Dallas or San Antonio?

Neither city is a beach destination, and the Gulf is too far from both for a day trip. San Antonio has the more appealing alternative. The clear, cool, spring-fed Comal and San Marcos rivers are under an hour away and make a good summer afternoon of tubing, and the Hill Country has swimming holes beneath limestone bluffs.

Dallas has the big reservoirs, Lewisville, Grapevine and Ray Hubbard, with warm water and sandy park beaches but brownish shores. For most visitors, cooling off there means the hotel pool or the Arlington water parks.

The two cities eat well in different ways. San Antonio is the home of Tex-Mex: breakfast tacos in handmade flour tortillas, puffy tacos and Sunday barbacoa, best in the family places of the West and South Sides, with the Pearl for its farmers' market. Dallas offers brisket, steakhouses and the frozen margarita, then goes well beyond Texas with the Vietnamese and Chinese strips of Richardson, Koreatown in Carrollton and the South Asian cooking of Irving.

For one cuisine eaten where it comes from, choose San Antonio. For variety over a longer stay, choose Dallas, though almost all of it means driving.

San Antonio has more history to walk through. The Alamo stands in the middle of downtown, and the missions of San José, Concepción, San Juan and Espada line the river to the south. Together they form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the cathedral, the Governor's Palace and the King William mansions close by.

Dallas has one sight of world interest, the Sixth Floor Museum on Dealey Plaza. It also has a strong group of art museums in the Arts District and the Art Deco halls of Fair Park. In between it is mostly glass towers and freeways, so it lacks the old streets that make San Antonio pleasant to explore.

Dallas has the bigger and more varied night out. On the same weekend you can choose between the dive bars and late crowds of Deep Ellum, the polished patios and cocktail lounges of Uptown, and the rooftops of Lower Greenville.

San Antonio is gentler. There are margaritas on the River Walk, beer gardens at the Pearl, old icehouses in Southtown and on the St. Mary's Strip, and Tejano dance halls for something local. Both cities stop serving at 2am, but San Antonio usually winds down well before then.

San Antonio sits on the edge of the Hill Country, and that makes the difference. Limestone hills, cypress-lined rivers, the trails of Government Canyon and caverns such as Natural Bridge are all within easy reach, and the paved Mission Reach path makes a long ride along the river.

Dallas is surrounded by flat prairie and woodland. The Great Trinity Forest, White Rock Lake and the Katy Trail are good for a run or a ride, and Cedar Ridge Preserve has the nearest proper hiking, but little of it would draw a visitor on its own.

Each city has one standout trip and a string of smaller towns. From Dallas the best day out is Fort Worth, a very different city that you can reach by commuter train. It has the longhorn drive at the Stockyards and the Kimbell in its Louis Kahn building. After that come the courthouse squares of McKinney and Denton and the wineries of Grapevine.

San Antonio's trips are more about the countryside: the German towns of Fredericksburg, Gruene and Boerne, the wine roads, the LBJ Ranch, and Austin about an hour and a half away. Its list is a little longer, though almost all of it needs a car.

Both cities are easy with children, but San Antonio has more within reach. SeaWorld and Six Flags Fiesta Texas sit on its edges, Morgan's Wonderland is built for children with disabilities, and Brackenridge Park holds the zoo and the Witte's dinosaurs. River Walk boat rides and summer tubing fill the remaining days.

Dallas has Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, its own zoo and Fort Worth's, the Perot Museum and the aquarium's rainforest walk, plus the State Fair each autumn. Days there involve more time in the car.

Neither city is easy without a car, but San Antonio is simpler if you stay downtown. Its compact centre is linked by the shaded River Walk, and the river path makes cycling out to the missions a pleasure.

Dallas has the real rail network, which San Antonio lacks. DART light rail runs from both airports to downtown, Deep Ellum and Fair Park, and the TRE goes to Fort Worth. Even so, its sights are miles apart along freeways. Outside the walkable area of downtown, the Arts District and Uptown, you will be driving or using ride-hailing.

Dallas is the shopping city of the two, with a taste for luxury that grew up around Neiman Marcus, founded here in 1907. NorthPark Center, the open-air Spanish-style Highland Park Village and the Galleria cover the big labels. Western wear ranges from everyday boot shops to high-end custom makers.

The most distinctive buys in San Antonio are Mexican crafts at El Mercado in Market Square, from embroidered dresses to papel picado, and there are artists' studios in La Villita. Beyond that it is malls and outlets, useful but not a reason to come.

Costs are much the same in both, and in either city a hire car, sales tax and tipping add up. San Antonio is slightly easier on the purse. Its many convention hotels keep rooms moderate away from the river, tacos and barbecue are cheap, and the missions are free.

Dallas has cheaper rooms near the freeways and free or low-cost museums. But Uptown hotels, steakhouses and cocktail bars quickly push up the cost of a stay.

Dallas has more on stage. The Arts District groups the Meyerson, designed by I. M. Pei and home to the symphony, with the Winspear for opera and Broadway and the Wyly Theatre. Deep Ellum, a blues and jazz district since the 1920s, has bands in its clubs most nights.

San Antonio's formal programme centres on the Tobin Center and the 1929 Majestic Theatre, with summer shows at the riverside Arneson. Its strength is local character: conjunto and Tejano accordion music in the dance halls and at Fiesta, and mariachi around Market Square.

Neither city is built around rest, and in both, a spa usually means a hotel spa. The difference is in kind. Dallas has a large Korean-style bathhouse in the north with heated rooms and all-day lounging. San Antonio's answer is a Hill Country resort with golf and a spa, or a quiet hour by the ponds of the Japanese Tea Garden.