Branson or Pensacola?

Branson's swimming comes from Table Rock Lake. In summer the water is clear and warm at a few public swim areas, many on imported sand, and from rented pontoons in quiet coves. It is a seasonal extra rather than a reason to go, and Lake Taneycomo by the town is too cold to swim in at any time of year.

In Pensacola the beach is the main event. Pensacola Beach and the Gulf Islands National Seashore offer miles of very white sand and warm, usually gentle water, Perdido Key is quieter, and the sound side has shallow water for toddlers. The only caveat is rip currents on rough days.

Branson eats for fuel. Expect fried chicken, catfish and barbecue at buffets and family restaurants, chains along Highway 76 and set meals in the dinner theatres. The best Ozark tastes are fresh trout, skillet cooking and cinnamon bread at the theme park.

Pensacola gives you more to look forward to. Raw and chargrilled oysters, royal red shrimp and grouper sandwiches are eaten on the waterfront, and downtown around Palafox Street has modern Southern cooking, craft breweries and a Saturday market. It is not a food destination, but meals here are part of the pleasure.

Pensacola has real history to show. Spanish, French, British, Confederate and American rule have left their mark on the colonial and Victorian houses of the Seville district and Plaza Ferdinand. Brick Fort Pickens stands at the tip of Santa Rosa Island, and the National Naval Aviation Museum's huge aircraft collection is worth a full day.

Branson offers entertainment rather than heritage. Its sights are wax museums and novelty galleries on the strip and a few old brick blocks downtown. The closest it comes to substance is the frontier crafts shown at the 1880s-themed park and the eclectic Ralph Foster Museum at College of the Ozarks.

Pensacola has an actual night out. Pubs, cocktail bars and rooftop terraces cluster along Palafox Street and in the Seville Quarter, sand-floored beach bars stay lively in summer, and the rowdy roadhouse on the state line at Perdido Key is a fixture. There are few clubs, and it goes quiet early out of season.

In Branson the evening is the show itself. Once the theatres empty, the families and older couples head back to their rooms, leaving only a few brewpubs by the lakefront.

The two are equally rewarding outdoors, but the landscapes could hardly be more different. Branson is hill country: forested Ozark ridges, limestone bluffs, caves, walks through Hercules Glades and wooded coves on Table Rock Lake for kayaking and bass fishing. The Buffalo National River's bluffs and canoeing are two hours away, and autumn turns the hills red and gold.

Pensacola has no hills at all. Its outdoors are dunes, salt marsh and water, with herons, ospreys and dolphins along the seashore's boardwalks and bike path, a sunken aircraft carrier for experienced divers and clear, sand-bottomed canoeing on the Blackwater River.

Both have a short list of worthwhile outings, all by car, but they head in different directions. From Branson the highlights are inland and cultural: the Victorian spa town of Eureka Springs on its steep streets, Crystal Bridges' American art in the woods at Bentonville and the Civil War battlefield near Springfield.

From Pensacola you follow the coast. Mobile has antebellum streets, Mardi Gras heritage and a battleship museum, Fairhope and Fort Morgan sit around Mobile Bay, and the resort towns of Destin and Seaside lie to the east, though they are mostly more beach.

Branson is designed for children from end to end. There is a roller-coaster theme park in the hills, water parks, an aquarium, a paddlewheel showboat, zip lines and go-karts, and theatre shows that are wholesome by design. Hotels and restaurants all expect children too.

Pensacola works well for a beach-centred family week, with calm sound-side water, condos with kitchens, aircraft at the naval museum, Fort Pickens' tunnels and the lighthouse climb. Once those are done there is little else, and nothing like a theme park.

You will need a hire car in both. In Branson, hotels and theatres are spread along several hilly kilometres of Highway 76, where evening traffic crawls and locals escape onto the colour-coded back roads. Only Branson Landing and the small old downtown are walkable.

Pensacola has a slightly better walkable core: downtown around Palafox Street and the historic district are compact and pleasant on foot, and a free trolley runs along the beach strip in season. Still, the beach, the naval air station and Perdido Key are separated by bridges and highways.

Neither is a shopping destination, but the buys are different. Branson has outlet malls on the strip, mainstream stores at Branson Landing and its most distinctive souvenirs: hand-blown glass, quilts, pottery and ironwork, often made in front of you. Pensacola is better for a slow browse through Palafox Street's independent boutiques, antique shops and Saturday market, plus swimwear on the island.

Overall the two cost about the same, but the money goes in different places. In Branson, motels, condos and buffets are good value, while show tickets, theme park entry and boat hire add up quickly, though show-and-hotel packages help. In Pensacola the big cost is a beachfront room in summer. The naval aviation museum is free, the seashore costs little and island prices fall sharply out of season. Both need a hire car.

Branson exists for live shows. Dozens of theatres put on country and bluegrass acts, gospel quartets, tribute shows, magicians and large biblical productions with live animals from morning to evening, and Christmas is as busy as summer. The style is narrow, wholesome and old-fashioned, with no opera and little serious theatre.

Pensacola has fewer stages but a wider range. The restored 1925 Saenger Theatre hosts the symphony, opera, ballet and touring shows, but on a regional scale. It makes a nice evening out, not a reason to go.

Neither has a spa or bathing tradition, so in both 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 strip. In Pensacola it means the day spas in beach hotels and the empty sand of the island and Perdido Key outside the summer peak.