Gatlinburg or St. Pete Beach?

These two are about as far apart as it gets on this. Gatlinburg has no beach at all. Cooling off means wading or tubing in the cold mountain rivers near Townsend, or a lakeshore swim at Douglas Lake, and for many visitors the cabin hot tub stands in for the sea.

St. Pete Beach is all beach. A single long run of fine, pale sand meets calm, shallow Gulf water. The wide, low-key sands at Pass-a-Grille face the sunset, and quieter, wilder shores lie at Fort De Soto and on undeveloped Shell Key.

St. Pete Beach eats better, mainly because of the seafood. Grouper sandwiches, smoked fish spread and stone crab in season are eaten on a waterside deck as the sun goes down.

Gatlinburg feeds its crowds with pancake breakfasts, barbecue, fudge and fruit-flavoured moonshine. The trout, country ham and stack cake of the mountains turn up only now and then. Neither place is a dining destination: serious eaters drive to Knoxville or Asheville from one and cross to St. Petersburg from the other.

Neither town offers much sightseeing, but what little there is differs in kind. Gatlinburg's heritage is living craft. Weavers, potters and broom-makers work in their own studios on the Arts and Crafts loop, and the log cabins, mills and churches of the old mountain families stand out in the park at Cades Cove and along the Roaring Fork.

St. Pete Beach offers a few compact stops instead. There is the pink 1920s Don CeSar hotel, the old cottages of Pass-a-Grille's historic district and the Spanish-American War gun batteries at Fort De Soto.

St. Pete Beach has more going on after dark, though it is still modest. Sunset draws people to the tiki decks and beach bars, often with a cover band playing, and Corey Avenue keeps a few livelier bars open. Downtown St. Petersburg is half an hour away for a bigger night.

In Gatlinburg the evening means a slow walk along the lit Parkway and a round of moonshine tastings. Then most people drive back up to the cabin, and the strip is quiet by late night.

Gatlinburg is the stronger base by a long way. It is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains. Within minutes of town you are in old hardwood forest, with trails ranging from Laurel Falls to the Alum Cave route up Mount LeConte, and the Newfound Gap road climbs to Clingmans Dome at close to 2,025m. Bears, deer and elk are part of the experience, and the seasons bring wildflowers, fireflies and autumn colour.

St. Pete Beach's nature is flat and wet. You paddle through mangrove channels at Fort De Soto, watch dolphins from a boat and look for manatees and roseate spoonbills, but there is almost no hiking.

Both have a solid handful of outings, but of different kinds. From Gatlinburg the trips are scenic drives into mountain country: Asheville and the vast Biltmore Estate, Cherokee across Newfound Gap for the story of the Eastern Band, and Knoxville's market square. Beyond these the options thin out quickly.

From St. Pete Beach the trips are to towns and cities. St. Petersburg's art museums, Tampa's Ybor City, Greek-rooted Tarpon Springs and Sarasota's Ringling estate are all within about an hour, and Orlando is at the edge of a long day.

Gatlinburg is more fully built around children. The Parkway is lined with an aquarium, mirror mazes, alpine coasters and chairlift rides to treetop bridges, and Dollywood is a short drive away. Big cabins with games rooms suit groups of families, and the park adds creek wading and junior ranger badges. The cost of that is traffic and queues in high season.

St. Pete Beach is simpler and gentler. Shallow, calm water, soft sand and hotel pools keep small children happy, with dolphin boats and shelling for variety. Aquariums and theme parks are a drive away.

Both are car destinations with a walkable core and a trolley. The problems differ. In Gatlinburg it is congestion and gradient: cabins sit up steep, winding roads, and the Parkway and park roads stall on busy weekends and in October.

St. Pete Beach is a long, flat strip that is easy to cycle, with Pass-a-Grille and Corey Avenue good on foot. The catch there is distance, since Fort De Soto, the cities and the airport all mean a drive, and the buses to the mainland are slow.

Gatlinburg gives shoppers more to take home. Along the Arts and Crafts Community loop you buy quilts, pottery, baskets and handmade brooms straight from the makers, and the big outlet malls in Pigeon Forge and Sevierville cover brand names.

St. Pete Beach is mostly swimwear and souvenirs. Corey Avenue boutiques and Pass-a-Grille's small galleries add a little, and anything larger means heading inland.

Gatlinburg is the cheaper stay. A large cabin split between families or an older motel keeps beds affordable, especially midweek and in winter, and the national park costs little. The money goes on paid attractions and Dollywood.

St. Pete Beach is costly, especially for beachfront rooms from February to April, and a hire car is close to essential. A motel a block back from the sand and the late-summer lull help, and the beaches themselves are free apart from parking.

Gatlinburg has more live entertainment on the doorstep, though it is family entertainment. Nearby Pigeon Forge has theatres running dinner shows and country and gospel revues, bluegrass players work the tasting rooms in town, and Dollywood keeps mountain music in its programme.

St. Pete Beach offers acoustic sets and cover bands at the beach bars. Its compensation is the drive inland, where the Florida Orchestra plays in St. Petersburg and Tampa's large performing arts centre stages opera and touring musicals.

St. Pete Beach is the easier place to unwind. The larger resorts have full-service spas, and the day drifts from a morning walk on the sand to a sunset everyone stops for, with Pass-a-Grille especially unhurried.

Gatlinburg's calm comes from where you stay rather than what the town offers. A secluded cabin with a hot tub and mist on the ridges is deeply restful, but the crowded, noisy Parkway below is anything but.