Memphis or Myrtle Beach?

This is the widest gap between the two. Memphis has no beach at all, and the barge-laden Mississippi is not for swimming, so on a hot day the choice is a hotel pool, a splash pad or a drive out to a country lake.

Myrtle Beach exists for its shore. The Grand Strand runs for about 100km of pale, flat sand, and the sea shelves gently with small waves that suit children. The central blocks around the boardwalk are crowded in summer, while Surfside, Garden City and the state park beaches to the south are quieter and backed by dunes. The water is greenish rather than clear.

Memphis is a destination for eating, which Myrtle Beach is not. Its barbecue is distinctive: dry-rubbed ribs, pulled pork sandwiches with slaw and oddities like barbecue spaghetti. Around it are fried catfish, greens, Delta tamales and a smaller layer of modern Southern cooking in Cooper-Young and Midtown.

On the Myrtle Beach strip, meals mean buffets, pancake houses and chains. The rewarding seafood is out of town, at the waterfront places of Murrells Inlet and in the Calabash fried style across the state line. Neither city has much fine dining or international range.

Memphis has sights of real national importance, and Myrtle Beach has very few. Graceland, Sun Studio and the Stax Museum tell the story of American popular music, and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel is among the most moving museums in the country. The townscape is patchy, but Beale Street, Front Street and Victorian Village add some period character.

Myrtle Beach is a twentieth-century resort with little history on show. Brookgreen Gardens, a sculpture garden on a former rice plantation, and the Moorish-style Atalaya house next door fill a worthwhile day, and after that most people go back to the sand.

Memphis has the better nights out, and they run all year. Beale Street is a pedestrian party strip where you can carry a drink from one blues bar to the next, and Midtown's Overton Square and Cooper-Young have easier-going dive bars and beer gardens.

Myrtle Beach is louder and more seasonal. It has rooftop decks by the boardwalk and a cluster of dance clubs in the entertainment complexes, which is more clubbing than Memphis offers. North Myrtle Beach also keeps alive the shag, the Carolina beach dance. Off-season, much of this closes early.

Neither city has hills, but the coast gives Myrtle Beach more variety. You can walk marsh boardwalks among herons, ospreys and alligators at Huntington Beach State Park, kayak the cypress swamps of the Waccamaw River and take dolphin cruises from the inlets. Golfers have dozens of courses to choose from.

Memphis has the Mississippi itself, which you can cross on foot or by bike on the Big River Crossing. Shelby Farms Park has lakes and a bison herd, and Overton Park keeps a patch of old-growth forest. It makes a good green city break rather than an outdoors trip.

Both cities have equally good day trips, and each needs a car, but they lead in different directions. From Memphis, Highway 61 runs south into the Delta's blues country: Clarksdale's juke joints, the Blues Trail markers, Faulkner's Oxford, Tupelo and the battlefield at Shiloh.

From Myrtle Beach, the big outing is Charleston, about two hours south, with its antebellum streets and harbour forts. Closer by are the old port of Georgetown, quiet Pawleys Island and Wilmington's riverfront to the north.

Myrtle Beach was built around the family vacation, and it shows. There is easy surf, and the resort hotels have lazy rivers, kiddie pools and kitchen suites. Away from the beach there are an aquarium, a wooden roller coaster, water parks and themed mini-golf. Families should simply avoid spring break weeks.

Memphis can fill a few days with the zoo in Overton Park, the Pink Palace planetarium, the Children's Museum and the Peabody ducks. But the heat, the driving and museums aimed at older visitors make it a better fit for families with teenagers.

Plan on a car in both, though Memphis gives you more on foot. Its downtown packs Beale Street, the riverfront, the Civil Rights Museum and South Main into a walkable area served by heritage trolleys. Graceland, Midtown and Shelby Farms are still a drive away.

Myrtle Beach is spread along multi-lane highways with few pavements, and Kings Highway clogs in summer. Within one resort area you can walk, cycle or use a golf cart, and the beach makes a long promenade, but almost everything else means getting in the car.

Myrtle Beach has more shopping, though most of it is bargain shopping. Two large outlet centres, the waterfront entertainment complexes and the Market Common on the old air base cover most needs, while the highway beach shops sell swimwear and inflatables.

Memphis is better for character than quantity. Look for vintage vinyl in the record shops, small boutiques and local art in Cooper-Young and on Broad Avenue, and a lot of Elvis memorabilia. Mainstream shopping is out in the eastern suburban malls.

Costs come out much the same in both cities, and in both a car and tipping add to the bill. In Memphis the savings come from cheap, filling barbecue and soul-food plates. Graceland's admission is a significant expense, and the big spring festivals push hotel prices up.

In Myrtle Beach the sheer number of condos and motels keeps rooms cheap outside the summer peak, and kitchens help with food. July and long weekends are expensive, so when you go matters more there.

For live music, Memphis is in another league. House bands play blues and soul on Beale Street from the afternoon on, and Midtown venues add rock and hip-hop. The Levitt Shell in Overton Park puts on free summer concerts. The Orpheum, the symphony, the opera and a respected ballet cover the formal side.

Myrtle Beach offers polished family evenings instead: country and gospel revues, Christmas shows, pirate dinner theatre and touring acts at the main entertainment complex. There is no orchestra or serious drama.

Neither city has a spa culture, but Myrtle Beach makes it easier to slow down. Its oceanfront and golf resorts have treatment rooms, and a quiet stay around Pawleys Island in spring or autumn, with long walks on the sand, is genuinely restful.

A Memphis trip tends towards music and late nights, and its spas are mostly in hotels or the eastern suburbs. Its calm moments are an early walk in Overton Park or a sunset over the river from the bluffs.