Austin or Kansas City?

Neither city is a beach destination, but Austin's swimming is much better. Barton Springs Pool stays cold and clear all year and is the centre of summer life in Zilker Park. Deep Eddy is a calmer spring-fed alternative, and Lake Travis offers coves and boat days on warm water.

Kansas City has lake beaches in county parks on the edge of town, plus ordinary public and hotel pools. They are fine for an afternoon with children, but nothing to plan a trip around.

Both cities are known for barbecue, and the food is about equally good. It is a different kind of barbecue, though. Austin smokes brisket over post oak, sells it by weight on butcher paper, and adds Tex-Mex, breakfast tacos and food trucks in beer gardens. Lockhart, the barbecue town, is a short drive away.

Kansas City smokes over hickory, uses a thick, sweet sauce and is famous for burnt ends. It also has old steakhouses from its cattle-town days and immigrant food counters around the River Market. In both cities the best eating is casual, and fine dining is limited.

Kansas City has more worth seeing. The Nelson-Atkins is a major art museum with especially strong Chinese art, the National WWI Museum is the country's main museum of that war, and 18th and Vine tells African American history through baseball and jazz. Union Station and the Spanish-style Country Club Plaza give the city some architecture to look at as well.

Austin's highlights are the pink granite State Capitol and the museums around the university campus. The Ransom Center, with its Gutenberg Bible, is the one that stands out. There is little historic architecture beyond that, so it makes a pleasant day or two rather than a reason to visit.

Going out is central to an Austin trip in a way it isn't in Kansas City. Sixth Street, the bars in Rainey Street's old bungalows and the east side's mezcal bars and beer gardens are all close together. The student crowd keeps them busy through the week, and the spring and autumn festival weeks turn the whole centre into one long party.

Kansas City's bars are split between separate districts: the sports bars of Power and Light, the scruffier Westport strip and the calmer craft-beer bars of the Crossroads. You need a ride between them, and away from Friday and Saturday the city goes quiet early.

Austin sits on the edge of the limestone Hill Country, and the outdoors starts in town. The Barton Creek Greenbelt runs through a wooded canyon with climbing walls, and kayaks and paddleboards fill Lady Bird Lake. Bats pour out from under the Congress Avenue Bridge at dusk, and Enchanted Rock and Pedernales Falls are within a couple of hours.

Around Kansas City the land is rolling prairie and farmland, so the outdoors means large city parks such as Swope Park, the rose garden in Loose Park, and reservoirs for fishing. For real hiking country you have to drive several hours to the Ozarks.

Austin has much better day trips. San Antonio is about an hour and a half south and has the Alamo, the River Walk and its UNESCO-listed Spanish missions. Fredericksburg, a town founded by German settlers, has wineries along the road there, and Gruene's old dance hall makes an easy stop.

From Kansas City the outings are smaller and closer: Truman's home and library in Independence, the university town of Lawrence, and the old river town of Weston. They make pleasant half days rather than memorable ones. From either city you need a car.

Kansas City has more for children right in town. Worlds of Fun is a full amusement park with a water park next door, and the zoo is large. Science City, an aquarium and a Legoland Discovery Centre are all close together around Union Station and Crown Center.

Austin is relaxed and easy with children: Zilker Park's miniature train, the Thinkery and the bat flight are reliable hits. For theme parks and big waterparks, though, you have to drive to San Antonio or New Braunfels.

Both are car cities, and in both you will be driving to most things. In Austin the walkable part is downtown, the Capitol area and Rainey Street, with bikes, scooters and the lakeside trail for short trips. The main highway through town gets heavily congested at peak hours.

Kansas City's highways move easily and parking is simple. Its streetcar along Main Street links the River Market, downtown, Union Station and Crown Center, so if you stay near the line you can manage a day or two without a car.

There is little to separate the two, and neither is a place for serious fashion. Austin's best buys are cowboy boots, pearl-snap shirts and vintage clothing from the independent shops on South Congress. Its luxury brands are in a mall on the northern edge of town.

Kansas City's centrepiece is the Country Club Plaza, a 1920s district of tiled towers that is mostly chain and upmarket stores. The Crossroads and 39th Street add galleries, record shops and thrift stores, and the typical souvenir is a bottle of barbecue sauce.

Kansas City is the cheaper of the two. Hotel rooms, even downtown, cost noticeably less, parking is easy, and general entry to the Nelson-Atkins is free. You will probably still need to hire a car, and tickets to the theme park and the zoo add up for a family.

Austin's downtown hotels charge big-city rates, and during the big festival and racing weeks prices rise sharply and rooms sell out. Car hire and parking add to the bill. Tacos, food trucks and free outings such as the Greenbelt and the bat flight help keep the daily spend down.

Austin is the stronger choice for live music, and its scene is broader. Several bands a night play the clubs on Red River and Sixth Street, often with no cover charge, and in the honky-tonks couples two-step to Texas country. The festival weeks bring in hundreds of acts at once.

Kansas City's music is jazz, the style of Count Basie and Charlie Parker, played in small clubs with late jam sessions. It is better than Austin for formal arts, with the symphony, opera and ballet at the Kauffman Center and summer musicals at the open-air Starlight Theatre.

Austin is the more restful choice. It has a strong yoga culture, shaded patios and destination spa resorts on Lake Austin and out in the Hill Country, where you can spend a few quiet days by the water.

In Kansas City, wellness mostly means hotel and suburban day spas. The old mineral-water resort of Excelsior Springs, forty minutes north, is the nearest thing to a spa town. Neither city has thermal baths or a hammam.