Louisville or Myrtle Beach?

This is the starkest difference between the two. Myrtle Beach sits on the Grand Strand, about 100km of wide, pale sand with a shallow, gently shelving sea and small waves. In summer the water is warm enough to stay in all afternoon, and if the central blocks by the boardwalk feel too crowded, the dune-backed beaches at Surfside, Garden City and the southern state parks are calmer.

Louisville has nothing of the kind. The Ohio is a barge river with strong currents, and summer swimming means a pool or a drive out to a reservoir lake in the Kentucky countryside.

Louisville eats and drinks with far more character. Bourbon runs through everything, from the bars of Whiskey Row to the distillery tasting rooms downtown, and the city has dishes of its own: the hot brown, burgoo, Benedictine spread and Derby pie. NuLu, the Highlands and Butchertown add Southern and farm-to-table restaurants worth an evening each.

Myrtle Beach feeds crowds instead, with seafood buffets, pancake houses and chains along the strip. The best meals are just outside town, at the waterfront places of Murrells Inlet with shrimp and oysters off local boats, or Calabash-style fried seafood over the North Carolina line. Two evenings cover it.

Louisville has the deeper set of sights. Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum, the Muhammad Ali Center, the museums along Main Street, the Speed Art Museum and the mansion-lined blocks of Old Louisville fill two or three good days.

Myrtle Beach is a twentieth-century resort with little past on show. Brookgreen Gardens, with its sculpture among live oaks on a former rice plantation, and the Moorish-style Atalaya next door are worth a day, and after that most visitors are back on the sand.

Neither is a great night out, but they differ in style. Louisville is about bars: dive bars and patios along Bardstown Road, bourbon and cocktail bars in NuLu, and late licences that let a night run on. It hits its wildest around the Derby in spring.

Myrtle Beach is loud, casual and seasonal, with beach bars and rooftop decks by the boardwalk and a handful of dance clubs in the entertainment complexes. North Myrtle Beach adds the shag, the Carolina beach dance. Much of it goes quiet out of season.

The outdoors are about even here, but the landscapes are quite different. Louisville offers Olmsted's wooded parks for running and cycling, the Big Four Bridge walk, fossil beds at the Falls of the Ohio and real woodland trails in Jefferson Memorial and Bernheim forests, with Mammoth Cave within reach.

Myrtle Beach is flat coastal plain: salt marsh, maritime forest and cypress swamps. That means birdwatching and alligators at Huntington Beach State Park, kayaking on the Waccamaw, dolphin cruises and a huge choice of golf, but no hiking to speak of.

Louisville has the richer choice of outings. Bourbon country starts at Bardstown, under an hour away, and Lexington's thoroughbred farms, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill and Lincoln's birthplace are all easy drives. Bring a designated driver.

From Myrtle Beach the standout is Charleston, a long but rewarding day about two hours south. Closer by, Georgetown's old port, Pawleys Island and the riverfront at Wilmington make gentler and less memorable outings. Both cities need a car for all of these.

Myrtle Beach was built for the family vacation, and it shows. Small children get gentle surf and wide sand, the hotels come with lazy rivers and kitchen suites, and on rainy or restless days there is the aquarium, water parks, the boardwalk wheel, an old wooden roller coaster and endless themed mini-golf. Avoid spring break weeks.

Louisville is easy-going with children and has a good zoo, the hands-on Kentucky Science Center, Kentucky Kingdom and the underground tram tours at the Mega Cavern. It makes a pleasant few days rather than a whole vacation built around the children.

You will want a car in both, but Louisville is the easier place to drive. It is compact, traffic is mild, and downtown, the waterfront and NuLu can be walked, even if Churchill Downs and the Highlands are a short drive away.

Myrtle Beach spreads along about 100km of multi-lane highway with few pavements, and summer traffic on Kings Highway can crawl. Walking only works within one resort stretch or along the beach itself.

What you take home is the real difference. In Louisville it is bourbon, from distillery shops and liquor stores that stock bottles rarely found elsewhere, along with Derby hats and racing memorabilia. Bardstown Road adds vintage clothing, records and antiques, and NuLu has a few design shops and galleries.

Myrtle Beach is about outlet bargains at the two big centres at either end of town and enormous highway beach shops full of swimwear and inflatables. The Market Common, on the old air force base, feels more like a town centre. The one local craft is the sweetgrass baskets sold along the coast road to the south, and there are no luxury streets.

Myrtle Beach gives more for the money, mainly because it has so many hotel rooms, motels and condos. Off-season oceanfront rooms can be very cheap, and kitchens cut the food bill, though July and long weekends push prices up sharply.

Louisville's hotels are reasonable outside racing season, but meals, bar tabs with tips and getting around by car or ride-hailing add up every day. Derby week is the costliest time to go.

Louisville is the clear choice for live performance. The Kentucky Center is home to the orchestra, opera and ballet, Actors Theatre of Louisville has a long record with new American plays, and summer brings Shakespeare in Central Park and concerts at the Iroquois Amphitheater, with bluegrass in the bars all year.

Myrtle Beach offers polished family variety: country and gospel revues, Christmas shows, knights-and-pirates dinner theatre and touring country acts. It makes a fun evening, but there is no orchestra or serious drama.

Neither city is made for a restful break, though Myrtle Beach comes slightly closer. Its resort and golf hotels have treatment rooms, and the quiet stretch around Pawleys Island in spring or autumn offers real calm by the sea.

In Louisville, relaxing means a hotel spa, a slow porch afternoon in the Highlands or a drive through horse country. For a proper spa stay, French Lick and West Baden Springs in southern Indiana are about an hour and a half away.