Memphis or Orange Beach?

These two are about as far apart as it gets on the beach. Memphis is a river city far inland. The Mississippi is fast, busy with barges and not for swimming, so on a hot day you cool off in a hotel pool or drive out to a country lake.

Orange Beach is built around its Gulf shoreline of fine white sand, with low dunes and calm, clear water from late May to early October. Beyond the condo towers there is more space at Alabama Point and in the state park next door. Watch the flags for rip currents.

Memphis has the stronger table, and it is a regional one: dry-rubbed ribs, pulled-pork sandwiches with slaw, barbecue spaghetti, then fried catfish, greens and Delta tamales. Cooper-Young and Midtown add some modern Southern cooking and craft beer.

Orange Beach eats almost entirely from the Gulf. Royal Red shrimp, oysters, snapper and West Indies salad at waterside fish houses make a few memorable dinners, but you'll see the same fried platters up and down the main road. Neither city offers much international food or fine dining.

Memphis has two strands of history that people travel a long way for: the birth of rock and roll and soul at Graceland, Sun Studio and Stax, and the civil rights story told at the Lorraine Motel. Beale Street, the cotton buildings of Front Street and the Victorian Village mansions add more, though the historic centre is patchy.

Orange Beach grew from a fishing settlement into a line of condo towers, and its heritage fits into one small local museum. For forts and old towns you have to drive out to Pensacola or Mobile.

Memphis gives you more to do after dark. Beale Street is a pedestrian party strip at weekends, where you can carry your drink from bar to bar until late, and the Overton Square bars and Cooper-Young beer gardens offer a calmer local alternative.

At Orange Beach, going out means beach bars and waterfront decks, best known for the old roadhouse on the state line. It gets lively in summer and at spring break and is quiet the rest of the year. Neither has a real club scene, and both need a car or taxi at night.

Orange Beach has more to do outdoors, mostly on the water: kayaking the back bays, dolphin cruises out of Perdido Pass, charter fishing and diving on the offshore reefs. The paved backcountry trail through pine woods and past alligator ponds, plus the birding at Bon Secour, fill the time on land.

Memphis's outdoors are more urban. You can walk the Big River Crossing into Arkansas, watch sunsets from the bluffs, see the bison and paddle the lakes at Shelby Farms, and find old-growth forest in Overton Park. Both are flat, and both are tough going at midday in summer.

The day trips are about as good from each city but differ in theme. From Memphis you head south down Highway 61 into the Delta for blues: Clarksdale's juke joints, the Blues Trail markers, Faulkner's Oxford, Tupelo and the battlefield at Shiloh.

From Orange Beach the trips are about coastal history, with Pensacola's Spanish quarter and naval aviation museum, antebellum Mobile, Fort Morgan and the ferry to Dauphin Island. Both lists need a car.

Orange Beach is set up for children: condo rentals with pools, gently shelving sand, early nights, and a Ferris wheel, mini golf and dolphin boats for days off the beach. A water park and a small zoo are within about half an hour.

Memphis has a good zoo in Overton Park, the Pink Palace planetarium and the children's museum, but its headline sights suit teenagers more than young children. Long drives between outings and the sticky summers make it harder work for families.

Neither city works well without a car, but Memphis is the slightly easier of the two. Downtown is walkable, so you can see Beale Street, the riverfront, the Civil Rights Museum and South Main on foot, and heritage trolleys run along Main Street. Graceland, Midtown and Shelby Farms still mean driving or a ride-hail.

Orange Beach is strung out along one coastal highway with almost no useful public transport. You'll drive for groceries and dinners and sit in summer traffic. A bike helps only on the trails and side roads.

Neither is a shopping destination. Memphis has the more interesting finds: vintage vinyl in independent record shops, along with the boutiques and local art on Broad Avenue and in Cooper-Young.

Orange Beach mostly sells beachwear, souvenirs and fishing gear. For brands, visitors drive inland to the outlet mall at Foley.

Memphis is the cheaper trip. Hotels are reasonable outside the busiest weekends, and barbecue and soul-food plates are filling and cheap. A car, tips and full-price entry to Graceland are what push the costs up.

Orange Beach costs what an American beach resort costs, and beachfront rooms are expensive in summer. It works out better for families sharing a large rental and cooking some meals, and it becomes good value from late autumn to early spring.

Music is Memphis's strongest card. House bands play blues and soul on Beale Street from the afternoon on, Midtown venues add rock and hip-hop, and in the warm months there are free concerts on the lawn at the Levitt Shell. The Orpheum, the symphony, the opera and a respected ballet company cover the formal arts.

At Orange Beach, live music means touring country and rock acts at the marina amphitheatre, cover bands in beach bars, and the songwriters' festival on the state line each November. There is no theatre or classical music.

Orange Beach is the better place to slow down. There is little to rush to, the mornings are long and the sunsets over the back bays are quiet, especially from autumn to spring. Avoid summer weekends and spring break if calm is the point.

Memphis is built around music and late nights, and for rest you are left with a suburban day spa, an early walk in Overton Park or an evening on the bluffs. Neither city has a spa tradition.