Galveston or Panama City Beach?

Both have long Gulf shores with warm summer water, but they are very different beaches. Galveston's sand is flat, wide and practical. Silt from the Texas rivers keeps the sea brown-green and murky, and in some summers sargassum seaweed washes up in drifts.

Panama City Beach has the kind of beach people travel for: fine white quartz sand and, on calm days, clear green shallows. For quieter swimming there is the jetty-sheltered lagoon at St. Andrews State Park and the undeveloped sands of Shell Island. Rip currents need care in both places, beside the groynes in Galveston and by following the beach flags in Florida.

Gulf seafood is the backbone of both, especially oysters and shrimp eaten simply by the water. Galveston has a little more range: Tex-Mex, barbecue, Louisiana-style po'boys and gumbo, and some independent places in the old buildings around the Strand.

Panama City Beach relies more on national chains and themed restaurants along Front Beach Road. Its best side is grouper and shrimp at the open-air shacks and dockside decks. Neither is a place to travel for food, but over a week Galveston gives you more variety.

The gap here is wide. Galveston was once Texas's richest port, and it shows in the cast-iron fronts of the Strand, the porch-lined houses of the East End and mansions such as Bishop's Palace and Moody Mansion. The 1900 storm and the iron barque Elissa give its museums a real story to tell.

Panama City Beach is a resort strip of condo towers built after the mid-twentieth century. Its main sights are the small Man in the Sea Museum and the older streets of St. Andrews across the bay. Anyone who wants history should choose Galveston.

Neither place keeps late hours, and in both an evening out means a drink by the water rather than a club. Galveston feels more like a town, with pubs and wine bars in the Victorian buildings of the Strand and Postoffice Street. Its big party of the year is Mardi Gras, with parades and street parties downtown.

Panama City Beach is all decks over the sand, tiki huts and sports bars, with a cover band or DJ on summer weekends. Its loud season is spring break in March, which suits college crowds and few others.

Both are flat coastal places where most of the outdoors happens on the water. Galveston's strength is birds. It lies on a major migration flyway, Bolivar Flats and High Island draw birdwatchers in spring, and the state park has marsh trails and paddling on the bay.

Panama City Beach has the prettier setting, with tall white dunes, a rare coastal dune lake at Camp Helen, a lagoon for snorkelling and diving on offshore wrecks and artificial reefs. Galveston is the choice for spring birdwatching, Panama City Beach for time in and under clearer water.

Galveston has the stronger day trips because Houston is close. Space Center Houston is the obvious day out, and the city adds the Museum of Fine Arts, the Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel. Kemah's boardwalk and the San Jacinto Monument are on the way.

From Panama City Beach the trips are quieter: the pastel planned towns along Scenic Highway 30A, the old oyster port of Apalachicola, and Pensacola's historic district at the edge of a day's range. Every outing from either place needs a car.

Both are built around family beach vacations and do them well. Galveston's best card is Moody Gardens, whose glass pyramids hold an aquarium and an indoor rainforest that save a hot or wet day. Add the funfair on the Seawall pier and the free Bolivar ferry, often with dolphins alongside.

Panama City Beach has clearer water for small swimmers, a sheltered lagoon where children can snorkel, and a strip of water park, marine park, mini-golf and go-karts. Families usually stay in a condo with a pool. Avoid March, when spring break takes over the strip.

Neither is easy without a car, but Galveston depends on one less. Its historic downtown is compact and walkable, and a heritage trolley and island buses link it with parts of the Seawall. You still need to drive to the West End beaches and Moody Gardens.

Panama City Beach is a 43km ribbon along one beach road. The trolley-buses are sparse, the pavements patchy and summer traffic slow, so plan on a car for almost every trip.

Galveston means antiques and art in old buildings. The Victorian storefronts of the Strand and Postoffice Street hold antique dealers, galleries, home-decor boutiques and sweet shops, and the downtown art walks are a good evening's browse. For fashion or a proper mall, people drive to Houston.

Panama City Beach means chain stores in a modern open-air centre. Pier Park has mainstream American brands and a department store, and the strip adds huge beachwear and souvenir warehouses with shark-mouth entrances. For something more individual, head to the boutiques in the 30A towns to the west.

Costs are much alike: American resort prices for meals and drinks, a car you need in either place, and expensive peak weeks. In Galveston rates jump on summer weekends and during Mardi Gras, while the motels and free public beaches keep the rest of the year moderate.

At Panama City Beach the dearest times are summer and spring break. Its advantage is the condo with a kitchen, which lets families cook rather than eat out, and long winter stays there are especially cheap.

Galveston has a real venue in the Grand 1894 Opera House, a restored Victorian theatre that hosts touring musicals, comedians and concerts. It is also home to the community Galveston Symphony Orchestra. That is enough for an evening or two.

At Panama City Beach, live performance means cover bands and acoustic sets on beach-bar decks. For a stage show you cross the bay to Panama City's historic theatre, which has a modest season of touring shows.

Galveston slows you down on land: long bike rides along the flat Seawall, quiet evenings and the porch-lined streets of the East End outside the busy summer weekends. Panama City Beach does it by the sea, with sunset walks on an empty white beach from autumn to spring and the odd yoga class on the sand.

For treatments, the two are much the same. Neither has a bathing tradition, and a massage at a resort hotel or a day spa is about as far as it goes.