Pensacola or Pigeon Forge?

Beaches are what Pensacola is for. Pensacola Beach and the protected seashore on Santa Rosa Island give you long runs of very white sand and clear green water. The calm sound side and quieter Perdido Key add variety, though rip currents call for attention on rough days.

Pigeon Forge is in the Tennessee foothills, so beaches play no part in a stay there. Swimming means the shores of Douglas Lake, rock pools in mountain streams, or the water park beside Dollywood.

Pensacola eats better, mainly thanks to the Gulf: chargrilled oysters, royal red shrimp and grouper in casual places on the water, plus modern Southern cooking and breweries around Palafox Street. It is still narrow, with little international food and plenty of chains on the beach strip.

Pigeon Forge goes for quantity. Expect pancake houses, buffets of fried chicken and cobbler, and family steakhouses along the Parkway. Moonshine tastings and fudge are about as local as it gets. For a serious meal, you drive to Knoxville or Asheville.

Pensacola has a real past to explore. As the City of Five Flags, it has colonial and Victorian houses around Plaza Ferdinand, the brick Fort Pickens on the island and the vast National Naval Aviation Museum. That is two or three days of sights.

Pigeon Forge's attractions are made for entertainment: a half-scale Titanic, illusion museums and car collections. The 1830 Old Mill is the one genuine historic building. For mountain history, head into the national park to see the log cabins and churches.

Pensacola has an actual night out. You can go from pub to cocktail bar to rooftop around Palafox Street and the Seville Quarter, or try the sand-floored beach bars and the rowdy roadhouse on the Alabama line. There are few clubs, though, and things go quiet early outside summer weekends.

Pigeon Forge's evenings are aimed at families, with go-karts and lit-up attractions until around ten. Adults who want a drink end up in a brewpub, a moonshine tasting room or Gatlinburg's bars.

Pigeon Forge has the stronger outdoors, thanks to the Great Smoky Mountains next door. The forested ridges climb above 2,000m, with trails to waterfalls and summits, bears and deer in Cades Cove, wildflowers in spring and blazing colour in October.

Pensacola's nature is flat and watery. You get dunes and salt marsh on the seashore, herons and dolphins from the boardwalks, clear-water canoeing on the Blackwater River and a sunken aircraft carrier for experienced divers. It is good for paddling and wildlife, but there are no hills at all.

Both towns offer a few good outings by car before the list runs thin, but the outings are very different. From Pensacola you get Gulf Coast towns: old Mobile and its Mardi Gras heritage, Fairhope across the bay, and the beach resorts of Destin and Seaside. From Pigeon Forge you get mountain towns and a city: the craft studios of Gatlinburg, Knoxville's Market Square, Cherokee over Newfound Gap, and the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, which is the best full day out.

Pigeon Forge is the more complete family vacation. Dollywood and its water park anchor the trip, with mountain coasters, zip lines, mini-golf and big group cabins around them. Easy waterfall walks and bear spotting in the park help too. The catch is slow traffic on the Parkway in busy seasons.

Pensacola is excellent for a simpler beach week. It has shallow, calm water on the sound side for toddlers, condos with kitchens, and the aviation museum and Blue Angels for children who love planes. Beyond that there are few big attractions and no theme park.

You need a car in both towns, and neither one helps much without it. In Pensacola, the compact downtown and historic district are pleasant on foot and a seasonal trolley runs along the beach. The island, Perdido Key and the naval air station are all drives apart.

Pigeon Forge is one long multi-lane strip, and you only walk inside each attraction complex. The Parkway trolley is slow, and the national park trailheads are reachable only by car.

Neither town is worth the trip for shopping, but they offer different things. Pensacola has a few independent boutiques, antique shops and the Saturday market on Palafox Street, plus a regular mall and swimwear stores on the beach. Pigeon Forge has more for bargain hunters: large outlet centres along the Parkway, plus pottery, quilts and stone-ground cornmeal at the Old Mill and handmade crafts in the studios above Gatlinburg.

Costs work out about the same, but the money goes on different things. In Pensacola, beachfront rooms in summer are the big expense, and staying inland or travelling out of season cuts the bill sharply. The aviation museum is free and the seashore costs little. In Pigeon Forge, lodging is cheap, especially a large cabin shared between families, but theme park tickets, dinner shows and paid activities soon add up. In both places, budget for a hire car.

Pigeon Forge has more live entertainment. Dozens of Parkway theatres stage country and gospel revues, comedy, magic and dinner shows every night, and Dollywood has bluegrass on several stages. It is sentimental and family-friendly, with nothing classical.

Pensacola's offer is smaller but covers more types of performance. The restored 1925 Saenger Theatre hosts the symphony, opera, ballet and touring productions, and there are a community theatre and a few bars with bands.

Neither town has a spa culture, so in both of them relaxing depends on where you stay. In Pensacola, you unwind on the slow, uncrowded stretches of the island and Perdido Key outside summer. In Pigeon Forge, you rent a wooded cabin high above the strip, with a porch, fireplace and private hot tub looking across the ridges.