Pigeon Forge or Rehoboth Beach?

This is where the two differ most. Rehoboth Beach is a seaside town first and foremost. It has a broad stretch of pale sand with lifeguards in front of the boardwalk, quieter dunes at Cape Henlopen and Delaware Seashore, and an ocean warm enough for proper swimming in July and August.

Pigeon Forge is deep in the Tennessee hills. Swimming there means Douglas Lake, rock pools in mountain streams, the Dollywood water park or a hotel pool. These are fine for cooling off, but you would not plan a trip around them.

Rehoboth Beach eats noticeably better. Rehoboth Avenue has a cluster of serious restaurants, and the Mid-Atlantic shore supplies steamed blue crabs, raw bars and vinegar-soaked boardwalk fries. A well-known Delaware brewery started here, so craft beer is part of the meal.

In Pigeon Forge, food is about filling up. Pancake breakfasts, Southern buffets and barbecue sit among the chains, with moonshine tastings and Old Mill fudge as the local touches. For a memorable dinner, people drive to Knoxville or Asheville.

Neither town is a place to go for history or museums, and they are thin on culture in different ways. Pigeon Forge's sights are made to entertain: the half-scale Titanic, the illusion museums and the car collections. The Old Mill of 1830, still grinding flour on the river, and the craft demonstrations at Dollywood give a glimpse of real Appalachian heritage. For more history, people drive into the national park to see the old log cabins and the pioneer churches.

In Rehoboth the past is quieter. You will find Methodist camp-meeting cottages on shady streets and the Rehoboth Art League's galleries set in a garden. Visitors who want more history go to Lewes or to the wartime watchtowers at Cape Henlopen.

After dark, Rehoboth Beach has much more going on for adults. In summer its piano lounges, drag nights and LGBTQ bars around Baltimore Avenue fill up, and Dewey Beach next door has large outdoor deck bars for a younger, louder crowd. Even so, there are few real clubs, and the scene mostly shuts down after the season.

Pigeon Forge's nights are made for families. People go to go-karts and the lit-up complexes until about ten, and drinking means a sports bar or a moonshine tasting room. Adults who want a proper bar usually drive to Gatlinburg.

Pigeon Forge has far grander scenery within reach. The Great Smoky Mountains rise above 2,000m. You can do the short walk to Laurel Falls or the hard climb to Mount LeConte, drive to Clingmans Dome, and see bears and turkeys along the Cades Cove loop. In spring there are wildflowers, and in autumn the woods change colour.

Rehoboth's outdoors are low and coastal. It has the tall dunes at Cape Henlopen, salt marsh, flat cycling to Lewes and kayaking on the inland bays. You might spot dolphins offshore, and Assateague's ponies are about an hour away. It is relaxing rather than thrilling.

The two have a similar range of outings, but in different settings. From Pigeon Forge the trips run through mountains and Southern towns. You can visit Gatlinburg's craft studios, Knoxville's Market Square, Cherokee across Newfound Gap, and best of all Asheville with the Biltmore Estate.

From Rehoboth the trips follow the coast. Lewes and its harbour are ten minutes away, the ferry crosses to Victorian Cape May, Ocean City has a louder boardwalk, and Berlin's main street is quieter. Both lists need a car.

Pigeon Forge has a slight edge with children, because the whole town is organised around them. Dollywood offers coasters, crafts and seasonal festivals, alongside a water park, mountain coasters and zip lines. Big cabins and indoor water-park hotels are designed for large groups. The downsides are a long drive between stops and heavy traffic at peak times.

Rehoboth is simpler and gentler. It has the old-fashioned rides at Funland, lifeguarded sand a short walk from the rental houses, and calm bay water at Cape Henlopen. Families with young children may find this easier, but there is little for them outside summer.

Getting around is much easier in Rehoboth Beach. Downtown, the boardwalk and the beach are all close together on a flat grid, bikes are everywhere, and a trail runs on to Lewes. A seasonal trolley covers Dewey and the outlets. The only real problems are arriving on a busy summer highway and finding parking.

Pigeon Forge is a multi-lane strip where a car is essential. The Parkway trolley is slow and does not reach the cabins on the hillsides, and the national park trailheads can only be reached by road.

Both towns have outlet malls, but Rehoboth Beach offers more variety. Delaware's lack of sales tax brings shoppers to the highway outlets, and Rehoboth Avenue adds independent boutiques, bookshops and galleries to the beachwear.

Pigeon Forge's outlets near Sevierville are similar. Otherwise the strip sells T-shirts and fudge. Its best buys are crafts, like Old Mill pottery and quilts, or brooms and woodwork from the studios above Gatlinburg.

Pigeon Forge is the cheaper stay. With thousands of motel rooms and cabins, a large group can share a lodge cheaply, and buffets keep meals inexpensive. The money goes on theme park tickets, dinner shows and petrol.

Rehoboth is a prosperous beach town, and summer weekends near the sand are expensive for lodging, meals and parking. The beach is free, though, and in spring and autumn rooms cost far less.

Pigeon Forge has much more live entertainment. Dozens of theatres on the Parkway stage country and gospel revues, magic shows and dinner spectacles with horses or pirate ships every night, and Dollywood has bluegrass on several stages. All of it is broad family fare. For serious theatre, you go to Knoxville.

Rehoboth's performances are smaller and mostly in summer. There are free concerts at the bandstand, musicals and cabaret from a local company, piano acts in the bars and a film festival in autumn.

Neither has a spa culture beyond a few day spas, so rest comes from the setting. In Pigeon Forge it means a cabin high on the ridge, with a porch, a fireplace and a private hot tub, far above the neon of the Parkway. In Rehoboth it means the quieter shoulder months, with empty boardwalk walks and bike rides under the pines in June and September. The beach town's high summer is as noisy as the Tennessee strip.