Austin or Galveston?

Austin is far inland, three hours or more from the Gulf, so swimming here means Barton Springs Pool at a cold 20°C, the gentler Deep Eddy, or boat days in the coves of Lake Travis. These make good summer afternoons, but they are not beach days.

Galveston comes out well ahead because it has the beach Austin lacks. There is sand along most of its 50km Gulf shore, from the busy Seawall stretch to the wider, quieter West End, and the sea is warm enough for long swims all summer. Expect murky brown-green water, seaweed in some years and rip currents beside the jetties, not a postcard coast.

Austin is much the better place to eat. Central Texas brisket smoked over post oak, breakfast tacos and Tex-Mex give it a food culture of its own. East Austin and South Congress have the more ambitious kitchens, and the barbecue towns of Lockhart and Luling are a short drive away.

Galveston's strength is Gulf seafood: oysters, shrimp and snapper eaten by the water, with po'boys that show the Louisiana influence along this coast. Apart from a few independent places around the Strand, much of the food is fried platters for beach crowds.

The two are close here, but their sights are of different kinds. Austin's best are indoors, in the museums around the University of Texas, from the Blanton's art collection to the Harry Ransom Center's Gutenberg Bible, along with the pink granite Capitol. It has few historic streets.

Galveston is the opposite. Its draw is the townscape of a rich 19th-century port: cast-iron shopfronts on the Strand, porch-lined houses in the East End, Bishop's Palace, the story of the 1900 storm, and the barque Elissa in the harbour. People who love architecture will prefer the island, and museum-goers will prefer Austin.

Austin is far ahead after dark. A large student population, warm nights and several distinct areas make going out part of the trip. You can choose between the crowded shot bars of Sixth Street, the bungalow yards of Rainey Street and the mezcal and dive bars of the east side. Clubs are few, though, and bars stop serving at 2am.

In Galveston a night out means a drink in a Strand pub or on a Seawall patio, and the island goes to bed early except on summer weekends. Mardi Gras is the one time it parties hard.

Austin has the more varied outdoors. The wooded canyon of the Barton Creek Greenbelt starts in town, and Lady Bird Lake is for kayaks and paddleboards. Enchanted Rock and Pedernales Falls are within two hours, and at dusk the bats pour out from under the Congress Avenue Bridge.

Galveston is all flat sand, marsh and bay, but it has one thing Austin cannot match: the spring migration, when Bolivar Flats and High Island fill with warblers, spoonbills and shorebirds. Fishing and paddling on the bay make up the rest.

Austin has the slightly better choice of outings. San Antonio, with the Alamo, the River Walk and its UNESCO-listed missions, is about an hour and a half away. The Hill Country adds Fredericksburg, a town founded by German settlers, with wineries along the road there, as well as Gruene and small towns such as Wimberley.

From Galveston most trips head north. Space Center Houston is the obvious one, Houston's Museum District and the Rothko Chapel are about an hour away, and Kemah and the San Jacinto Monument are on the way. In the other direction the free ferry crosses to Bolivar, but beyond these the coastal plain has little to see.

Austin is easy with children but has few big attractions. There is Zilker Park with its miniature train and Barton Springs Pool, the hands-on Thinkery and the IMAX screen at the Bullock museum. The theme parks are about an hour away in San Antonio and New Braunfels.

Galveston is built around family vacations. The pyramids at Moody Gardens hold an aquarium and an indoor rainforest for the hottest or wettest days. There is also a waterpark and a funfair on a Seawall pier, Stewart Beach has lifeguards and shallow water, and dolphins often follow the ferry.

Neither is easy without a car, but for different reasons. Austin is a spread-out city with buses, a single commuter rail line and heavy highway traffic. Only the core around downtown and Rainey Street is walkable, with bikes and scooters on the lakeside trail helping in the centre.

Galveston is a long, narrow island. The Strand is compact and walkable, a heritage trolley links it with parts of the Seawall, and cycling the flat seafront works outside high summer. Moody Gardens and the West End still need a car, and so does the journey from Houston's airports.

Austin gives shoppers more to do. South Congress Avenue has independent boutiques, vintage clothing, and the cowboy boots and pearl-snap shirts that make the best souvenirs. The east side adds small design stores, although the big brands are in a mall on the city's northern edge.

Galveston is for browsing antiques, galleries and sweet shops in the Victorian storefronts of the Strand, with T-shirts and shells along the Seawall. For anything more, people drive to Houston.

Neither is a bargain, since both come with American room rates, tips, sales tax and the cost of a car, but Galveston is easier on the budget. Austin's downtown hotels are priced like those of a big city and climb sharply during the music, film and motor racing weeks. Tacos, food trucks and free sights such as the Greenbelt keep the days cheaper.

Galveston has plenty of motels, mid-range hotels and rental beach houses, and its beaches are free. Weekdays and the cooler months are noticeably cheaper, and rooms cost most on summer weekends on the Seawall and during Mardi Gras.

This is where Austin is strongest and where the two differ most. Bands play every night, often with no cover, in the clubs of Red River and Sixth Street, the bars of South Congress and honky-tonks where couples two-step. The music runs from blues and indie to Texas country and conjunto. The formal arts at the Long Center are more modest.

Galveston's highlight is a show at the Grand 1894 Opera House, a restored Victorian theatre with touring musicals, concerts and the community symphony. Cover bands play on the beachfront patios. It makes a pleasant evening, but not a reason to come.

For a restful stay, Austin has more to offer. Its destination spa resorts on the shores of Lake Austin and in the Hill Country are the most restorative choice, with lake views and quiet grounds. Day spas across town and a strong yoga culture add to that. Away from the downtown bar streets the city feels easy-going, though anyone looking for thermal baths or a hammam will not find them.

Galveston has no spa tradition either, and treatments usually mean a massage at one of the larger resort hotels on the Seawall or by the bay. What the island really offers is a slow pace, with long bike rides along the seafront and quiet evenings in the porch-lined streets of the East End, away from the busy summer weekends.