Gatlinburg or West Palm Beach?

Gatlinburg is landlocked in the mountains, and swimming there means cold, clear river water: tubing on the Little River near Townsend or a lakeshore dip at Douglas Lake. Both are summer pleasures with real currents after rain, and for most visitors the cabin hot tub stands in for the beach.

West Palm Beach is a genuine beach destination. Midtown Beach and Phipps Ocean Park on Palm Beach, the broader sands of Singer Island and Juno, and Peanut Island's sheltered lagoon are all a short hop from downtown. The nearby Gulf Stream keeps the water warm enough to swim in winter too.

West Palm Beach eats better, mainly thanks to Florida seafood: grilled grouper, snapper and mahi, and stone crab in season. It has waterfront terraces on Clematis Street, formal rooms on Palm Beach and Cuban and Haitian lunch counters away from the centre.

Gatlinburg's Parkway feeds a resort crowd with pancake breakfasts, barbecue and fudge, washed down with flavoured moonshine. Proper Appalachian cooking, trout, country ham and stack cake, has to be sought out, and keen eaters often drive to Knoxville or Asheville.

West Palm Beach has the sights for two or three rewarding days. The Norton Museum of Art and Flagler's marble Whitehall across the lagoon are the highlights, and Palm Beach's Mediterranean Revival villas and the vias off Worth Avenue are worth an afternoon's walk.

Gatlinburg's town is attractions and motels rather than heritage. Its cultural interest lies in the working studios of the Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community and in the cabins, mills and churches of the old mountain families at Cades Cove and along the Roaring Fork, which are outings into the park.

Neither is a party town, but West Palm Beach at least gives you a night out. On Fridays and Saturdays Clematis Street and Rosemary Square fill with cocktail bars, rooftops and a couple of dance spots, though Miami is where the serious clubbing is.

In Gatlinburg the evening means a stroll along the lit Parkway, a moonshine tasting and perhaps bluegrass in a tasting room. After that most people go back up to the cabin deck, and the strip is empty by late night.

Gatlinburg sits at the door of one of the great American mountain parks. Hardwood forest, waterfalls like Laurel Falls and Grotto Falls, the long climb to Mount LeConte and the road up towards Clingmans Dome are all close. Black bears, deer in Cades Cove and elk in the eastern valleys are part of the experience, and spring fireflies and October colour mark the seasons.

West Palm Beach's nature is flat and wet. It has paddling on the lagoon, the remarkable shore snorkel under the Blue Heron Bridge, Everglades boardwalks with alligators at Grassy Waters, and sea turtle nesting beaches near Juno. It is rewarding, but summer heat limits it to the mornings and there is no high ground at all.

The range of outings is similar, but they differ in character. From Gatlinburg the drives bring real changes of scene: over Newfound Gap to Cherokee and the story of the Eastern Band, to Asheville and the Biltmore Estate, or to Knoxville's market square. All of them need a car.

West Palm Beach's big draw is Miami, an easy fast-train ride away for South Beach, Little Havana and Wynwood. Closer trips to Delray Beach, Boca Raton or Jupiter feel much like home: more pleasant coastal towns.

Gatlinburg is the more complete family destination. The Parkway is a run of aquariums, mazes, alpine coasters and chairlift parks, Dollywood and its water park are close, and the national park adds creek wading and junior ranger badges. Queues and traffic in high season are the price.

West Palm Beach is gentler and beach-centred. Children get calm lagoon swimming, the drive-through animals at Lion Country Safari and winter manatees at Manatee Lagoon, but summer heat and the lack of a theme park nearby make it more of a beach-and-zoo vacation.

Both have a small, walkable centre with a trolley, and both really need a car beyond it. The difference is terrain. Gatlinburg's cabins sit up steep, winding roads, and the park roads clog on busy weekends and in October.

West Palm Beach is flat, so you can cycle over the bridges to Palm Beach and its Lake Trail. Its rail links south also make Fort Lauderdale and Miami reachable without driving.

West Palm Beach has the more serious shopping. Worth Avenue's luxury houses and courtyard galleries, designer consignment shops on the island and the dealers of Antique Row give it real range, though there are no local crafts.

Gatlinburg turns that around. Its Parkway is mostly fudge, T-shirts and novelty knives, but the Arts and Crafts Community loop sells handmade quilts, pottery and brooms straight from the studios, and the Pigeon Forge outlets cover the brands.

Gatlinburg is noticeably easier on the budget. A big cabin split between families goes a long way, the national park is cheap to enjoy and meals are casual. The money goes on paid attractions and Dollywood, and on the higher rates of October's leaf season and the weeks around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.

West Palm Beach is an expensive coast, above all from December to April, when Palm Beach hotels and island dining are priced for wealthy winter visitors. Summer rooms are far cheaper, but you pay for that in heat and storms, and a hire car adds to every stay.

West Palm Beach has a real stage. The Kravis Center brings touring musicals, orchestras, dance and the Palm Beach Opera, and Palm Beach Dramaworks puts on serious plays, though mostly in the winter season.

Gatlinburg's entertainment is the family show. You get dinner theatres and gospel revues in Pigeon Forge, and bluegrass and mountain music in tasting rooms and at Dollywood. For orchestra or drama you would have to go to Knoxville.

West Palm Beach has a slight edge for pampering, with large oceanfront resort spas and plenty of day spas on Palm Beach, along with slow, manicured lagoon promenades for walking. Gatlinburg's spas are few, and its restfulness comes from the cabin itself: a hot tub on the deck, a rocking chair and mist on the ridges, well above the noise of the Parkway.