Kansas City or Orange Beach?

This is the starkest difference between the two. Kansas City is about as far from salt water as an American city gets, and swimming there means a hotel pool or a sandy lake shore in a suburban park on a hot afternoon.

Orange Beach is built entirely around its Gulf shoreline of white quartz sand, low dunes and clear green water, with quieter stretches at Alabama Point and in the state park. Swimming is easy from late May into October. Watch the flags for rip currents, though.

Kansas City is the better place to eat, mainly because of its barbecue. Slow-smoked brisket, burnt ends and thick molasses sauce are served everywhere from old counters near 18th and Vine to petrol-station joints, and the River Market's Vietnamese and Ethiopian counters, the Westside's Mexican kitchens and the old steakhouses add variety.

Orange Beach does one thing well: Gulf seafood eaten on a deck. Royal Red shrimp, oysters and grouper are worth a few good dinners, but the fried platters along the main road soon start to repeat.

Kansas City has real institutions to visit. The Nelson-Atkins is a major art collection with fine Chinese holdings, the National WWI Museum is the country's main museum of that war, and the 18th and Vine museums tell African American history through baseball and jazz. Union Station and the Spanish-style Country Club Plaza add some architecture.

Orange Beach has a small museum of fishing and Native American history and nothing else of note. For forts and old towns you have to drive to Pensacola or Mobile.

Neither is a reason to travel for nights out, but Kansas City offers more choice. The sports bars of the Power and Light District, the student bar strip in Westport and the calmer craft-beer and cocktail bars of the Crossroads each suit a different mood, although you need a ride between them.

Orange Beach's evenings depend on the season. In summer the Flora-Bama roadhouse and the marina decks stay loud late into the night, with sand underfoot and frozen drinks. Out of season most evenings end after dinner.

Orange Beach has more to offer outdoors, almost all of it on the water: kayaking the back bays, dolphin cruises out of Perdido Pass, charter fishing and diving on the artificial reefs, and a paved trail past alligator ponds into Gulf State Park. In spring and autumn the Bon Secour refuge draws migrating birds.

Kansas City's surroundings are gentle prairie and river farmland. The best of it is in town: the huge Swope Park, the Loose Park rose garden and the creekside trails. Proper hiking means a long drive to the Ozarks.

Orange Beach has better outings within easy reach. Pensacola's colonial quarter, the naval aviation museum and the brick forts on the barrier islands make a full day, and Mobile adds antebellum streets and a battleship. Fort Morgan and the ferry to Dauphin Island are closer still.

From Kansas City the options are milder: Truman's home in Independence, the university main street in Lawrence, the river town of Weston and the Pony Express museum in St Joseph. Each is a pleasant half day, and both places need a car.

Kansas City keeps children busy with rides and exhibits. Worlds of Fun's roller coasters and water park run through the warmer months, and the zoo is big enough to fill a whole day. When it rains or turns cold, Science City inside Union Station and the aquarium and Legoland Discovery Centre at Crown Center keep things going indoors. The catch is all the driving between them.

Orange Beach is still the easier family vacation, especially with younger children. Sand that slopes gently into the water, condos with kitchens and pools, dolphin boats and mini golf keep the days simple, and a water park and a small zoo are within half an hour. Keep a close eye on children in the fierce midsummer sun and in the surf.

You will want a car in both, but Kansas City is a little more forgiving. The streetcar along Main Street links the River Market, downtown, Union Station and Crown Center, so a hotel on that line makes a day or two without a car realistic.

Orange Beach is one long coastal highway with nothing comparable, and the traffic on it slows to a crawl in summer. Beyond your own block, only a bicycle on the paved trails takes the place of the car.

Kansas City has more to browse. The tiled courtyards of the Country Club Plaza hold upmarket stores, and the Crossroads galleries, River Market antiques and Westport record shops add independent character.

Orange Beach sells swimwear, fishing tackle and souvenirs along the main road. Serious bargain hunting means the outlet mall in Foley, inland.

Both cost roughly what an ordinary American trip costs, and in both the hire car, the tip and the sales tax add up. What differs is where the money goes. Kansas City's hotels are reasonable year-round and the Nelson-Atkins charges nothing for general entry, but tickets for the zoo, the theme park and ball games mount up for a family.

At Orange Beach the season decides the bill. Beachfront condos are expensive in summer but drop sharply from late autumn, the sand is free, and a shared rental with a kitchen brings costs down for groups.

Kansas City has a real musical identity. The swinging, blues-based jazz of Count Basie and Charlie Parker still plays most nights in small clubs around 18th and Vine, and the pleated-shell Kauffman Center hosts the symphony, opera and ballet, with summer musicals at the open-air Starlight Theatre.

Orange Beach offers summer concerts by touring country and rock acts at the marina amphitheatre and bar bands in season. Its one distinctive event is the Frank Brown songwriters' festival each November.

Kansas City has little for a restful trip beyond hotel and day spas. Its gentler moments come from the city's easy pace, such as an hour among the Loose Park roses or in the Nelson-Atkins sculpture park, or a drive north to the old mineral-water resort at Excelsior Springs.

Orange Beach is the better place to slow down, because doing very little is the whole point of a stay there. Its spas are modest too, but quiet starts on the sand and evenings watching the light fade over the bays need no planning. Go in the cooler months for real peace, because warm-season weekends and the weeks when students arrive in spring bring plenty of noise.