Boca Raton or Miami Beach?

The same warm Atlantic washes both, but Miami Beach is built around it: about 11km of unbroken sand down the whole island, with a paved beachwalk behind the dunes and a different mood in each stretch, from crowded, people-watching South Beach to the quieter sand of Mid-Beach and North Beach.

Boca Raton's shore comes as separate beach parks reached by bridge, greener and lower-rise, with dunes and sea grape instead of resort towers. Its best feature is Red Reef Park, where you can snorkel a reef straight from the sand. You give up the scale and the scene for calmer, emptier sand.

Miami Beach eats with more character. Its Latin American communities bring Cuban sandwiches, croquetas and cafecito from takeaway windows, plus ceviche and arepas, and Joe's Stone Crab has served winter stone crab for generations. The catch is the tourist menus on Ocean Drive, so it pays to eat on the side streets and in North Beach.

Boca Raton's dining is comfortable but formulaic: steakhouses, Italian rooms and chains around Mizner Park and the shopping plazas. Its local strength is the Jewish deli and bagel bakery tradition. For anything more varied, most people drive up to Delray Beach.

Both towns owe their looks to Florida's resort booms, but Miami Beach got the more complete result. Its Art Deco Historic District has hundreds of pastel 1930s hotels you can walk along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, with the Wolfsonian's design collection, the Bass and the Holocaust Memorial close by.

Boca Raton has Addison Mizner's 1920s Mediterranean Revival buildings, the Old Town Hall museum and a decent art museum in Mizner Park. The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, which recall an early Japanese farming colony, are the standout. Beyond those there is not much to see.

These two could hardly be further apart after dark. South Beach is a going-out destination in its own right, with clubs and guest DJs running until dawn, afternoon pool parties and lobby bars along Collins and Washington Avenues. Expect door policies and table service, though Sunset Harbour has quieter wine bars.

In Boca Raton an evening usually means dinner and a glass of wine on a Mizner Park terrace, with a few student bars near the university. For anything later, people drive to Delray Beach's Atlantic Avenue or down to Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

There is little to choose between them, since both are flat and the outdoors means water: kayaking and paddleboarding on sheltered inland water, reef snorkelling and Gulf Stream fishing. Boca Raton has more wildlife close to town. Gumbo Limbo's boardwalks and turtle-nesting night walks are in town, and the Loxahatchee refuge's alligators and wading birds are about half an hour away.

Miami Beach is the better base for the big parks. The Everglades are about an hour away, Biscayne National Park protects a bay of reefs and keys, and Oleta River State Park has mangrove trails and mountain-bike loops.

The choice of outings is broadly similar, and the difference is direction. Boca Raton sits in the middle of the Gold Coast. Palm Beach's Flagler Museum and Worth Avenue are about forty minutes north, Fort Lauderdale half an hour south, and Tri-Rail and Brightline trains reach Miami without a car.

Miami Beach is right next to the best of mainland Miami: Little Havana, Wynwood, Vizcaya and Coral Gables. It is also closer to Key Largo, the gateway to the Keys, but Palm Beach is a long drive and most trips need a car or a tour.

Both work for families, but in different ways. Boca Raton has more for children within the city: the Gumbo Limbo turtle tanks, the Children's Science Explorium, Sugar Sand Park's playgrounds and Red Reef's shallow first snorkel, all in a calm, orderly town.

On Miami Beach the beach itself does most of the work, with lifeguards along the whole shore and playgrounds behind the sand. Families do best in Mid-Beach, North Beach or towards Surfside, away from South Beach's weekend noise, and the zoo and science museum are across the bay.

Miami Beach is far easier without a car. South Beach is flat and compact, free trolleys and buses run up Collins Avenue, and the beachwalk and bike share make cycling simple. Leaving the island is the hard part, with traffic on the causeways and scarce parking.

Boca Raton is the reverse. Apart from the few walkable blocks around Mizner Park, beaches, hotels and shops are spread along wide multi-lane roads and the buses are slow. A car or ride-hailing is close to essential, and the trains are useful only for trips to other cities.

There is little between them, and both lean towards money rather than character. Boca Raton's strength is its large enclosed luxury mall with top department stores, plus the open-air boutiques of Mizner Park and Royal Palm Place.

Miami Beach divides in two. Lincoln Road, the Morris Lapidus pedestrian mall, is mostly chains but makes a pleasant evening stroll, while Bal Harbour at the island's north tip gathers the European fashion houses. Neither place has real markets or local crafts.

Both are expensive, especially from December to April, and summer is when rates fall in each. The costs fall in different places, though. In Boca Raton you pay for the hire car, ride-hailing and parking at the beach parks.

On Miami Beach the extras come from resort fees, service charges and South Beach cocktail and club prices. Saving money looks different too: Cuban takeaway windows, free trolleys and cheaper North Beach hotels on Miami Beach, or delis and self-catering rentals in Boca Raton.

Miami Beach has much more going on. The New World Symphony plays in its Frank Gehry hall, with some concerts projected onto the outside wall for a crowd on the lawn. Miami City Ballet is based on the island, and the Jackie Gleason and Colony theatres take touring shows and smaller productions.

Boca Raton's arts calendar is smaller and seasonal: open-air concerts at the Mizner Park Amphitheater, regional musicals, conservatory recitals at Lynn University and a local ballet company. For opera or major orchestras, residents drive to the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach.

Miami Beach has the deeper spa offer. Several resorts run hydrotherapy circuits with saunas, steam rooms and plunge pools, and sunrise yoga on the sand is part of the morning. To keep the stay restful, choose Mid-Beach or the stretch towards Surfside over South Beach.

Boca Raton's spas are mostly resort and day spas, with less range, but the whole town is quiet, so you do not have to pick your area carefully. Neither has a bathing tradition. Rest in both means pools and paid treatments.