Kansas City or New Orleans?

Neither city is a beach destination. Kansas City is far inland, so summer swimming means the sandy lake beaches in county parks at the edge of the metro area, or a pool.

New Orleans has a little more to offer. Well over an hour's drive away, at Bay St. Louis or Gulfport, the Gulf is warm in summer, though it is shallow and brownish rather than clear. Nobody bathes in Lake Pontchartrain or the Mississippi, so in town you swim in a hotel pool.

Kansas City is a food city with one subject, and that subject is barbecue: meat smoked over hickory, a thick sweet sauce and burnt ends. Locals argue over the best of it, from old counters near 18th and Vine to petrol-station joints, and the steakhouses carry on the cattle-town past. Away from the smoke, the River Market counters and the Westside's Mexican cooking help, but much of the rest will feel familiar.

New Orleans eats on another level. Creole and Cajun cooking give it a whole cuisine of its own, from gumbo and étouffée in century-old French Quarter dining rooms to po'boys in Mid-City, crawfish in spring and oysters in the cooler months, and the Sazerac was invented here. The food is rich and sticks to its own tradition, but for a trip planned around meals it is the stronger choice.

Kansas City's strength is its museums. The Nelson-Atkins has its Chinese art and Oldenburg shuttlecocks, the National WWI Museum is a serious visit, and 18th and Vine has the Negro Leagues and jazz museums. Between them there are few historic streetscapes, and the sights are far apart.

New Orleans is the other way round. Its list of museums is shorter, although the National WWII Museum is as weighty as Kansas City's memorial to the earlier war. Here the city itself is the sight: the French Quarter's balconies and courtyards around Jackson Square, the Garden District mansions and the above-ground tombs. For a visitor who likes to wander, that gives it the edge.

This is where the two cities are furthest apart. Kansas City's nights are friendly but split between the Power and Light District, Westport and the Crossroads. You need a car or a ride between them, and the city goes quiet early in the week.

New Orleans has no closing time and lets you carry a drink down the street, so a night drifts on foot from the Frenchmen Street clubs to Bywater dives and old corner bars. Bourbon Street is the loud, crowded end of it, and late at night it is best to take a taxi off the busy streets.

Prairie against swamp sums up the difference. Kansas City sits in gently rolling farmland along the Missouri and Kansas rivers, which is pleasant but plain, so its outdoors happens mostly in town: Swope Park, the Loose Park rose garden, creek trails and reservoirs for boating. Real hiking country in the Ozarks is hours away.

New Orleans has more to go out of your way for, because its watery landscape is unusual. Cypress swamps and bayous lie within an hour, where you can see alligators and herons from a boat or kayak, and the Barataria Preserve has boardwalk trails. Closer in, City Park's live oaks and the levee path along the Mississippi make an easy afternoon, though summer heat keeps outdoor plans to spring and late autumn.

From Kansas City, a hired car reaches Truman's home in Independence, the university town of Lawrence, the river town of Weston and St Joseph's Pony Express museum. They make pleasant half days, but nobody comes for them.

New Orleans has a stronger classic outing along the River Road. Oak Alley shows the plantations' grandeur, and the Whitney tells the history of the people enslaved there. Baton Rouge, the small Gulf towns and, at a stretch, Cajun country around Lafayette complete a short but more memorable list.

Kansas City is the easier choice for families. Worlds of Fun with its water park, the large zoo, Science City inside Union Station and the aquarium and Legoland centre at Crown Center add up to several full days. Wide roads and easy parking take the strain out of driving between them.

New Orleans has good things for children too, including Audubon Zoo, the riverfront aquarium, City Park's carousel and storybook garden, and paddle-steamer rides. But the summer heat, Bourbon Street at night and the need to choose where you walk after dark make it harder work for parents.

Kansas City expects you to drive. The streetcar along Main Street links the River Market, downtown, Union Station and Crown Center, but beyond that line buses are sparse, pavements run out and the main sights lie far apart.

New Orleans is much easier without a car. The French Quarter, the Marigny and the Warehouse District are flat and walkable, and the historic St. Charles streetcar is a pleasure in itself. The streetcars are slow and ride-hailing covers the airport and late nights, but you only need a car for day trips.

Kansas City's shopping centres on the Country Club Plaza, with chain and upmarket stores set around Spanish-style courtyards. The Crossroads adds vintage and design shops, and most of the rest is in suburban malls.

New Orleans is better for browsing. Royal Street has its antique dealers and galleries, Magazine Street runs for miles of independent boutiques and vintage shops, and Mardi Gras masks and pralines make souvenirs with real local roots. Neither city is the place to hunt for designer labels.

Overall, a stay costs about the same in both, roughly what an ordinary American city costs, but the money goes on different things. In Kansas City, hotels are reasonable and the Nelson-Atkins is free to enter, but a hired car and tickets for the theme park, zoo and ball games mount up.

New Orleans needs no car, and much of its pleasure is free, from street musicians to walks through the Quarter. Rooms are the big expense, though, and they climb steeply around Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest. To keep costs down, stay along the streetcar lines or come in summer.

Both are real jazz cities, but they play at different volumes. Kansas City's hard-swinging, blues-based style lives on in small clubs around 18th and Vine, with late jam sessions. The city also has the fuller formal season, with the symphony, opera and ballet at the Kauffman Center.

In New Orleans the music is everywhere: brass bands, zydeco and traditional jazz on Frenchmen Street, street players on Royal Street, Sunday second lines and Jazz Fest in spring. Its orchestra and opera are modest, but for live music this is the city people travel for.

Spa culture is missing from both cities, so wellness comes down to hotel and day spas. Kansas City's nearest echo of one is the old mineral-water resort at Excelsior Springs, about forty minutes north, and a quiet morning in the Nelson-Atkins sculpture park is easy to find.

New Orleans offers a different sort of rest: a courtyard guesthouse and slow streetcar rides under the oaks of St. Charles Avenue. It works as long as you stay clear of the French Quarter at night.