Nashville or Tampa?

This is the clearest gap between the two. Nashville has no coast at all. Its swimming is at the reservoir areas of Percy Priest and Old Hickory, where a summer afternoon on a pontoon boat is the nearest thing to a beach day.

Tampa's own bay shore is mostly seawall, but Clearwater, St Pete Beach and Fort De Soto lie across the bridges. They have fine white sand and a calm, warm Gulf that suits swimming for much of the year. You drive out to them rather than step onto them, so beach lovers often stay on the islands.

Both cities eat well, and each has a dish worth travelling for, but the flavours come from different places. Nashville's table is Southern: fiery hot chicken, meat-and-three cafeterias, barbecue and biscuits. Chef-led kitchens in East Nashville and the Gulch take that further, and Nolensville Pike has an unexpected run of Kurdish and Vietnamese cooking.

Tampa looks to Cuba, Spain and Sicily through the cigar-factory heritage of Ybor City. Expect the pressed Cuban sandwich with salami, deviled crab croquettes, café con leche and the century-old Columbia. It also has grouper and stone crab from the bay, which landlocked Nashville cannot offer.

Nashville has more to see, and almost all of it tells the story of one art form. The Country Music Hall of Fame, the National Museum of African American Music and a daytime tour of the Ryman make a strong core. The Parthenon replica, the Frist in its Art Deco post office, and the Hermitage and Belle Meade plantations widen it.

Tampa's heritage fits into a couple of days: the brick cigar factories and Latin social clubs of Ybor City, and Henry Plant's railway hotel with its silver minarets. Its art museums are modest, and art lovers tend to cross the bay to St Petersburg.

Nashville goes out harder and more often. The honky-tonks of Lower Broadway have a live band on every floor from late morning into the small hours. East Nashville's dive bars and cocktail lounges are the calmer alternative. The night here is about drinking to live music, not dancing.

Tampa has the dance clubs that Nashville largely lacks, on Seventh Avenue in Ybor City, plus the patios of SoHo and a serious craft beer culture. It makes a good regional night out, whereas Broadway is a reason to book the trip in itself.

Tampa's outdoors is the more memorable for a visitor because it centres on water and wildlife. You can kayak the cypress swamp of Hillsborough River State Park, see manatees near Apollo Beach in winter, spot alligators at Myakka and paddle the clear spring-fed rivers to the north.

Nashville's countryside is gentler and greener, with wooded hills and creeks rather than wildlife spectacles. Radnor Lake and the Warner Parks suit easy walks, the Harpeth suits an easy paddle, and the Natchez Trace makes a fine ride or drive. Spring and autumn suit it best, just as winter suits Tampa.

Neither city has an unmissable sight within a day's reach, but the outings differ in character. From Nashville they are about history and whiskey: Franklin's preserved Main Street and Civil War battlefields, the village of Leiper's Fork, and the distilleries around Lynchburg.

From Tampa the mix leans towards art and oddities: the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg, the Greek sponge docks of Tarpon Springs, the Ringling estate in Sarasota and the Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Lakeland. What it lacks is Nashville's old small towns and battlefields.

Tampa is much the easier choice with children. Busch Gardens pairs roller coasters with an animal park, ZooTampa and the Florida Aquarium fill more days, and the shallow Gulf beaches are ideal for small swimmers. Legoland and Orlando are within reach for a longer day.

Nashville manages well enough with its zoo, the Adventure Science Center and the Lane Motor Museum. But its best-known strip is built for adult drinking, and most of its draws are musical. In both cities, expect a lot of time in the car.

Both are car cities, but Nashville is a little kinder to a visitor without one. Its compact downtown puts Broadway, the Ryman, the Hall of Fame and the Gulch within walking distance of each other. That covers most of what a short stay is for, even if the Opry and East Nashville need a ride.

Tampa's walkable core of downtown, the Riverwalk and Ybor City is linked by a heritage streetcar, but it holds less of what people come for. The beaches, Busch Gardens and every outing beyond the city mean a hire car, and rush-hour traffic on the bay bridges adds time.

Nashville shops around a theme, while Tampa mostly shops in malls. Nashville's theme is music and the West: boots, hats and rhinestone shirts along Broadway, some of the best guitar browsing anywhere, and bold letterpress posters from Hatch Show Print. Away from the strip, 12 South and East Nashville have independent boutiques and record shops.

Tampa's one local craft is the hand-rolled cigar, still made in small Ybor City shops. Beyond that, it has a large upscale mall for the luxury brands and the small open-air boutiques of Hyde Park Village. Nashville is the more interesting place to browse, while Tampa makes it easier to find the big names under one roof.

Tampa is gentler on the wallet, though neither city is cheap. Hotels are more reasonable outside the winter and spring high season, especially in summer, and Cuban bakeries keep lunch inexpensive. The big costs are the car and, for families, the theme parks.

Nashville's downtown hotels are expensive, particularly at weekends when groups fill them. What helps is that the honky-tonks charge no cover, so the music itself can cost nothing. Staying midweek and outside downtown also saves a good deal.

This is where Nashville stands apart. It has the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman with its pews, songwriter nights where writers play their own hits, bluegrass and Americana rooms, and the Nashville Symphony in the Schermerhorn. Music is the reason to come, and it plays from late morning until the early hours.

Tampa's programme is reliable rather than distinctive. The Straz Center brings touring musicals, opera and ballet, the ornate 1926 Tampa Theatre is a lovely place for a film or concert, and Ybor City has small rock venues. Little of it would make you plan a trip around it.

Nashville's downtown is built for noise and late nights, while Tampa has a quieter escape waiting just across the bay. In Nashville, relaxing means hotel spas and day spas. Staying in leafy Belmont or Hillsboro gives you a calmer base, but not really a restorative stay.

Tampa does this better. It has a few substantial resort spas, and the Gulf islands nearby slow the days down to sunsets and long lunches. Anyone who wants to rest can sleep out there and leave the humid, car-bound city behind.