Destin or Galveston?

Destin has the better beach by a clear margin. Its powdery white sand and clear green water run from Okaloosa Island and Henderson Beach State Park out to the dune lakes along 30A. On the bay side, the shallow Crab Island sandbar gives you a second kind of beach day, standing in warm water among anchored boats.

Galveston has plenty of sand along its 50km Gulf front, and the swimming season is just as long and warm. But river silt keeps the water murky, sargassum piles up in some summers, and the shore is wide and flat rather than beautiful. Rip currents are a real risk on both coasts, so watch the flags and stay near the lifeguards.

Both towns eat well and simply, and both are built around Gulf seafood. In Destin the focus is the charter harbour: snapper, grouper and royal red shrimp come straight off the boats, and some places will cook the fish you caught. The more ambitious cooking is out in the 30A resort towns.

Galveston mixes its seafood with Texas and Louisiana food, so you get gumbo, po'boys, Tex-Mex and barbecue next to the oyster platters. Its independent places are mostly in the old downtown around the Strand rather than out along a highway strip.

Here Galveston is far ahead. As Texas's richest port in the late 19th century, it left whole streets of cast-iron and brick commercial buildings on the Strand, the porch-lined houses of the East End and Silk Stocking districts, and mansions you can tour, such as Bishop's Palace. The 1900 storm, the Seawall and the raising of the island give the town a story worth following through its small museums.

Destin has almost nothing historic. Your options are its fishing museum and, in Fort Walton Beach, a Native American temple mound and a collection of military aircraft. For real history you would drive an hour to Pensacola.

Neither is a place for a big night out, but Destin has a little more going on in peak season. Drinking starts in the afternoon with boats rafted up at Crab Island and moves on to the open-air decks on the harbour boardwalk, where a few dance floors stay open late in summer.

Galveston is more of a pub and wine-bar town, with drinking in the old Victorian buildings downtown and on beach patios along the Seawall. Its big event is Mardi Gras, with two weekends of parades and street parties. Outside the warm months, both go quiet early.

Destin offers more outdoors, nearly all of it on the water. Deep-sea charters reach big fish quickly because the continental shelf is close to shore, and calm Choctawhatchee Bay is good for kayaking and sailing. You can snorkel off the jetties in clear water, and the state parks have high white dunes and rare coastal dune lakes.

Galveston's strength is birds. It sits on a major migration flyway, and in spring Bolivar Flats and High Island fill with warblers, shorebirds and spoonbills. Apart from marsh paddling and pier fishing, the island is flat and has little else.

Galveston has the better outings because Houston is so close. Space Center Houston is the obvious day out, and the city's Museum District adds the Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel. You can stop at the Kemah boardwalk or the San Jacinto battlefield on the way.

From Destin, the planned pastel towns along 30A, such as Seaside and Rosemary Beach, make a pleasant half day. Pensacola, about an hour west, has its colonial quarter, the naval aviation museum and brick forts. Beyond those two, there is mostly more resort coast.

Both work well as family beach resorts, and both need a car. Destin has the gentler, clearer water for small children, condos with kitchens and pools, and the marine park with dolphin shows on Okaloosa Island.

Galveston is better covered for bad weather. The glass pyramids at Moody Gardens hold an aquarium and an indoor rainforest for wet or very hot days, a funfair pier stands off the Seawall, and Space Center Houston suits older children.

You'll want a car in either place, but Galveston is a little easier without one. The downtown around the Strand is compact enough to walk, and a heritage trolley and island buses link it with parts of the Seawall.

Destin is strung out along one coastal highway that clogs up in summer, with few safe places to cross on foot. You can walk the harbour boardwalk and cycle the trail along 30A, but everything else means driving, ride-hailing or resort shuttles.

Destin has more real retail. A large outlet centre near Miramar Beach draws shoppers from across the region, an open-air mall gathers the chain stores, and the 30A towns add stylish boutiques and galleries.

Shopping in Galveston is about browsing the old storefronts of the Strand and Postoffice Street for antiques, local art and sweets. Anyone after fashion goes to Houston.

Galveston is the cheaper vacation. It has plenty of motels and mid-range hotels, free public beaches and fairly priced seafood and Tex-Mex. Seawall rooms still cost much more on summer weekends and during Mardi Gras.

Destin charges resort-coast rates through the swimming season, and charters, parking and waterfront dining add to the bill. Both get much cheaper in the cooler months, but Destin's off season comes with a sea too cold to swim in.

Galveston has the one real stage between them: the Grand 1894 Opera House, a restored Victorian theatre with touring musicals, concerts and the community symphony. It's worth an evening if your dates match its programme.

In Destin, the symphony and touring shows play across the bay in Niceville, so most live music means cover bands on bar decks, plus outdoor summer concerts on the lawns of the 30A towns.

Neither has a spa tradition, so pampering means a resort spa in either place. Destin's are in the big golf and beach resorts around Sandestin and Miramar Beach, and early walks on empty white sand make spring and autumn restful.

Galveston's calm is more about pace than treatments: long bike rides along the Seawall and quiet evenings in the porch-lined streets of the East End.