Louisville or Savannah?

For sand and sea, Savannah wins clearly. Tybee Island is about half an hour east, with wide, flat sand that suits children paddling and warm water through the summer. The sea is coloured greenish-brown by the marshes and the town is low-key, but it is a proper beach day.

Louisville has nothing comparable. The Ohio is a barge river with strong currents, so swimming means a hotel pool or a drive out to the Kentucky reservoir lakes.

Both cities eat well within the Southern tradition, but around different things. Louisville is built around bourbon, with Whiskey Row bars and downtown tasting rooms, plus heavy local dishes like the hot brown, burgoo and Derby pie, and its better tables are in NuLu, the Highlands and Butchertown.

Savannah looks to the coast instead: shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, Lowcountry boil and oyster roasts, served in family-style dining rooms and in a small group of chef-led restaurants in restored townhouses. Neither offers much range beyond its regional cooking.

Savannah offers more sightseeing, and most of it is the city itself. Oglethorpe's plan of garden squares, its ironwork and historic houses, Factors Walk, the Telfair Museums and the Owens-Thomas House make a whole townscape worth walking, more absorbing than any single collection.

Louisville's sights are separate stops with themes: Churchill Downs and the Derby Museum, the Muhammad Ali Center, the Slugger and Frazier museums on Main Street. Old Louisville's Victorian mansions are its closest match to Savannah's streets, but they fill an afternoon rather than a stay.

Savannah makes for the livelier evening. To-go cups are allowed in the historic district, so a night drifts from River Street's cobbled bars to City Market taverns and townhouse cocktail rooms, with art students filling the dive bars. Weekends bring a loud riverfront crowd.

Louisville is more spread out and more about neighbourhoods. The dive bars and patios of Bardstown Road and the bourbon bars of NuLu need a ride between them, although some places stay open very late. Neither has much of a club scene.

The two are broadly level outdoors, but the landscapes are very different. Louisville has land to walk on: Olmsted's wooded parks at Cherokee and Iroquois, the fossil beds at the Falls of the Ohio, forest trails at Bernheim, and Mammoth Cave within a long drive.

Savannah's outdoors is flat and wet. You kayak through salt marsh at high tide, take boat trips to spot dolphins and watch wading birds, or follow the oak avenue at Wormsloe. In summer, insects and humidity make it much harder going than Kentucky's knobs.

Both make good bases for a day out by car, each with a strong theme. From Louisville you can tour bourbon country, from Bardstown to the distilleries around Frankfort and Lawrenceburg, and visit the thoroughbred farms and Keeneland racecourse at Lexington. Shaker Village and Lincoln's birthplace add some history.

From Savannah, the trips run along the coast: Charleston's historic peninsula two hours north, Beaufort and Hilton Head closer by, and the old resort districts of Jekyll and St Simons islands to the south. Choose Louisville for whiskey and horses, and Savannah for Sea Island towns.

Louisville is better set up for children. It has a full set of big attractions: a well-regarded zoo, several floors of hands-on exhibits at the science centre, roller coasters and a water park at Kentucky Kingdom, and tram tours under the city at the Mega Cavern. Splash areas at Waterfront Park help on hot days.

Savannah manages with smaller treats, such as the free ferry, trolley rides, ghost walks for older children and the sea-turtle centre on Tybee. It has no zoo, aquarium or theme park, though it has a beach, which Louisville cannot offer.

Savannah is far easier without a car. The historic district is flat and compact, with hotels, squares and restaurants a short walk apart, and a free shuttle and river ferry cover the gaps. You need wheels only for Tybee, Wormsloe and Bonaventure.

Louisville works the other way round. Only Main Street and NuLu are comfortable on foot, and Churchill Downs, the Highlands, the zoo and the parks all mean driving or ride-hailing. The upside is light traffic and easy parking.

Savannah makes the better browse. Broughton Street has a proper run of restored shopfronts with boutiques and home-goods stores, and work by art students and antique dealers is spread through the squares.

Louisville's shopping is thinner, with a few design shops in NuLu and vintage and record stores along Bardstown Road. What it has that Savannah lacks is the bottle to take home: rare bourbons from distillery shops, plus Derby hats.

Neither is a budget stay, and the costs fall in different places. Louisville's hotels are moderate outside racing season and parking is easy, but the daily spending adds up, with tax and tips on every meal and the cost of driving everywhere. Derby week sends room rates soaring.

In Savannah the expense is the room, since inns in the historic district are priced for weekend visitors. Once you are there, though, the squares, the park and the riverfront are free, and without a car to pay for, everyday costs stay lower.

Louisville has more on any given night. The Kentucky Center is home to an orchestra, opera and ballet, Actors Theatre has long staged new American plays, and Bardstown Road bars play bluegrass and Americana all year.

Savannah depends on its seasons. The spring Music Festival fills historic theatres and churches, and an autumn jazz festival takes over Forsyth Park, but come at any other time and you will find little beyond a few bar bands and buskers.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, but Savannah is much better for doing very little. A bench under the oaks of a quiet square or the garden courtyard of an old inn is restful in itself, especially midweek in spring or autumn.

Louisville offers mainly hotel spas and a slower pace. For a real spa break, drive about an hour and a half to the old mineral-spring resorts at French Lick and West Baden Springs in Indiana.