Dallas or Santa Fe?

Neither city is a beach destination, so the only difference is what takes the place of the sea. Dallas has large reservoirs to the north and west, such as Lewisville and Grapevine lakes, with sandy but plain park beaches, and the water parks in Arlington. From Santa Fe you can swim at Abiquiu Lake, about an hour north, or float the Rio Grande, which are scenic outings rather than a swim near town.

Both cities eat well, but in opposite ways. Dallas offers breadth: brisket sold by weight, Tex-Mex, steakhouses and taco trucks in Oak Cliff, and whole suburbs such as Richardson and Carrollton given over to Vietnamese, Chinese and Korean cooking.

Santa Fe offers depth in one regional cuisine. Its New Mexican cooking brings the question of red or green chile, blue corn and posole, alongside a fine-dining tier unusual for a town its size and a long-running farmers' market in the Railyard. Go to Santa Fe for a cuisine you will not find elsewhere, and to Dallas for variety, with a car to reach it.

Dallas has one sight that draws visitors from everywhere: the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, which tells the Kennedy story from the depository window. Add the Dallas Museum of Art and the Nasher in the Arts District and the 1930s Art Deco halls of Fair Park, and you have a solid list of stops. The glass and freeway centre between them gives you little reason to linger, though.

Santa Fe is the stronger choice, because the town itself is the sight. The low adobe streets around the Plaza, laid out as a Spanish colonial capital in 1610, hold the Palace of the Governors, the cathedral and the Loretto Chapel within a short stroll, and the O'Keeffe Museum and the Canyon Road galleries are close by. Museum Hill, with its folk art and Native American collections, is a short ride out of the centre.

Dallas is well ahead for going out. It has several distinct districts, from the dive bars and late crowds of Deep Ellum to the polished patio bars of Uptown, and even with last orders at 2am the night is a long one.

Santa Fe slows down after dinner. A typical evening ends with a rooftop drink as the sun sets over the Jemez Mountains, and the streets are quiet before midnight. Anyone who wants a club has to drive to Albuquerque.

This is the widest gap between the two. In Santa Fe, mountain trails start at the edge of town and climb to aspen slopes that turn gold in autumn, with the Pecos Wilderness beyond. Winter skiing, desert mesas and the Rio Grande Gorge are all within a drive.

Dallas has pleasant green corridors rather than scenery: the Katy Trail, the loop around White Rock Lake, the Great Trinity Forest and limestone walks at Cedar Ridge. Summer means early starts in both cities, but Dallas's flat prairie gives far less reason to set out.

Santa Fe has the richer surroundings. Taos Pueblo, the cliff dwellings at Bandelier, the High Road villages of Chimayo and Truchas, and the O'Keeffe country around Abiquiu each make a different kind of day out.

Dallas has one excellent outing in Fort Worth, with the Stockyards and the Kimbell, which you can reach by commuter train. After that come smaller courthouse towns such as McKinney and Granbury. Beyond their single rail links, both cities need a car for nearly every trip.

Beyond the theme park and the zoos, Dallas has easy ways to fill a day with children. Klyde Warren Park, built over a freeway downtown, has a play area and food trucks, and in autumn the State Fair of Texas fills Fair Park with rides and fried food. The catch is June to September, when the heat pushes plans indoors, and almost every outing starts in the car.

Santa Fe offers less, but some of it is unusual. The toys and miniatures in the folk art collection hold young children's attention better than most museums do, and in winter the small ski area gives lessons close to town. It is a safe, unhurried place, but children who want rides and big attractions will soon run out of things to do.

Neither city works well without a car, but Santa Fe is the easier of the two once you are there. The Plaza, Canyon Road, the cathedral and the Railyard are all within twenty minutes' walk of each other, so a day in town needs no car at all.

In Dallas the sights lie miles apart along freeways. DART light rail covers the airports, downtown, Deep Ellum and Fair Park, and the M-Line streetcar runs through Uptown, but most days still mean a hire car or ride-hails.

Both cities are good for shopping, but for different things. Dallas is the place for malls and luxury, from NorthPark Center to the European fashion houses of Highland Park Village, and its local speciality is Western boots and hats.

Santa Fe is about art and craft. You can buy silver and turquoise directly from Native American artists under the portal of the Palace of the Governors, browse the galleries of Canyon Road, or visit the big summer markets. Fashion shoppers will prefer Dallas, and collectors Santa Fe.

Dallas is the cheaper place to stay. Hotels near the freeways and in the suburbs are reasonably priced, barbecue and tacos give you good meals for little, and many museums are free.

Santa Fe charges resort rates around the Plaza, especially during the summer markets, the opera season and Christmas, and its restaurants are priced for well-off visitors. Free hiking and gallery browsing help, but in both cities a hire car adds to the bill.

Dallas has the fuller programme through the year. The symphony plays in I. M. Pei's Meyerson, the Winspear hosts opera and touring shows, the Wyly is home to theatre, and the clubs of Deep Ellum have live music most nights.

Santa Fe has the more memorable single experience: its open-sided opera theatre, where summer performances begin as the sun sets over the desert. It also has a chamber music festival and a long tradition of flamenco. Outside midsummer, though, its calendar is small, so Dallas is the safer bet for most dates.

Santa Fe is made for unwinding. It has outdoor soaking tubs among the pines on the road to the ski area, the mineral pools of Ojo Caliente an hour north, and a lot of spas and yoga studios for its size. Early evenings and quiet adobe courtyards add to the calm.

Dallas offers hotel spas, day-spa chains and one large Korean-style bathhouse in the north of the city, which is worth a visit. Even so, the city's brisk, car-bound pace does little to help you slow down.