns, so a treatment-led break is better planned elsewhere.