Louisville or Orlando?

Louisville is simply no place for the sea or the sand. The river that runs past downtown is a commercial waterway, not somewhere to swim. On a hot summer day the choice is a hotel or public pool, or a drive out to one of the lakes for some swimming and boating.

Orlando is inland too, but the coast is close enough for a day trip. Cocoa Beach and New Smyrna Beach are about an hour east, with wide, soft sand, gentle surf and sea at around 28°C in summer, and Clearwater's calmer Gulf water is about two hours west. Most visitors still do their everyday swimming in hotel pools and water parks and keep the beach for one day out.

Louisville has the stronger and more distinctive food. Bourbon runs through everything, from the bars of Whiskey Row to the distillery tasting rooms downtown. The hot brown, burgoo and Derby pie are dishes that belong to this city, and NuLu, the Highlands and Butchertown hold the better kitchens.

Orlando mostly eats at chains and park counters, and Epcot's World Showcase is the most interesting place to graze inside the gates. Its real strengths are away from the tourist strips, in the Vietnamese kitchens of Mills 50 and the chef-led restaurants of Winter Park, and both usually need a drive.

Louisville has a past to show, and Orlando largely does not. Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum, the Muhammad Ali Center, the cast-iron fronts of Whiskey Row and the Victorian mansions of Old Louisville fill two or three good days.

Orlando grew from citrus groves into a theme-park city and has little old architecture. Its one standout is the Morse Museum in Winter Park, which holds the largest Tiffany collection anywhere. The space programme's heritage lies out on the coast rather than in town.

Both cities offer a reasonable night out rather than a famous one, but in different forms. Louisville is a bar town. Bardstown Road has a long strip of dive bars and patios, NuLu and Butchertown have bourbon and cocktail bars, and some bars hold late licences. The whole city goes out around the Derby.

Orlando's nightlife splits in two. The themed bars of Disney Springs and CityWalk wind down early, while downtown around Orange Avenue a student crowd fills the clubs late at weekends. Orlando has more dance floors than Louisville, though most park visitors are asleep before things get going.

The outdoors are about equal in quality but very different in character. Louisville has Olmsted's wooded parks at Cherokee and Iroquois, the fossil beds at the Falls of the Ohio, forest hiking at Bernheim and Mammoth Cave within reach, all set in gently rolling country.

Orlando is flat, and its landscape is water. It offers kayaking at Wekiwa Springs, manatees at Blue Spring in winter, airboat rides past alligators and excellent birdwatching at Merritt Island. Summer heat pushes outdoor activity into the early morning there, while Louisville's trails are at their best in spring and autumn.

Louisville's day trips are built around Kentucky's two great trades, whiskey and horses. The distilleries around Bardstown are about 45 minutes south, and the white-fenced thoroughbred farms and Keeneland racecourse near Lexington are a little over an hour east. Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill and Lincoln's birthplace add a dose of history, and most of these places sit close together.

Orlando's outings are just as good, but they are about rockets and Spanish colonial history. The Kennedy Space Center is about an hour east, and St Augustine's fort and old streets are just under two hours north. Tampa's Ybor City and the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg fill a day to the west. The best of them lie further out than Louisville's, so expect longer drives.

Families are Orlando's whole reason for being. Disney World's four theme parks and two water parks, plus Universal, SeaWorld, Legoland, the pool resorts and the character breakfasts, can fill a week or two. Summer heat and long queues call for some planning.

Louisville is relaxed and easy with children. It has a well-regarded zoo, the Kentucky Science Center, Kentucky Kingdom and the underground tram tours at Mega Cavern. That makes for a good few days, but it is not a trip built entirely around the children.

Both are car cities, but Louisville is much easier to manage. Downtown, the waterfront and NuLu are walkable, distances are short and traffic is mild, so the drives to Churchill Downs or the Highlands are quick.

Orlando spreads its parks, hotel zones and downtown many miles apart along Interstate 4. Traffic is heavy at peak times, and the streets are not made for walking. The exception is staying inside Disney or Universal, where the monorail, boats and buses let a family manage without a car.

Orlando is the better place to shop, as long as you are after brands. Its two premium outlet centres and the Mall at Millenia draw visitors from abroad, Disney Springs and CityWalk add park merchandise, and Park Avenue in Winter Park is the one street of boutiques.

Louisville's shopping is small and local. There are design shops in NuLu and vintage clothing and records on Bardstown Road. Above all there is bourbon, with bottles rarely found elsewhere, along with Derby hats.

Neither city is cheap, and both come with the usual American extras of sales tax, tips and car costs. Louisville's hotels are moderately priced outside the racing season, and many of its best sights, from the parks to Old Louisville, are free. During Derby week, though, room rates rise to several times normal.

In Orlando, rooms away from the parks along International Drive and in Kissimmee are fairly priced, and condos suit families. Multi-day park tickets, express passes and meals inside the parks are what make the daily bill steep. In Louisville, keeping costs down mostly means avoiding one week. In Orlando it depends on how many park days you buy.

Louisville has more on stage. The Kentucky Center is home to the orchestra, opera and ballet, and Actors Theatre has a long record of staging new American plays. Bars on Bardstown Road host bluegrass and Americana bands, and the Iroquois Amphitheater puts on summer concerts.

Orlando has the Dr. Phillips Center, with the Philharmonic and touring Broadway shows, plus Orlando Shakespeare Theater and a long-running spring Fringe festival. For most visitors, though, performance means the polished shows and fireworks inside the parks, and the local live-music scene is modest.

Louisville has little to offer anyone who wants a spa, while Orlando, for all its hectic park days, makes it easy to switch off. Louisville's choice runs to hotel spas and a few day spas. The local way to relax is a slow afternoon on a Highlands porch or a drive through horse country, and a real spa break means about an hour and a half's drive to the old mineral-spring resorts of French Lick and West Baden Springs in Indiana.

Orlando's resort hotels around Lake Buena Vista and the Disney and Universal resorts have full spas, lazy rivers and landscaped pools, so a massage or a slow pool day between park days takes no planning. Couples who want quiet can head to the lakes and tree-lined streets of Winter Park.