Bethany Beach or St. Augustine?

Both have wide, pale Atlantic sand and easy surf, so the difference is in how you use it. At Bethany Beach the beach is the town. You walk from your rental onto a guarded stretch, with the dunes of Delaware Seashore State Park nearby and the calmer Inland Bays for small children.

In St. Augustine the sand is across the Bridge of Lions on Anastasia Island, a short drive from the old town, and runs from the state park's lagoon down to Crescent Beach. The water is much warmer and you can swim for far longer each year, though it is usually greenish rather than clear.

Neither town is a food destination, and both rely on seafood. Bethany Beach means blue crabs cracked open on paper, fried clams and boardwalk sweets, with a small choice that is mostly open only in summer. The larger restaurant scene and breweries of Rehoboth Beach are a short drive north.

St. Augustine's food has more of its own character, thanks to the datil pepper brought by Minorcan settlers, which turns up in clam chowder and pilau. A few chef-led places around the old town and San Marco give it more depth, though the tourist restaurants on St. George Street are best skipped.

On sights, the two are far apart. Bethany Beach has a carved totem pole, a small collection on its origins as a church camp and the concrete Second World War watchtowers along the shore. Anyone wanting more has to drive to Lewes or further.

St. Augustine, founded in 1565, has sights with real weight. There is the coquina-stone Castillo de San Marcos, the balconied lanes of the Spanish quarter, Flagler's former Ponce de Leon Hotel with its Tiffany glass, and the Lightner Museum. It is a sightseeing destination in its own right, worth two or three full days.

After dinner the two towns go separate ways. Bethany Beach has no bar district at all, by design, so an evening means a drink with your meal, a turn along the boardwalk and bed. Anyone who wants a crowd has to drive to the late beach bars of Dewey Beach or Ocean City.

St. Augustine keeps you out longer without needing the car. Its pubs, taverns and patio cocktail bars sit close together around St. George Street, Hypolita Street and the bayfront, so you can walk between several in one evening, and weekends and the college term fill them with a livelier crowd. It is still a town for drinks rather than dancing, with almost no clubs, and the night ends early by city standards.

The landscapes are close cousins. Both are low barrier islands with dunes, salt marsh and calm water behind them for paddling, and neither has a single hill. Bethany Beach's highlight is Assateague Island and its wild ponies, along with crabbing off the docks and surfing at Indian River Inlet.

Around St. Augustine the draw is the Matanzas River and its marsh creeks, where kayakers often meet dolphins, plus the Guana Tolomato Matanzas reserve for birding. Its summer heat and storms make late autumn to spring the best time to be outdoors. At Bethany Beach the outdoor season is summer itself, mosquitoes included.

Both offer a reasonable handful of outings rather than anything outstanding. From Bethany Beach the trips are short and coastal: historic Lewes, the Victorian main street of Berlin, Maryland, and the ferry across Delaware Bay to Cape May, which puts a sea crossing into the day.

St. Augustine's options are spread wider. Jacksonville's museums and Fernandina Beach are within easy reach. Kennedy Space Center and the Orlando theme parks are bigger names, though at about two hours each way they make long days.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Bethany Beach is the classic slow family week of a guarded beach, bike rides, crabbing off a dock and free evenings at the bandstand, in a small, quiet town. It has no zoo or aquarium, though, and most of what children enjoy closes outside summer.

St. Augustine has more to do but is less effortless. The Alligator Farm, the cannon firing at the fort and the lighthouse climb make real outings, but the summer heat and crowded weekend pavements take more managing.

Both have flat, walkable centres and both need a car beyond them. In Bethany Beach the walkable part covers most of the stay, since the rental, the beach and the shops are all within a short walk or bike ride. A seasonal bus links the neighbouring resorts, but there is no rail and summer weekend traffic on the coast highway is heavy.

In St. Augustine the walking happens in the historic district, where the fort, St. George Street and Flagler College are minutes apart and sightseeing trolleys loop past. The beaches are a drive across the bridge, though, so the car comes out most days.

Neither is a shopping destination, and both rely on an outlet mall by a main road for brand names. In Bethany Beach itself the shops are surf, gift and book shops. The bigger draw is the outlets outside Rehoboth Beach, where Delaware's lack of sales tax helps.

St. George Street in St. Augustine is mostly fudge and pirate souvenirs. The galleries and antique dealers around Aviles Street and the local datil-pepper sauces give you better things to take home.

Both are expensive in season, so the choice comes down to how you save. Bethany Beach works best as a week in a rented house or condo, cooking for yourselves. Come in June or September, when prices drop sharply, and there is no sales tax on top.

St. Augustine is slightly easier on the budget, mostly because chain motels by the highway or on the island cost less than the old-town inns. A midweek stay outside spring and summer saves more again, and walking the old streets and using the public beaches costs nothing.

St. Augustine has the stronger live music. Its open-air amphitheatre in the woods on Anastasia Island brings touring rock, country and folk acts for much of the year, and acoustic sets play nightly on old-town patios.

Bethany Beach has free summer concerts at the bandstand by the boardwalk, pleasant from a blanket with children but limited to cover bands and local groups. Rehoboth Beach's autumn jazz festival is the nearest thing to a bigger event.

Neither has a spa culture, so relaxing in either means slowing down. Bethany Beach does this most completely in spring and autumn, when its leafy residential streets go almost silent and the only sound on the boardwalk is the surf. St. Augustine's calm is more sociable, on a B&B veranda or courtyard garden and an evening walk along the bayfront seawall, and it is best midweek, away from the busy weekends.