Memphis or Pigeon Forge?

Both towns sit far inland, and neither is a place to come for the water. The difference is in how you cool off. In Memphis it means hotel pools, splash pads or a drive to a country lake, since nobody swims in the Mississippi. Pigeon Forge has the Dollywood water park, Douglas Lake and wading pools among the boulders of the national park's mountain streams.

Memphis is a serious food destination in its own right, built on pork barbecue: dry-rubbed ribs, pulled shoulder sandwiches and barbecue spaghetti. Around that come catfish, fried chicken and Delta tamales, and Cooper-Young and Midtown add a smaller layer of modern Southern cooking.

Pigeon Forge cooks for quantity rather than quality, with pancake houses, buffets, steakhouses and chains along the Parkway. Moonshine tastings and fudge from around the Old Mill are its local touches. For a memorable meal, people drive to Knoxville or Asheville.

Memphis has sights of national importance on two themes, music and civil rights: Graceland, Sun Studio, the Stax Museum and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel. Its historic centre is patchy, so your time goes into these museums rather than into wandering the streets.

Pigeon Forge's attractions are built for entertainment, among them a half-scale Titanic and illusion museums. The Old Mill of 1830 and the crafts at Dollywood are its real heritage. For Appalachian history, the log cabins and churches of the national park have far more to show.

Memphis gives adults a proper night out. On Beale Street you can carry a drink from bar to bar and the crowd stays out late, while Overton Square and Cooper-Young offer calmer bars and beer gardens. Pigeon Forge winds down around ten, after the dinner shows and go-kart tracks, with only a few brewpubs and moonshine rooms. Adults who want a drink tend to head for Gatlinburg or back to the cabin hot tub.

This is Pigeon Forge's great strength. Half an hour away, the Great Smoky Mountains rise to more than 2,000m. There are waterfall walks such as Laurel Falls, the climb to Mount LeConte, the Appalachian Trail along the crest and black bears in Cades Cove, plus tubing and fishing on the Little River.

Memphis is flat floodplain with no hills. Its outdoor moments are gentler: walking across the Mississippi on the Big River Crossing, paddling and watching the bison at Shelby Farms Park, and the old-growth woods of Overton Park.

Both make good bases for a day in the car, but the trips lead in different directions. From Memphis the draw is music and history: Highway 61 south into the Delta to Clarksdale's juke joints and the Blues Trail, Faulkner's Oxford, Elvis's birthplace at Tupelo and the battlefield at Shiloh.

Pigeon Forge looks to the mountains and beyond. You can visit the craft studios of Gatlinburg, Knoxville's Market Square and the Cherokee museum over Newfound Gap, or spend a full day at Asheville's Biltmore Estate.

Pigeon Forge exists for families. Dollywood, its summer water park, mountain coasters, mini-golf and the easy waterfall walks of the national park can fill a week. Large cabins and water-park hotels are designed for groups, although traffic on the Parkway tests your patience in peak weeks.

Memphis manages a few good days, with the Memphis Zoo, the Children's Museum, the Pink Palace planetarium and the duck march at the Peabody. Its headline museums suit teenagers more than small children.

Memphis is the less awkward of the two without a car. Its downtown is compact enough to walk between Beale Street, the riverfront, the Civil Rights Museum and South Main, with heritage trolleys on Main Street. Graceland and Shelby Farms still need a car or a ride-hail.

Pigeon Forge is one long multi-lane strip where you can walk only inside the attraction complexes. The Parkway trolley is slow, and the national park trailheads can only be reached by car.

Neither is a shopping destination, and what you find is different in each. Memphis is about records and music memorabilia, with vintage vinyl, Elvis souvenirs and small boutiques in Cooper-Young and on Broad Avenue. Pigeon Forge has outlet malls along the Parkway and handmade mountain goods, with quilts and pottery by the Old Mill and the broom, basket and leather studios above Gatlinburg.

Costs are much the same, and in both places the money goes on attractions, tips and getting around by car. Memphis keeps eating cheap with barbecue lunches and soul-food plates, but Graceland's admission bites. Pigeon Forge rewards groups who share a large cabin, then charges for every theme park day and dinner show, while walking in the national park costs very little.

Memphis has the deeper live music, and you can hear it every night: blues and soul house bands on Beale Street, rock and hip-hop in Midtown and free summer concerts at the Levitt Shell. The Orpheum, a symphony, an opera company and a respected ballet company cover the formal arts.

Pigeon Forge's stages are busy too, but with family revues, country and gospel shows, comedy and dinner spectacles, plus bluegrass at Dollywood. For classical music or serious theatre, you go to Knoxville.

Pigeon Forge is the easier place to unwind, as long as you stay above the strip. Hillside cabins with porches, fireplaces and hot tubs looking across the ridges make for quiet evenings. A Memphis trip leans towards late nights, and rest there means a hotel spa or an early walk in Overton Park before the heat.