Gatlinburg or Wilmington?

Gatlinburg has no coast at all. In summer you cool off in cold river pools in the national park, go tubing near Townsend or swim at the lakeshore at Douglas Lake. That is a way to get through a hot afternoon, not a beach trip.

Wilmington has three beach towns within half an hour: Wrightsville with its wide pale sand and fishing pier, Carolina Beach with its boardwalk, and quieter Kure. The sea is warm enough to swim from late May into October. You do have to drive out from the city, and rip currents need watching.

Neither town is a food destination, but you will eat noticeably better in Wilmington. Its menus are built on local shrimp, flounder and oysters, alongside vinegar-sauced whole-hog barbecue, modern Southern cooking in downtown's old brick buildings and a solid craft brewery scene.

Gatlinburg feeds a resort crowd, with pancake houses, barbecue and family restaurants along the Parkway, plus fudge shops and moonshine tastings. Good Appalachian trout and country ham do exist but take some finding, and serious eaters drive to Knoxville or Asheville.

Wilmington has real history to walk through. Its large historic district has antebellum and Victorian houses under live oaks, and there is the Bellamy Mansion, the Cotton Exchange and the Battleship North Carolina across the river. Two or three days covers it.

Gatlinburg's town is a strip of attractions with an observation tower rather than landmarks. Its heritage is in the working studios of the Arts and Crafts Community and in the old cabins, mills and churches out at Cades Cove and the Roaring Fork, which you need to drive to.

Of the two, only Wilmington offers a proper night out. At weekends Front Street's bars and rooftop terraces fill up, helped by the university crowd, and beach bars open in summer, though there is little clubbing.

Gatlinburg's evenings are a stroll along the lit Parkway, a moonshine tasting and an early return to the cabin hot tub. By late night the strip is empty.

This is where Gatlinburg is strongest, as the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains. The waterfall walks to Laurel and Grotto Falls, the Alum Cave climb up Mount LeConte and the drive to Clingmans Dome, close to 2,025m, are all near town. Bears, deer and elk are part of the scenery, and you can raft on the Pigeon River.

Wilmington's outdoors are low and watery: salt marsh, tidal creeks, kayaking out to Masonboro Island, surfing off Wrightsville and wild Venus flytraps in Carolina Beach State Park. It is good country for paddlers and anglers, but there are no hills to climb.

Gatlinburg has the stronger outings. Asheville and the Biltmore Estate are about an hour and a half away. The Newfound Gap road crosses the mountains to Cherokee and its museum of the Eastern Band, and Knoxville and the heritage railway at Bryson City are also within reach.

Wilmington's outings are smaller and coastal: Southport and the ferry to car-free Bald Head Island, the Civil War earthworks at Fort Fisher, and New Bern or Beaufort about two hours north. They make pleasant days, but nothing on the list draws people the way Biltmore does.

Gatlinburg is built around children. The Parkway has an aquarium, mirror mazes, alpine coasters and gondola rides, Dollywood is a short drive away, and the park adds easy waterfall walks and junior ranger badges. Big cabins with games rooms can take several families at once, though queues and traffic in high season will test your patience.

Wilmington works well with children mainly in summer. The beaches and the boardwalk rides at Carolina Beach fill the sunny days, and the aquarium at Fort Fisher and the battleship cover the rainy ones. It is calmer, but there is less built purely for kids.

Both have a small core you can walk, and beyond it you need a car for almost everything. Gatlinburg's Parkway strip is compact and has a trolley out to Pigeon Forge. Most cabins, though, sit up steep, winding roads, and park traffic stalls in October.

Wilmington's flat historic district and riverwalk are pleasant on foot. The beaches, however, lie 15km or more away across the suburbs, and local buses are of little use to visitors.

Neither is a place to go shopping, but what you find is different. In Gatlinburg the best buys are handmade: quilts, pottery, brooms and woodwork sold from artisans' studios in the Arts and Crafts Community, with outlet malls in Pigeon Forge for brands. Wilmington is better for browsing, with independent boutiques, bookshops and antique dealers along Front Street and in the Cotton Exchange, and surf wear in the beach towns.

Overall costs are much the same, and in both places a car is an extra you cannot avoid. In Gatlinburg the national park costs little and shared cabins are good value midweek and in winter. However, paid attractions and Dollywood add up quickly for a family, and rates jump in October's leaf season.

In Wilmington, off-season city rooms and casual seafood are fair value, while beachfront rentals climb steeply in summer.

Wilmington has more going on stage. Thalian Hall, a restored 19th-century opera house, hosts theatre and touring shows, and the city has a community symphony. In the warmer months bands play outdoor stages by Greenfield Lake, and there are jazz and blues festivals.

Gatlinburg's entertainment is family-style: dinner shows and country and gospel revues in Pigeon Forge, and bluegrass players in the moonshine tasting rooms. It is good for mountain music, but anything classical means a trip to Knoxville.

Neither has a bathing culture or a proper spa retreat, only a few day and resort spas. The difference is in how you unwind. In Gatlinburg it is a secluded cabin above the trees, with a hot tub and mist on the ridges, well away from the noisy Parkway. In Wilmington it is the slow pace, calm evenings on the waterfront and easy beach days outside summer weekends.