Dallas or Memphis?

Neither city is a place for the water, and the sea is out of reach from both. Dallas at least has the big reservoirs, Lewisville and Grapevine among them, with sandy if rather plain park beaches for a summer swim. In Memphis the Mississippi is strictly for looking at, so cooling off means a hotel pool or a drive to a country lake.

Dallas has the broader table. Its brisket counters, Tex-Mex and steakhouses are matched by Vietnamese and Chinese strips in Richardson, a Koreatown in Carrollton and chef-led dining in the Design District and Bishop Arts, though almost all of it means driving.

Memphis is narrower but more singular. It does pork barbecue its own way, dry-rubbed ribs and pulled shoulder with slaw, plus odd local inventions like barbecue spaghetti, alongside catfish, soul food and Delta tamales. Come to eat deeply in one tradition rather than widely.

Memphis has the stronger sightseeing, built on two subjects of national importance. Graceland, Sun Studio and Stax cover the birth of rock and roll and soul, and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel is a moving visit on its own.

Dallas has one sight of comparable pull, the Sixth Floor Museum overlooking Dealey Plaza, plus a compact Arts District with the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher. Its Art Deco Fair Park is a fine extra, but the city around it is mostly towers and freeways.

The two are about even for a night out, but they are shaped differently. Dallas spreads its evenings across several districts, from scruffy Deep Ellum to the polished patio bars of Uptown and McKinney Avenue, with a ride-hail between them and a firm 2am finish.

Memphis concentrates its noise on Beale Street, where you can carry a drink from bar to bar in a loud, touristy party crowd. Locals prefer the calmer bars of Overton Square and Cooper-Young in Midtown.

Both sit in flat country without hills, so nature means parks, trails and water rather than scenery. Memphis has the more memorable moments: walking across the Mississippi on the Big River Crossing, sunsets from the bluffs and the bison of Shelby Farms Park.

Dallas offers the Katy Trail, the White Rock Lake loop and the Great Trinity Forest, with real hiking on the limestone escarpments of Cedar Ridge Preserve and sailing on the reservoirs.

Dallas's best outing is a second city, while Memphis's is a whole region. Fort Worth, under an hour west and reachable by train, fills a day on its own: longhorns and old saloons at the Stockyards, then the Kimbell Art Museum in Louis Kahn's building. Grapevine's tasting rooms and the courthouse squares of McKinney and Denton are good for a second or third day.

Memphis looks south down Highway 61 into the Delta, to the juke joints of Clarksdale and the markers of the Mississippi Blues Trail. Faulkner's house in Oxford and Elvis's birthplace in Tupelo are also within reach. The towns are small, so these trips suit music and literary pilgrims more than anyone wanting a change of city.

Dallas is much the easier city with children. Six Flags Over Texas and its water park, the Dallas and Fort Worth zoos, the Perot Museum and an aquarium with a rainforest walk give days of choice, and the State Fair fills Fair Park every autumn.

Memphis has a good zoo in Overton Park, the Children's Museum, the Pink Palace planetarium and the Peabody ducks, enough for a few days. After that its great museums on music and civil rights speak more to teenagers than to small children.

Both are car cities, and in both most visitors hire one or rely on ride-hailing. Dallas has the more useful public transport, with DART light rail from both airports and the TRE train to Fort Worth. Memphis has the more walkable core, where Beale Street, the riverfront, the Civil Rights Museum and South Main sit close together along the Main Street trolley.

Dallas is a genuine shopping city, built around the Neiman Marcus tradition. NorthPark Center, the 1930s Spanish-style Highland Park Village and the Galleria cover luxury labels, and Western wear, from everyday boots to custom hats, is the local speciality worth bringing home.

Memphis has little to compare. The best finds are vinyl from independent record shops and some vintage and local art in Cooper-Young and Broad Avenue, while mainstream shopping lies out in suburban malls.

Costs are broadly similar, with Memphis a touch kinder on the wallet. Its hotels and barbecue lunches come cheaply, though Graceland's admission and the spring festivals push spending up. Dallas has inexpensive tacos and free museums but pricier Uptown hotels and steakhouses, and in both cities a hire car, tax and tips add steadily to the bill.

The two are close, but they excel at different things. Dallas has the grander concert halls: the I. M. Pei Meyerson Symphony Center, the Winspear Opera House and the Wyly Theatre form one of the country's most striking arts clusters, with Deep Ellum's clubs for rock and blues.

Memphis lives on roots music. Beale Street house bands play blues and soul from the afternoon, and free summer concerts at the Levitt Shell in Overton Park make an easy evening. The Orpheum, the symphony and the ballet are there, but the city's draw is in the clubs.

Neither city is built for rest, but Dallas gives more ways to unwind. Its large Korean-style bathhouse, with heated rooms and pools for a whole day of lounging, has no equal in Memphis, and the big hotels in Uptown run polished spas.

In Memphis, relaxing means a hotel or suburban day spa, or simply an early walk in Overton Park and an evening on the bluffs above the river.