Galveston or Nashville?

This is Galveston's home ground. About 50km of sand runs along the Gulf side, from the Seawall stretch and the family beaches at Stewart and East Beach to the wider, emptier West End. The sea stays very warm for months. The water is murky, seaweed drifts in some summers and rips form beside the jetties, but it is still a proper swimming coast.

Nashville is landlocked. Percy Priest and Old Hickory lakes have small swimming areas and warm summer water, and they make a pleasant afternoon, not a reason to plan a trip.

Galveston eats simply and well around Gulf seafood: oysters, boiled shrimp, gumbo and snapper by the water, with Tex-Mex and po'boys to fill in. Beyond the independent places near the Strand, much of the cooking is fried platters for beach crowds.

Nashville has more to explore. Hot chicken is its own creation, meat-and-three cafeterias and barbecue keep the Southern tradition alive, and kitchens in East Nashville, Germantown and the Gulch push it further. Along Nolensville Pike there are Kurdish and Vietnamese cooks too, which gives the city a range Galveston can't match.

The two are broadly level but different in kind. Galveston's story is told through buildings: the cast-iron fronts of the Strand, porch-lined East End houses, Bishop's Palace, and the 1900 storm that led to the Seawall, with the tall ship Elissa moored at the harbour.

Nashville's sights are mostly about music, led by the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman. The Parthenon replica, the Frist in its Art Deco post office and the plantations at the Hermitage and Belle Meade add range, but the city itself is largely modern where Galveston is Victorian.

Nashville is far ahead. Lower Broadway runs as one long party, with live bands on every floor of the honky-tonks until the small hours. East Nashville's dives and cocktail lounges and Midtown's student bars offer quieter alternatives.

In Galveston a night out means a drink in a Strand pub or on a Seawall patio, and the island goes quiet early outside summer weekends. Mardi Gras is the big exception, when the downtown parades draw large crowds.

Both are about level, with very different settings. Galveston is flat sand, marsh and bay on a major migration flyway. Spring birding at Bolivar Flats and High Island, paddling in the state park, pier fishing and dolphins from the ferry are its strengths, but there is no hiking.

Nashville has the walking the island lacks: wooded trails at Radnor Lake and the Warner Parks, canoeing on the Harpeth, and cycling along the Natchez Trace Parkway, with spring wildflowers and autumn colour.

These are equally good but quite different. From Galveston, most outings head north: Space Center Houston, Houston's Museum District with the Menil and the Rothko Chapel, the Kemah boardwalk and the San Jacinto Monument. To the east, the ferry crosses to Bolivar.

Nashville's trips are about small towns and history: Franklin's Main Street and Civil War battlefields, the village of Leiper's Fork, whiskey distilleries around Lynchburg and, for a long day, Chattanooga. Either way you will need a car.

Galveston is built for families. Moody Gardens' pyramids hold an aquarium, a rainforest and a science centre for hot or wet days, and there is a waterpark, a funfair on the pier and shallow, lifeguarded water at Stewart Beach.

Nashville can work with planning, thanks to the zoo at Grassmere, the Adventure Science Center's planetarium and the Lane Motor Museum. Its centrepiece, Lower Broadway, is loud and adult, though, and children will spend a lot of time in the car.

Neither is easy without a car. Galveston's problem is length: the Strand is walkable and a heritage trolley links it with parts of the Seawall, but Moody Gardens and the West End mean driving, and there is no rail from Houston.

Nashville's problem is sprawl. The downtown core around Broadway, the Ryman and the Gulch is compact on foot, but the Opry, the Hermitage and East Nashville are each a drive or ride-hail apart, and rush-hour traffic is heavy.

Nashville has more to buy, and it has a clear theme. Boots, hats and rhinestone shirts line Lower Broadway, the guitar shops are among the best anywhere, and Hatch Show Print sells its letterpress posters. 12 South and East Nashville add boutiques and record shops.

Galveston is for browsing antique shops, galleries and sweet shops in the Strand's Victorian storefronts, and beach souvenirs on the Seawall. For serious shopping you have to drive to Houston.

Galveston is the easier city on the budget. Motels and rental beach houses are plentiful, the beaches are free and the seafood is fairly priced. Summer weekends and Mardi Gras push rates up, and a car is usually needed.

Nashville's downtown hotels are expensive, especially when groups fill them at weekends, and ride-hailing across a spread-out city adds up. The free music on Broadway, with no cover charge, and cheap hot chicken counters soften the cost but don't close the gap.

For live music and performance, Nashville is in another league. The Grand Ole Opry and the pews of the Ryman are famous, songwriter nights let you hear the hits from the people who wrote them, and there is bluegrass near the Gulch. On top of that come a symphony in the Schermerhorn and ballet and opera at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Galveston has the restored Grand 1894 Opera House and a community symphony, which are good for an evening or two, plus cover bands on the beachfront patios.

Neither has a spa tradition, so wellness in both means a hotel massage, but Galveston is the better place to slow down. Outside summer weekends the island is easygoing, with bike rides along the Seawall and quiet evenings on East End porches.

Nashville's centre runs on noise and late nights. A calmer stay means lodging out in Belmont or Hillsboro, away from the music most visitors came for.