Kansas City or St. Louis?

Neither city is anywhere near a coast, and neither belongs on a beach vacation. Kansas City does have sandy lake beaches in county parks at the edge of the metro area, which are fine for an afternoon with children. In St. Louis the rivers are too strong to swim in and the nearest lakes are a long drive away in the Ozarks, so a pool is usually the only option.

Both cities take smoked meat seriously, but Kansas City's barbecue is the one people travel for. Hickory-smoked brisket, burnt ends and a thick, sweet sauce turn up everywhere from old counters near the stockyards to petrol-station joints, and working through several is the best way to spend a few days here. The River Market's international counters and the Westside's Mexican cooking add variety around it.

St. Louis has a food culture that is very much its own, if less famous. Toasted ravioli, cracker-thin pizza with Provel cheese, gooey butter cake and frozen custard are local specialities you won't easily find elsewhere, and the trattorias on the Hill and the Bosnian grills of South Grand let you eat well for little. Barbecue here means ribs rather than brisket, and beer runs deeper, from the old red-brick brewery in Soulard to the many taprooms. It rewards a curious eater, though few plan a trip around it.

The two cities are about level, but they offer different things. Kansas City's strength is its museums. The Nelson-Atkins has a major collection with outstanding Chinese art, the National WWI Museum is the country's leading museum of that war, and the Negro Leagues and jazz museums at 18th and Vine cover history you won't find told elsewhere. Away from them, though, there are few old streets to wander.

St. Louis works better as a city to look at. The Gateway Arch and the Old Courthouse beside it tell the story of the westward push and of the Dred Scott case, the Wainwright Building is an early landmark of the skyscraper, and Soulard and Lafayette Square still have whole streets of red brick and Victorian houses. The Cathedral Basilica's mosaics give a rainy afternoon a fine indoor visit.

Neither city is somewhere you go for the nights out, and in both you'll need a ride between scattered districts. Kansas City is built around sport and beer: the Power and Light District's big screens on game nights, the student bars of Westport, and quieter cocktail and craft-beer rooms in the Crossroads.

St. Louis has a wider mix of places. There are old blues taverns in Soulard, dance bars on Washington Avenue and late-night places along the Grove, which is also the city's main LGBTQ+ strip, and the riverboat casinos stay open after the bars have closed.

St. Louis has far more within reach. Forest Park gives the city a large wooded space with lakes, and within an hour Castlewood and Meramec state parks have bluffs, caves and proper hiking trails. Further south are the granite boulders of Elephant Rocks and the rock pools of Johnson's Shut-Ins. Cyclists have the Katy Trail starting in St. Charles, and in winter bald eagles gather on the river bluffs to the north.

Around Kansas City the land flattens into prairie and farmland. Swope Park and the rose garden in Loose Park are good for a stroll, and the creekside trails and reservoirs suit a jog or a spot of fishing, but serious walking country is several hours' drive away.

St. Louis is the better base for outings, starting with Cahokia Mounds, the UNESCO-listed remains of a great pre-Columbian city, only twenty minutes across the river. Ste. Genevieve's eighteenth-century French houses, the German wine towns of Hermann and Augusta, Mark Twain's Hannibal and Lincoln's Springfield fill several more days.

Kansas City's trips are smaller in scale. Lawrence's university main street, the antebellum houses and distillery of Weston, and the Pony Express and Jesse James sites in St Joseph each make a pleasant half day. In both cities you will need a car.

St. Louis has the edge with children, largely because of the City Museum, a converted shoe warehouse full of tunnels, caves and rooftop slides that adults enjoy just as much. The zoo and the Science Center in Forest Park cost nothing, the Magic House keeps younger children busy, and the ride up the Arch is a treat in itself.

Kansas City is also easy with children, and its attractions are grouped differently. Worlds of Fun and its water park are within the metro area, and Science City, the aquarium and the Legoland Discovery Centre are all close together around Union Station and Crown Center. Admission to these, and to the zoo, has to be paid.

Both cities are built for the car, and you will drive much the same amount in either. What differs is the one transit line that is useful to a visitor. Kansas City's streetcar runs along Main Street from the River Market through downtown to Union Station and Crown Center, so staying near it gives you a car-free day or two.

St. Louis's MetroLink is more useful when you arrive, since it runs from the airport to the Central West End, Forest Park and downtown. Soulard, the Hill and South Grand still mean a taxi.

Kansas City offers more to browse. The Country Club Plaza, with its Spanish-style towers and courtyards, is a real shopping district with upmarket stores, and the Crossroads adds galleries and design shops. Westport and 39th Street are good for records and thrift stores.

In St. Louis the best of it is Cherokee Street's antiques, vintage and Latin American shops, along with a few boutiques in the Central West End. Anything upmarket is out in the suburban malls rather than in a central shopping street.

The two cost about the same, cheaper than the big coastal cities but not cheap, and in both a hire car, sales tax and tips push up the bill. St. Louis saves more on sightseeing, because its zoo, art museum, history museum and science centre are all free. Kansas City has only the Nelson-Atkins free, and its theme park, zoo and WWI museum quickly add up for a family.

Both have a strong live music and stage scene, and the main difference is the sound. Kansas City is a jazz town, the home of the swinging style of Count Basie and Charlie Parker, with late jam sessions in small clubs most nights. The Kauffman Center's symphony, opera and ballet make up the formal side.

St. Louis has the blues, the birthplace of Chuck Berry and home to the National Blues Museum, and its larger stages are better known. The symphony, founded in 1880, is widely admired, the Opera Theatre runs a festival in early summer, and the Muny puts on musicals in Forest Park on a bigger scale than Kansas City's Starlight Theatre.

Neither city has a spa culture, and both offer the same unhurried pace and light crowds. Kansas City has the old mineral-water resort of Excelsior Springs forty minutes north. In St. Louis the quietest morning is in the Japanese garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden.