Dallas or Nashville?

Neither city is a place to plan a beach trip around, but Nashville makes a little more of its water. Percy Priest Lake and Old Hickory Lake are on the edge of town, with small swimming areas, and locals spend hot weekends on pontoon boats, which gives a visitor an easy summer afternoon.

The swimming lakes around Dallas, such as Lewisville, Grapevine and Ray Hubbard, are further out and have plain, muddy-brown shores, and White Rock Lake is not for swimming. Most visitors cool off in a hotel pool or at the Arlington water parks, and the Gulf coast is too far away for a day out.

The two cities are about even for food, but the cooking is different. Dallas eats Texan: brisket sold by weight, Tex-Mex with frozen margaritas, steakhouses and taco trucks in Oak Cliff. Its suburbs add a wider spread of Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and South Asian cooking than Nashville has.

Nashville's food is Southern, built around hot chicken and the meat-and-three cafeteria, with biscuits, barbecue and Tennessee whiskey alongside. Its chef-led restaurants in East Nashville and Germantown are close to the centre, while the best of Dallas's range means driving out to Richardson or Carrollton.

Each city fills a couple of days of sightseeing, but the subjects differ. Dallas leans on history and fine art: the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher Sculpture Center side by side in the Arts District, and the Art Deco exhibition halls of Fair Park.

Nashville's sights are mostly about music, led by the Country Music Hall of Fame and the National Museum of African American Music. The Parthenon replica in Centennial Park and the plantations of the Hermitage and Belle Meade cover the rest, including the region's harder past. Neither city has many old streets to wander.

Nashville is the better night out by some distance. Lower Broadway's honky-tonks, with a band on every floor and doors open to the street, run as one long party at weekends, and East Nashville has a calmer round of dive bars and cocktail lounges.

In Dallas the evening is split across separate districts, from scruffy Deep Ellum to polished Uptown and Lower Greenville, and you take a ride-hail between them rather than walking one strip. The scene is sociable and varied but not a reason to travel, and last orders at 2am bring the night to a firm end.

Nashville sits in greener, hillier country, and that shows. Radnor Lake's reserve with its deer and owls, the forest walks of the Warner Parks, an easy paddle on the Harpeth River and the Natchez Trace Parkway for cycling are all within easy reach.

Dallas is flat prairie by comparison. The Katy Trail, the White Rock Lake loop and the Great Trinity Forest are good for a run or ride in the city, and Cedar Ridge Preserve has the nearest real hiking. Summer heat above 35°C pushes most of it into the early morning.

The day trips are just as good from either city, but they differ in kind. From Dallas the highlight is Fort Worth, a real city in its own right, with the longhorn drive at the Stockyards and the Kimbell Art Museum, and McKinney and Denton add their courthouse squares.

From Nashville the trips are to smaller towns and historic sites: Franklin's Main Street and its Civil War battlefields half an hour away, the village of Leiper's Fork, and the whiskey country around Lynchburg. Chattanooga is a stretch at about two hours each way.

Dallas has more for children, and some of it depends on the season. Every autumn the State Fair of Texas fills Fair Park with rides, and Klyde Warren Park downtown has a children's area with food trucks next to it. The catch is summer: from June to September the heat makes outdoor days hard, and most sightseeing has to move indoors.

Nashville works well with some planning. The zoo at Grassmere, the planetarium at the Adventure Science Center and the odd cars of the Lane Motor Museum are all good, the Parthenon impresses most children, and a water park by Percy Priest Lake and the city's splash pads help in the heat. These sights are well spread out, though, so expect a fair amount of driving between them, just as in Dallas.

Both are car cities, and in either one most visitors rent a car or rely on ride-hails. Dallas has the edge in rail: DART light rail runs from both airports to downtown, Deep Ellum and Fair Park, a commuter train goes to Fort Worth, and the vintage M-Line streetcar serves Uptown.

Nashville has only buses, but its downtown is more compact. Broadway, the Ryman, the Hall of Fame, the Gulch and the pedestrian bridge are all a short walk apart, so a weekend spent in the centre needs few rides.

Dallas is the better shopping city, especially for luxury. Highland Park Village gathers the European fashion houses in a 1930s Spanish-style setting, the large malls carry every major label, and Western boots are sold everywhere from everyday shops to custom makers.

Nashville's shopping has a theme: boots, hats and rhinestone shirts on Lower Broadway, vintage guitars, letterpress concert posters, and record shops in 12 South and East Nashville. It is more fun for music fans, but the big-name and luxury stores are out in the suburban malls.

Dallas is the cheaper city to visit. Hotels away from Uptown and downtown cost noticeably less, and barbecue counters, taco trucks and free or low-cost museums keep daily spending down, although a hire car is hard to avoid.

Nashville's downtown hotels are expensive, especially at weekends when groups arrive, and meals and drinks cost what they do in other big cities. The music is the saving: Broadway has no cover charge and bands play from late morning. Staying midweek and eating at hot chicken counters also helps.

Nashville is far ahead here, since live music is why most people go. The Grand Ole Opry plays several nights a week, and the Ryman has its pews and famous acoustics. Add the songwriter nights in small rooms and bluegrass near the Gulch, and few cities can match the scene, with the Schermerhorn Symphony Center for classical music.

Dallas has the grander formal setting, with I. M. Pei's Meyerson for the symphony and the Winspear for opera, and Deep Ellum's clubs keep blues, rock and hip-hop going. It is a solid evening out rather than a reason to make the trip.

Neither city is built for rest, but Dallas has a little more for it. Beyond the hotel spas of Uptown, a large Korean-style bathhouse in the north of the city, with heated rooms, pools and all-day lounging, is a real place to unwind, and White Rock Lake makes for a slow morning.

In Nashville the choice is hotel spas and day spas, and downtown is all noise and late nights. For a calmer stay, base yourself in leafy Belmont or Hillsboro, with porch-front cafés and quiet parks.