Orange Beach or San Antonio?

Here the gap is as wide as it gets. Orange Beach sits directly on the Gulf with miles of fine white sand, shallow water that slopes gently enough for small children, and sea temperatures near 30°C in high summer, with rip currents, jellyfish and storm season the things to watch.

San Antonio is two and a half hours from the nearest coast, so swimming means something else entirely: tubing the cool, clear spring-fed Comal and San Marcos rivers, a Hill Country swimming hole under limestone bluffs, or a hotel pool. Enjoyable on a hot afternoon, but no substitute for a beach.

San Antonio is the better place to eat. This is the home of Tex-Mex, and the family places on the West and South Sides, Sunday barbacoa, Central Texas brisket and the market and kitchens at the Pearl give real depth within a regional style.

Orange Beach does one thing well: Gulf seafood, from Royal Red shrimp and chargrilled oysters to snapper eaten on a back-bay deck. Past a few good fish dinners, though, the main road repeats the same fried platters.

There is no real contest. San Antonio holds the Alamo and four further 18th-century missions along the river, together a UNESCO World Heritage Site, plus San Fernando Cathedral, the Spanish Governor's Palace, the King William district and art at the McNay and the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Orange Beach is a resort strip with one small museum of Native American and fishing history. The coast's forts and old towns all lie outside it, a drive away.

Neither is a party city, but San Antonio offers more choice through the year. Beyond the margarita patios of the River Walk, the St. Mary's Strip, Southtown and the Pearl have cocktail bars, beer gardens and open-sided icehouses, and Tejano dance halls add something local.

Orange Beach is a beach-bar town whose evenings revolve around waterfront decks and the Flora-Bama roadhouse on the state line. It is lively on summer weekends and at spring break but quiet off season, and every move between bars needs a car or taxi.

Orange Beach has the edge outdoors, and most of it happens on the water: kayaking the sheltered bays, dolphin cruises out of Perdido Pass, charter fishing and diving on offshore reefs. On land there is a paved trail through pine woods and marsh into Gulf State Park, and birding at Bon Secour during the migrations.

San Antonio's surroundings are drier and hillier, with trails in Government Canyon, show caves in the limestone, the Guadalupe River and spring bluebonnets. It suits hikers in the cooler months, but the outdoor options lie further from town.

San Antonio has the more varied set of drives. The German-settled Hill Country towns, Fredericksburg with its wineries, Gruene with its old dance hall, Boerne and cowboy Bandera, make easy outings, and Austin is close enough for a day of museums and music.

From Orange Beach the outings mostly supply the history the town lacks: Pensacola's colonial quarter and naval aviation museum, Mobile's antebellum streets and the car ferry to Dauphin Island. Both lists need a car.

Both work well with children, but in different ways. Orange Beach is a single-purpose beach vacation: a rental condo with a pool, shallow sandy water, dolphin boats and mini golf, at a pace set by sandcastles and early nights.

San Antonio swaps sand for attractions, with SeaWorld, Six Flags Fiesta Texas, the zoo, the Witte Museum's dinosaurs and the DoSeum. That gives older children more variety but means more driving between sights. Midsummer heat needs planning in both.

San Antonio is the easier of the two without a car, at least downtown, where the shaded River Walk links hotels, the Alamo, the cathedral and the Pearl on foot and a riverside bike path runs out to the missions. Once you head for the theme parks or the Hill Country, though, it turns into a car city.

Orange Beach is strung along one coastal highway with almost no useful public transport, so a car is part of the trip from the first grocery run, and summer traffic on the main road is slow. Bicycles help only on the trails and side roads.

San Antonio has more to browse. Market Square's Mexican crafts, embroidered dresses and piñatas, the artists' studios of La Villita and specialist shops for boots and Western hats give it local character, backed by large malls and outlet centres.

Orange Beach sells swimwear, souvenirs and fishing gear along the main road and at the marina, and anyone wanting brands drives inland to the outlet mall at Foley.

San Antonio is the cheaper of the two. The convention trade keeps hotel rooms plentiful away from the river, taco and barbecue meals cost little, and the missions are free.

Orange Beach charges resort rates in summer, and seafood dinners, tips and car hire add up. It looks much better for groups sharing a large rental with a kitchen, and from late autumn to early spring, when beachfront rates drop sharply.

San Antonio has a proper stage: symphony, opera and ballet at the Tobin Center, touring musicals in the 1929 Majestic Theatre, and the Texas-Mexican accordion sound of conjunto and Tejano in dance halls, at festivals and with mariachi bands around Market Square.

Orange Beach is about outdoor concerts at the marina amphitheatre and bar bands in season, with the November songwriters' festival on the state line its standout week. There is no theatre or classical music.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both the spas come attached to resorts. The difference lies in where calm is found. In Orange Beach it is the beach itself, with empty mornings and back-bay sunsets, best outside summer weekends and spring break.

In San Antonio rest usually means booking one of the Hill Country or golf resorts north of the city. In town, the Japanese Tea Garden and the quieter River Walk stretches make for slower mornings.