Destin or San Antonio?

This is the widest gap between the two. Destin's quartz sand runs from Okaloosa Island and Henderson Beach State Park east to Miramar Beach, with warm, usually gentle water in summer and the Crab Island sandbar on the bay side, though the rip-current flags need watching.

San Antonio is more than two hours from the coast. Its water days mean tubing the cool, spring-fed Comal and San Marcos rivers, Canyon Lake, and swimming holes under Hill Country bluffs. That makes a fine summer afternoon but is no substitute for a beach.

Destin's cooking is narrower and built around the harbour: red snapper, grouper and royal red shrimp off the charter boats, eaten as fried baskets, grouper sandwiches or oysters on waterfront decks. Away from the seafood the coast highway is mostly chains, and the more serious restaurants sit out along 30A.

San Antonio is the better place to eat. Tex-Mex is on home ground here, from breakfast tacos in handmade flour tortillas to Sunday barbacoa, with smoked brisket alongside, and the best of it is in family places on the West and South Sides. The Pearl gathers the more ambitious restaurants and a farmers' market, while Southtown keeps a looser scene of cafés and taquerias.

There is no contest here. Destin has a small fishing museum, and nearby Fort Walton Beach has a prehistoric temple mound and an outdoor display of military aircraft. For real history from this coast you have to drive to Pensacola.

San Antonio's five Spanish missions, the Alamo among them, form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with San José's carved rose window and Espada's old aqueduct along the river. Downtown adds San Fernando Cathedral and the Governor's Palace, the King William mansions add the 19th century, and the San Antonio Museum of Art and the McNay cover art.

Neither is a place to travel for nights out, and both wind down fairly early, but the style differs. Destin's evenings are seasonal and outdoors, with frozen drinks on harbour decks and beach bars, and its liveliest drinking is often in the afternoon among boats rafted up at Crab Island.

San Antonio goes out year-round and has more local texture: icehouses and beer gardens in Southtown and on the St. Mary's Strip, cocktail bars at the Pearl, and Tejano dance halls. The River Walk patios are there for an easy margarita.

Destin has the better outdoors, nearly all of it on the water. The deep water close to shore makes for quick deep-sea fishing, dolphins swim in the pass, Choctawhatchee Bay is calm for kayaks and sailing, and the state parks to the east have dune lakes with boardwalks.

San Antonio offers more on land: trails in Government Canyon, show caves in the limestone, kayaking on the Guadalupe and bluebonnets along the back roads in spring. Its long, fierce summers, though, push hiking into the cooler half of the year.

San Antonio has the better range of outings. Fredericksburg with its wineries, Gruene and its old dance hall, Boerne, Wimberley and cowboy Bandera are all easy drives into the Hill Country, and Austin's Capitol and museums are about an hour and a half away.

From Destin, the planned towns of 30A such as Seaside and Rosemary Beach make a good afternoon, and Pensacola's colonial district, naval aviation museum and brick forts are about an hour west. Past those, it is largely more of the same resort coast.

Both suit children well, in different ways. Destin is a beach-first family trip, with shallow, clear water on calm days, condos with kitchens and pools, and a marine park, a water park and pirate-ship cruises close by.

San Antonio swaps the sea for bigger attractions: SeaWorld, Six Flags Fiesta Texas in its old quarry, the zoo and the Witte Museum's dinosaurs, plus river tubing in summer. Either way you need a car and a plan for summer heat, and in Destin parents also need to know the flag system.

Neither works well without a car, but San Antonio is easier on foot. Its compact downtown links the Alamo, the cathedral and the Pearl along the shaded River Walk, and the river path makes cycling to the missions a pleasure.

Destin is strung along one congested coastal highway with few safe crossings. Walking is limited to the harbour boardwalk and some beachfront stretches, with the 30A trail for bikes further east.

Outlet malls and swimwear on one side, Mexican market crafts on the other. Destin's shopping is resort retail: a large outlet centre near Miramar Beach that draws day shoppers, an open-air mall of chain stores, and the most stylish browsing in the boutiques and galleries of the 30A towns.

San Antonio has the more local finds, with pottery, embroidered dresses and piñatas at El Mercado in Market Square, artists' studios in La Villita, and boots and hats from western-wear specialists. Its malls and outlets are as ordinary as Destin's, so go for the market rather than the brands.

San Antonio is the cheaper trip. The convention trade keeps hotel rooms moderate away from the river, tacos and barbecue are inexpensive, and the missions are free, though car hire and theme-park tickets add up.

Destin in summer charges resort-coast rates for beachfront rooms, waterfront meals and charter fishing. It becomes far cheaper from late autumn to early spring, but that is exactly when the sea is too cold to swim.

San Antonio has a genuine programme. The symphony, opera and ballet play the Tobin Center, touring Broadway fills the ornate 1929 Majestic Theatre, and accordion-driven conjunto and Tejano music, heard in dance halls and at Fiesta, belongs to the city.

In Destin, live performance is mostly cover bands on bar decks. The 30A towns hold summer lawn concerts, and the regional symphony plays across the bay in Niceville.

Neither has a spa tradition, so pampering means resort spas, around Sandestin and Miramar Beach in Destin and at the golf and Hill Country resorts north of San Antonio. Destin has the slight edge for simple rest, with early walks on empty sand and afternoons on a balcony, best in spring and autumn.

San Antonio's quiet moments, among the ponds of the Japanese Tea Garden or on a calm stretch of the River Walk, are pleasant. Summer heat makes slow days outdoors harder, though, and a proper retreat usually means leaving town for the hills.