Galveston or Gulf Shores?

Both look out on the same warm Gulf, but the shore is quite different. Galveston has wide, flat sand along most of the island, with lifeguarded family beaches at Stewart Beach and East Beach. River silt keeps its water brown-green, and sargassum piles up in some summers. It is convenient rather than beautiful.

Gulf Shores has the beach people travel for: soft white quartz sand that squeaks underfoot, water that turns clear and green on calm days, and low dunes toward Fort Morgan and in Gulf State Park. Rip currents are a hazard on both coasts, so watch the flags and swim near a lifeguard.

Both cook Gulf seafood with a Louisiana accent, oysters, shrimp and gumbo included, and neither has much fine dining. Galveston has a little more variety. The Strand has independent places, cafés and bakeries, and Tex-Mex and barbecue fill the gaps.

Gulf Shores is more of an open-air, eat-by-the-sand place, with seafood shacks and big beach-bar restaurants. Look out for Royal Red shrimp from deep water. Many visitors buy shrimp at the local seafood markets and cook it in their condo.

Galveston has a whole Victorian city to explore, built when it was Texas's richest port. The cast-iron rows of the Strand and the porch-lined houses of the East End make for good walking, and several grand homes are open to visitors, among them Bishop's Palace, Moody Mansion and Ashton Villa. At the harbour you can board the Elissa, an old iron sailing barque. The small museums tell the story of the Great Storm of 1900, which led to the Seawall and the raising of the whole island.

Gulf Shores has almost nothing like this. Its one real sight is Fort Morgan, the brick star fort at the tip of the peninsula that played a part in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the Civil War. It is worth a morning, but for any more history you have to drive to Mobile or Pensacola.

Neither is a place for clubs, and both are quiet out of season, but the evenings feel different. Galveston drinks in old buildings, with pubs, wine bars and cocktail spots on the Strand and Postoffice Street. Its big moment is Mardi Gras, with parades downtown.

Gulf Shores does its going out on open-air decks with sand underfoot. The famous roadhouse on the Florida line stays loud late into the night, and spring break brings a younger crowd to the beach strip.

Both are flat, watery and full of birds in migration season, so the difference lies in how you get out into it. Galveston is best for birdwatchers, with Bolivar Flats and High Island close by and dolphins often following the ferry. The state park has marsh trails and paddling, and fishing is the main local pastime.

Gulf Shores has more ways to move through the landscape. Gulf State Park's paved trails run through maritime forest and are good for cycling, Bon Secour has quiet dune trails, and the Mobile-Tensaw Delta river swamp is an excellent place to kayak.

Both have a good spread of outings, all of which need a car. From Galveston, the famous names are to the north: Space Center Houston, then Houston's Museum District with the Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel, plus Kemah's boardwalk and the San Jacinto Monument on the way.

Gulf Shores offers a run of pleasant towns rather than headline sights. There is Mobile's ironwork and the battleship USS Alabama, gardens and a long pier at Fairhope, and Pensacola's naval aviation museum. The ferry to Dauphin Island makes a scenic crossing.

Galveston's best card for children is Moody Gardens, where glass pyramids hold an aquarium, an indoor rainforest and a science centre. It is an easy escape on very hot or wet days. The funfair on the Seawall pier, a large waterpark and the ferry ride to Bolivar, often with dolphins alongside, fill out the week, and older children can go to Space Center Houston.

Gulf Shores makes up for having no big aquarium with an easier base. Families stay in beachfront condos with pools and kitchens, the sand is softer and the pace is unhurried. There is also a water park, a small hands-on zoo, the Ferris wheel at Orange Beach and a theme park in Foley. In both places you will need a car between attractions.

Galveston is the easier of the two without a car, though only up to a point. The old downtown is compact enough to walk, and a heritage trolley and island buses reach parts of the Seawall. For the West End or Moody Gardens you will still want to drive.

Gulf Shores is laid out along a single beach road, with everything else on highways inland. Walking only covers your own stretch of sand, and bikes are really useful only on the trails in Gulf State Park. Plan on renting a car.

Galveston is the more enjoyable place to wander, with antique shops, galleries and sweet shops in the Victorian storefronts of the Strand and art walks downtown. Anyone after real fashion goes to Houston. Gulf Shores is mostly beachwear emporiums and fishing shops, and its one draw is the large outlet mall in Foley, a typical rainy-day trip.

Overall costs are much the same, but the cheaper times differ. Galveston is busy with Houston weekenders, so weekdays and the cooler months cost noticeably less, while summer weekends and Mardi Gras push Seawall hotels up. Motels and rental beach houses keep cheaper options available.

Gulf Shores swings more with the seasons. June and July are expensive, but beachfront condos drop sharply in winter, which is why long winter stays are common there. A condo kitchen also keeps food costs down.

In Galveston, a night at the theatre means the Grand 1894 Opera House on Postoffice Street, a restored Victorian theatre. It puts on touring musicals, comedians and concerts by the community symphony. Beyond it there is little more than community theatre and cover bands.

Gulf Shores keeps its music outdoors. Bands and singer-songwriters play daily on beach-bar stages, and the amphitheatre at Orange Beach brings touring country and rock acts in the warmer months. The state-line roadhouse also holds a long-running songwriters' festival every November. For a symphony or a play, Mobile is about an hour away.

Neither has a spa tradition. Both offer resort massages, and the real draw is the slow pace outside summer weekends. In Galveston that means bike rides along the Seawall and evening walks through the porch-lined East End. In Gulf Shores it is quiet mornings on the park trails and sunsets from a condo balcony.