This largely depends on you. Rentals can be more hands-on than equities, though that depends on how much management you want to do yourself. For me, I do both, have rentals and equities. Why put all your eggs in one basket? I started with rentals because I was scared of stocks, but I've gotten over that. Moving forward I still put money in equities while keeping a down payment worth of cash for any rental opportunities that may pop up.
"Better/best" is very relative. Everyone has their own risk tolerance.
What do you mean when you say their are reasonable places near you? Have you actually run the numbers to see what kind of cash flow they would produce?