Houston or New Orleans?

Neither city is on the sea, but Houston is the one where a beach day fits easily. Galveston Island is about an hour away, with a seawall promenade, long quieter sands at the West End and warm, shallow Gulf water that is cloudy rather than clear.

New Orleans faces a working river and a lake that nobody bathes in. The nearest sand, on the Mississippi coast around Bay St. Louis, is a longer drive and has much the same brownish water. For most visitors a swim there means the hotel pool.

Both are serious places to eat, and New Orleans has the edge because its cooking is so distinctly its own. Creole and Cajun dishes, old-line French Quarter dining rooms, po'boy shops in Mid-City and cocktails such as the Sazerac make every meal feel tied to the place, though the range beyond that tradition is narrow and the food is rich.

Houston's strength is breadth. Tex-Mex and brisket sit alongside Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese food in Asiatown on Bellaire Boulevard, and there are Nigerian and Pakistani kitchens in the south-west. To eat well there, though, you need a car.

New Orleans offers more to see, mainly because the city itself is the sight. The French Quarter is a rare intact colonial townscape around Jackson Square and the Cabildo, and the Garden District mansions, the above-ground tombs and the National WWII Museum fill out a stay.

Houston's culture is indoors. The Museum of Fine Arts, the Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel are finer collections than anything in New Orleans, and Space Center Houston is unique. Outside them, though, there is little historic fabric to walk through.

New Orleans is clearly the better night out. Houston's going-out is friendly and sociable, but it is scattered across Montrose, Midtown, Washington Avenue and EaDo. Bars shut at 2am, and moving between areas usually means a ride. Its icehouse patios are pleasant on a warm evening, but few people plan a trip around them.

New Orleans has no legal closing time and lets you carry a drink along the street. A night can drift on foot from Frenchmen Street to the Bywater dives and old corner bars, with the neon crowds of Bourbon Street for those who want them.

Both sit in flat, low, watery country, and New Orleans has slightly more to offer outdoors. Cypress swamps with alligators and herons are within an hour by boat or kayak, the Barataria Preserve has boardwalk trails, and City Park's lagoons and the levee path are in town.

Houston's outdoors is mostly bayou parks and woodland trails, such as Buffalo Bayou and Memorial Park, with alligators at Brazos Bend. Its standout is the spring bird migration along the coast near Galveston.

New Orleans has the stronger day trips. The River Road plantations are about an hour upstream, where the Whitney's account of slavery is the one to see. You can also reach Baton Rouge's capitol, the small Gulf towns of Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs and, at a stretch, the Cajun dance halls around Lafayette.

From Houston, the obvious outing is Galveston, with its iron-fronted Strand and Victorian East End, and you can stop at Kemah on the way. The San Jacinto battlefield and the wildflower roads around Brenham and Round Top make good outings too. Austin and San Antonio are too far for a single day.

Houston gives children more, with Space Center Houston as the clear highlight. Hermann Park's zoo, miniature train and museums, along with Galveston's aquarium pyramid and waterparks, could fill a week. The cost is long drives between them.

New Orleans has the Audubon Zoo, the riverfront aquarium and the carousel and children's museum in City Park, plus streetcar and paddle-steamer rides that small children love. Parents have to plan around Bourbon Street and take care where they walk after dark.

New Orleans is much easier to get around without a car. The French Quarter, the Marigny and the Warehouse District sit in a compact, flat band you can walk, and the St. Charles streetcar carries you on through the Garden District to Uptown. You need ride-hailing only for the airport and the swamps.

Houston is built for driving. It has one useful light rail line, from downtown through the Museum District, and slow buses. Everything else means freeways, ride-hailing or a hire car, along with rush-hour traffic.

Houston has a little more to buy, and its strength is scale and luxury. You'll find the big Uptown mall with designer houses under one roof, River Oaks boutiques, independents on 19th Street in the Heights and Rice Village, and western boots and hats as the local speciality.

New Orleans is about character rather than labels. It has antique dealers and galleries on Royal Street, miles of boutiques and vintage shops on Magazine Street, and Carnival masks at the French Market. Big flagship stores are scarce.

Costs come out roughly level, but they fall in different places. In Houston, hotels are fairly priced and several major museums are free, but car hire, fuel and parking add up fast.

In New Orleans you can manage without a car, and cheap po'boys, the streetcar and free street music help. The big expense is rooms near the Quarter, which climb sharply around Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest.

For live music, New Orleans is the place. Any night brings jazz, brass bands, funk and zydeco on Frenchmen Street and in the bars of Tremé and the Bywater. There are street musicians on Royal Street, Sunday second-line parades and Jazz Fest in spring.

Houston wins on the formal stage. Its downtown Theater District holds a respected opera, a ballet, a symphony and the Alley Theatre, with free summer shows at Hermann Park's Miller Outdoor Theatre. New Orleans offers little of that kind of season.

Neither city is a place to rest. Neither has a bathing tradition, and wellness in both means hotel and day spas. Houston also has a few Korean-style bathhouses out in the suburbs.

The difference is pace. Houston's calm comes in pockets, such as an hour in the Rothko Chapel or an early walk in Hermann Park. New Orleans can be slow all day, with courtyard guesthouse mornings and streetcar rides under the oaks of St. Charles Avenue.