Panama City Beach or Pigeon Forge?

This is where the two towns are furthest apart. Panama City Beach is built around about 43km of powder-white sand and clear green Gulf water, with quieter stretches at the western end and on Shell Island. In summer the sea is warm enough for hours of swimming, though rip currents mean you have to watch the flags.

Pigeon Forge sits in the Tennessee foothills, far from any coast. Swimming there means the shores of Douglas Lake, wading pools among the boulders in mountain streams, or the water park next to Dollywood.

Both towns mostly serve casual American resort food, but Panama City Beach has a slight edge because it has something genuinely local: Gulf seafood. Oysters from the nearby bays, blackened grouper and shrimp baskets on open-air decks are worth seeking out, and a few kitchens near the lagoon cook with more care.

Pigeon Forge's food is all about big portions: pancake breakfasts, Southern buffets and barbecue along the Parkway. Its local flavour comes from moonshine tastings and treats from the Old Mill rather than from its restaurants.

Neither town is a place for history or museums. What there is differs in kind. Panama City Beach has the small Man in the Sea Museum, about diving history, and older streets across the bay in St. Andrews.

Pigeon Forge has more for an idle hour. There is the working gristmill of 1830 and the Appalachian crafts shown at Dollywood, alongside replica and novelty attractions. The log cabins and churches inside the national park give a real sense of mountain history.

Panama City Beach is clearly the better place for a drink after dark. Beach bars with decks over the sand, frozen drinks at sunset and cover bands near Pier Park keep summer evenings going. The exception is March, when spring break turns the strip loud and rowdy, which suits students only.

Pigeon Forge's evenings are built around families, and the Parkway attractions empty by about ten. Adults who want a bar usually drive to Gatlinburg.

Pigeon Forge wins here easily. The Great Smoky Mountains rise to more than 2,000m half an hour away, with forested ridges, waterfall trails, black bears in Cades Cove, wildflowers in spring and autumn colour in October. Tubing on the Little River and horse riding add variety.

Panama City Beach's nature is flat and coastal: the dunes and pine flatwoods of St. Andrews State Park, a rare dune lake at Camp Helen, and dolphin trips, kayaking and wreck diving offshore.

Both towns have a fair choice of outings by car, and they lead in very different directions. From Panama City Beach you follow the coast. You can go west to the planned pastel towns on Scenic Highway 30A, or east to Apalachicola's brick warehouses and oyster waterfront.

From Pigeon Forge you head into towns and over the mountains. Knoxville's Market Square is about forty minutes away, Cherokee's museum lies over Newfound Gap, and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville makes a full day.

Families make up most of the visitors in both towns, and Pigeon Forge has a slight edge thanks to Dollywood. The theme park adds coasters, craft demonstrations and seasonal festivals, while cabins sized for several families and easy waterfall walks in the park complete the stay.

Panama City Beach is the simpler choice for small children who mainly want water. It has shallow warm sea in summer, a safe snorkelling lagoon, a marine park with dolphins and condos with pools. Avoid it in March.

You need a car in both towns, and each has a slow trolley that won't get you far. The difference is in what the car is for. In Panama City Beach you are driving up and down a 43km beach road, and once parked you can walk along the sand between beach accesses.

In Pigeon Forge you are queuing on the Parkway between attractions and driving into the mountains. The trolley does not reach the hillside cabins or the park trailheads.

Neither town offers fashion or luxury shopping, but the goods differ. Panama City Beach has Pier Park's chain stores, surf shops and huge beachwear warehouses with shark-mouth entrances. For something more individual, go to the boutiques in the 30A towns.

Pigeon Forge has outlet malls of mid-market brands, plus real mountain crafts. Look for quilts and stone-ground cornmeal near the Old Mill, and brooms, baskets and woodwork from the studios above Gatlinburg.

Costs come out about the same, and in both towns the trick is to avoid peak weeks and share a self-catering place. In Panama City Beach, condo rates drop sharply outside summer and spring break, and long winter stays are especially cheap.

In Pigeon Forge, a big cabin shared between families and cheap buffet breakfasts keep lodging and food costs down. Theme park tickets and dinner shows are what push the total up, while walking in the national park costs very little.

Pigeon Forge has far more shows to see. Dozens of Parkway theatres put on country and gospel revues, comedy, magic and dinner spectacles every night, and Dollywood has bluegrass on several stages. The style is sentimental and family-friendly, not serious art.

In Panama City Beach, live performance mostly means cover bands on beach-bar decks. Its only real stage is the restored historic theatre across the bay in Panama City.

Calm in Panama City Beach depends on the calendar, while in Pigeon Forge it depends on where you sleep. From autumn to spring the Gulf shore empties and a long sunset walk on near-deserted sand is the most restful thing the town offers. In summer and during spring break the same beach is loud and crowded.

Pigeon Forge's quiet is up on the hillsides, in wooded cabins with porches, rocking chairs, fireplaces and private hot tubs facing the ridges, well away from the neon and traffic of the Parkway. Each town has only a handful of resort and day spas, so choose the setting rather than the treatments.