Boca Raton or Orlando?

Boca Raton has the beach on its own doorstep. A run of public parks lines the barrier island, with soft pale sand and dunes rather than towers, and at Red Reef Park there is a shallow reef you can snorkel from the shore. The sea is warm enough to swim in every month, and the mood on the sand is quiet and family-minded.

Orlando has no coast of its own. Cocoa Beach and New Smyrna are about an hour east and make a good day out, but day-to-day swimming in Orlando means hotel pools and water parks. A trip built around the beach belongs in Boca Raton.

Neither city is a food destination, and both rely heavily on chains and polished, familiar dining. Boca Raton's strengths are its Jewish delis and bagel bakeries and its waterfront seafood, such as grouper and stone crab, mostly around Mizner Park and Royal Palm Place.

Orlando has more range if you leave the tourist corridors. There are Vietnamese and other Asian kitchens in Mills 50, chef-led restaurants in Winter Park, and Epcot's World Showcase for grazing inside the parks. In both cities the better meals usually mean a drive.

Boca Raton has slightly more to look at, mostly thanks to Addison Mizner's 1920s Mediterranean Revival town. You can see it in the Old Town Hall with its history museum and in the pink-towered hotel, and the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens lie just north.

Orlando's heritage is citrus groves and theme parks. It does have one outstanding collection, the Morse Museum in Winter Park, with Tiffany's chapel interior. Neither city will keep a museum-goer busy for long, but from Boca Raton, Palm Beach and Miami are closer.

Orlando offers more of a night out. Downtown around Orange Avenue and Wall Street Plaza fills with a university crowd late at weekends, Ivanhoe Village and Mills 50 have gay bars and a relaxed scene, and Disney Springs and CityWalk add easy themed bars for people staying near the parks.

Boca Raton's evenings centre on wine bars and cocktail lounges around Mizner Park, and the town is mostly quiet before midnight. For anything livelier, you head up to Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach.

Both cities are flat, and in both the outdoors means water, but a different kind of water. In Boca Raton it is the sea: snorkelling and diving on the nearshore reef, fishing charters out into the Gulf Stream, paddling through the Intracoastal mangroves and sea turtle nesting walks at Gumbo Limbo.

Around Orlando it is fresh water. Wekiwa Springs is good for kayaking, Blue Spring draws manatees in winter, and airboats run past alligators on the Kissimmee headwaters. Towards the coast, the lagoons of Merritt Island are among the best birdwatching in Florida.

There is about as much within reach of each, but Boca Raton's outings all lie along the same coastal strip. You can see the Flagler Museum and Worth Avenue in Palm Beach, the canals of Fort Lauderdale, and spend a full day in Miami, which you can reach by train.

Orlando's options are more varied, but they all need a car. Kennedy Space Center is an hour east, the old Spanish town of St Augustine lies to the north, and Tampa's Ybor City and the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg are to the west.

Here Orlando is in a class of its own. Disney's four theme parks and two water parks, plus Universal, SeaWorld and Legoland, could fill a fortnight with children, and the hotels, transport and dining are all designed around them.

Boca Raton is a gentler, orderly choice. It has lifeguarded beaches, an easy first snorkel at Red Reef, sea turtles at Gumbo Limbo, and the playgrounds of Sugar Sand Park. It works well for young children who are happy with sand and wildlife, but the big attractions are a long drive away.

You will want a car in both, but Boca Raton is a little easier without one. Its downtown around Mizner Park is walkable, the coast road is good for cycling in the cooler months, and Tri-Rail and Brightline trains make trips to Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach realistic.

Orlando is built on interstates and toll roads, with the parks, hotels and downtown miles apart. The exception is staying inside Disney or Universal, where monorails, boats, buses and walkways let a family manage without a car.

Both cities shop in malls rather than markets, and neither has much independent design or local craft. Boca Raton leans towards luxury: its large mall west of downtown carries designer labels and leading department stores, Mizner Park has open-air boutiques, and Worth Avenue is a drive north.

Orlando leans towards brands at outlet prices. Two big premium outlet centres draw international shoppers for American labels, and the Mall at Millenia, Disney Springs and Winter Park's Park Avenue fill out the choice.

Neither city is cheap, but Orlando gives you more ways to keep the bill down. It has a huge supply of rooms along International Drive and in Kissimmee, along with condos and villas for self-catering, so accommodation is fairly priced for the United States. The real expense is park tickets and the extras that come with them.

Boca Raton is one of Florida's wealthiest towns, and its winter hotel rates and restaurants reflect that, with car hire and beach parking on top. Rates drop in summer, at the cost of heat and storms.

Orlando has the stronger stage. The Dr. Phillips Center hosts touring Broadway productions and the Orlando Philharmonic, Orlando Shakespeare Theater performs in Loch Haven Park, and the Orlando Fringe fills the spring with small shows. On top of that come the polished stage shows inside the parks.

Boca Raton's calendar is smaller and mostly in winter. There are open-air concerts at the Mizner Park Amphitheater, recitals at Lynn University, Broadway-style musicals from a regional theatre, and a local ballet company. For big touring productions, local audiences drive to West Palm Beach or Miami.

Boca Raton is the better place to rest, largely because the whole town is slow and quiet. Resort spas, yoga studios and early nights are the normal pace there.

Orlando has plenty of spa resorts and lazy rivers, but the early starts and long days of a park trip work against calm, and its quietest corner is Winter Park. Neither city has a bathing tradition, so in both a spa is a paid treatment.