Branson or Gulf Shores?

Here the gap is wide. Gulf Shores has a continuous strand of squeaky white sand from Fort Morgan to the Florida line, with dune-backed stretches in Gulf State Park and warm, clear green water for half the year. Rip currents are the one real caution.

Branson's swimming happens at Table Rock Lake, at brought-in sand beaches and from rented pontoons in quiet coves. It is pleasant in the summer months but is an extra, not a reason to go, and the cold water of Lake Taneycomo in town is for trout rather than people.

Neither town has fine dining, but Gulf Shores eats better because it has the Gulf on its doorstep: Royal Red shrimp, chargrilled oysters, snapper and gumbo with a Louisiana accent, served at open-air shacks with a water view. A condo kitchen and the seafood markets let you cook your own catch.

Branson feeds its visitors on fried chicken, barbecue, buffets and dinner-theatre set meals along Highway 76. Its distinctive flavours are small Ozark ones such as skillet cooking, cinnamon bread, fudge and lake trout.

Both are thin on heritage, but Branson has a little more to look at. The 1880s-themed park keeps Ozark crafts alive with blacksmiths and glassblowers at work, and the eclectic Ralph Foster Museum at College of the Ozarks is worth an hour. Its wax museums and novelty galleries on the strip are fun rather than substantial.

Gulf Shores has one real sight, the brick star fort at Fort Morgan from the 1864 Battle of Mobile Bay, and a small local museum. For historic streets you have to leave town.

In Gulf Shores a night out means sandy open-air decks, frozen drinks and live bands, with the legendary roadhouse on the Perdido Key state line staying loud until late and a few beach-strip bars open late in summer. It is casual and flip-flop friendly, with no clubs.

Branson's evening ends when the curtain comes down. A few brewpubs at the lakefront shopping district and some hotel lounges are about all there is, and the families and older couples who make up the crowd head back to their rooms early.

Branson has the more varied scenery: forested Ozark ridges, limestone bluffs, clear streams and show caves, with good walking on the Lakeshore Trail and in Hercules Glades Wilderness. The Buffalo National River, about two hours south, adds towering bluffs and canoeing.

Gulf Shores is flat and watery. Its strengths are cycling the paved trails through Gulf State Park, spotting migrating birds at the western end of the peninsula, dolphin cruises, deep-sea fishing and paddling the bayous of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.

Gulf Shores has more within an easy drive. Mobile's ironwork balconies and the battleship USS Alabama, the bayside gardens of Fairhope and Pensacola's naval aviation museum are all about an hour away, and the car ferry to Dauphin Island makes a pleasant crossing.

From Branson the best outings take longer. Victorian Eureka Springs is an hour south, and Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, the strongest single sight in either region, is nearly two hours away.

Both are built for children, so choose by the kind of days you want. Branson keeps a family busy with a roller-coaster theme park, water parks, an aquarium, a paddlewheel showboat, caves and dinner shows with horses and stunts. It suits children who like a full timetable.

Gulf Shores is slower and centred on the sand: a condo with a pool, a sandcastle morning, then a water park, the Ferris wheel at Orange Beach or the Gulf State Park nature centre. The surf needs watching, while in Branson the strip traffic in summer is the main nuisance.

You will need a car in both, and the difference is mainly in the layout. Branson spreads its theatres and hotels over hilly kilometres of Highway 76, where evening traffic crawls and locals use the colour-coded back roads. Gulf Shores runs in a long line along one beach road, where you can walk within a single stretch of beach and cycle inside Gulf State Park.

Branson has the more interesting things to bring home: hand-blown glass, pottery, quilts and ironwork from Ozark craftspeople, often made while you watch. The lakeside Branson Landing district and the outlet malls cover mainstream brands.

Gulf Shores is mostly beachwear emporiums and fishing shops, with the large outlet mall in Foley as the rainy-day trip and no local craft scene.

Overall the costs are similar, but they come from different places. In Branson rooms, motels and lake cabins are cheap, and the spending goes on show tickets, theme park entry and boat hire, though show and hotel packages help.

Gulf Shores costs more for beachfront condos in June and July, but the beaches and state park trails are free, a condo kitchen keeps meals down, and winter rentals fall sharply in price.

This is Branson's strongest suit. Dozens of theatres put on country, bluegrass, gospel, tribute and variety shows from morning to evening, and there are large biblical productions with live animals and a Christmas season as busy as summer. The range stops short of opera or serious drama.

Gulf Shores offers beach-bar bands, a long-running November songwriters' festival at the state-line roadhouse and touring acts at the Orange Beach amphitheatre in the warmer months.

Neither has a spa tradition, so in both towns the calm comes from where you stay. In Branson that means a lodge resort with a full spa on Table Rock Lake or a cabin on a wooded cove, well away from the neon of the strip. In Gulf Shores it is the pace itself, with quiet out-of-season weeks, a few day spas and sunsets from a condo balcony.