Nashville or Orlando?

Neither city is on the coast, but Orlando can at least reach the sea. Cocoa Beach and New Smyrna Beach are about an hour's drive away, with long stretches of soft Atlantic sand, and the calmer Gulf beaches near Clearwater make a longer day out. Back in town, the hotel pools and big water parks cover the daily swimming.

Nashville is hundreds of kilometres from any coast. The nearest thing to a beach day is a summer swim or a pontoon boat on Percy Priest or Old Hickory Lake.

Nashville has a cuisine of its own, and Orlando mostly does not. Hot chicken, meat-and-three plates, smoked barbecue and breakfast biscuits give a visitor a clear sense of place. The chef-led kitchens of East Nashville and Germantown and the Kurdish and Vietnamese places on Nolensville Pike add range beyond the Southern classics.

In Orlando most meals happen at chains, park counters and themed restaurants. The better food is in Mills 50's Asian kitchens and Winter Park's restaurants, and you will usually need to drive to reach them.

Nashville has much more to see. The Country Music Hall of Fame, the National Museum of African American Music and a daytime tour of the Ryman tell the story of American music. The Frist Art Museum, the Parthenon in Centennial Park and the Hermitage and Belle Meade estates cover art and the history of the South.

Orlando has little old architecture. Its one major sight is the Morse Museum's Tiffany collection in Winter Park, and most of its other museums fill an afternoon at most.

Nashville goes out far harder. Lower Broadway is several blocks of honky-tonks with a band on every floor, open late every night, and East Nashville and Midtown offer calmer bars for anyone avoiding the hen and stag groups. The night revolves around drinking to live bands, and there are few dance clubs.

Orlando's evenings divide between themed resort bars at Disney Springs and CityWalk, which close fairly early, and a student-heavy club scene downtown on Orange Avenue. That downtown scene really only gets going at weekends.

The two are about equal for the outdoors, but the landscapes are very different. Around Nashville the country is wooded hills and limestone creeks, with forest walks at Radnor Lake and the Warner Parks and the Natchez Trace Parkway for cycling.

Around Orlando the land is flat and the attractions are water and wildlife. Visitors kayak the clear springs at Wekiwa, look for manatees at Blue Spring in winter, take airboat rides among alligators and go birdwatching at Merritt Island. Spring and autumn suit Nashville best, while winter is the season in Orlando.

Orlando has slightly stronger day trips, mainly because of the Kennedy Space Center, about an hour away, with the Saturn V and the shuttle Atlantis. St Augustine's Spanish fort and Tampa's Ybor City are both reachable within two hours.

From Nashville the trips are quieter: Civil War battlefields and a handsome Main Street in Franklin, the village of Leiper's Fork, and the whiskey distilleries near Lynchburg. Chattanooga is about as far as a day out can reach.

Few places anywhere are as well suited to children as Orlando. Disney's parks and water parks, Universal for teenagers, SeaWorld and Legoland come with bunk-room suites, stroller rental and resort transport. The hard parts are summer heat and long queues.

Nashville can work for a family. The zoo at Grassmere, the Adventure Science Center and the Lane Motor Museum fill a few days. But Lower Broadway is loud and adult in the evenings, and most attractions mean time in the car.

Both cities are built around the car, but Nashville at least has a walkable core. Broadway, the Ryman, the Hall of Fame, the Gulch and the pedestrian bridge are all a short stroll apart. Beyond that core you will need ride-hailing or a car.

Orlando is far harder without wheels. Parks, hotel zones and downtown are spread along Interstate 4, which is not built for walking. The exception is staying inside the Disney or Universal resorts, where monorails, boats and gondolas do the work.

Orlando is better for shopping if you want brands. The two premium outlet centres and the Mall at Millenia draw many overseas visitors looking for American labels at outlet prices, and Park Avenue in Winter Park adds boutiques.

Nashville's shopping is narrower but has more character. It is a city for cowboy boots, rhinestone shirts, guitars and Hatch Show Print posters, with independent shops in 12 South and East Nashville.

Both are expensive, and Orlando is only slightly easier on the budget. Its huge supply of hotel rooms and self-catering condos along International Drive and in Kissimmee keeps accommodation reasonable. The cost is in multi-day park tickets, express passes, parking and meals inside the parks.

In Nashville the downtown hotels are the main expense, especially at weekends. The free live music in the honky-tonks and cheap meals at hot chicken counters help make up for that.

This is Nashville's strongest area. You can go from the Grand Ole Opry to the pews of the Ryman to songwriter nights where the people who wrote the hits play them on acoustic guitars. Bluegrass, Americana and the symphony at the Schermerhorn round it out.

Orlando has the Dr. Phillips Center for touring musicals and a long-running fringe festival in spring. Most visitors, though, see performance as polished park shows and fireworks rather than live music.

Orlando is slightly more restful, mostly because of its resorts. Spas, lazy rivers and landscaped pools around Lake Buena Vista make a quiet day between park visits easy, and Winter Park's lakes slow the pace further.

Nashville's downtown is built for late nights and noise. Real calm means staying in leafy Belmont or Hillsboro and using a day spa.