Buzios or Florianopolis?

These two are equally strong for beaches, but in different ways. Buzios fits more than twenty beaches onto one small peninsula. The calm, clear coves on the bay side, such as Ferradura, Joao Fernandes and Tartaruga, are good for floating and snorkelling, and Geriba and Tucuns on the open side have the surf. Schooners and water taxis link the coves, so changing beaches is part of the day.

Florianopolis has more beaches along a much longer coastline. The north has calm bays at Jurere and Daniela, Mole and Joaquina in the east have open-Atlantic surf and strong currents, and in the far south you have to walk or take a boat to reach Lagoinha do Leste. The sea there is warmer than in Buzios at the height of summer but far colder in winter.

Both towns live on seafood, but Florianopolis has a real local food tradition. Oysters farmed in its own waters are served at waterside tables in Ribeirao da Ilha and Santo Antonio de Lisboa. There is also the long shrimp feast called sequencia de camarao, and the Mercado Publico is good for a cold beer among the fishmongers.

Buzios eats well for its size, with moqueca and grilled fish on Rua das Pedras and the Orla Bardot at sunset. Still, the menus are written for visitors, and you will find little regional cooking beyond the coastal dishes.

Florianopolis has a day or two of real sightseeing. Buzios has about an hour's worth. In Buzios that hour takes in the chapel of Sant'Ana on its hill above the bay, the painted fishing boats pulled up on Ossos beach, the Bardot statue on the waterfront and the few whitewashed streets left from the old fishing village. There is no museum to fill a grey afternoon.

On Santa Catarina island you can walk under the Hercilio Luz suspension bridge, see the cathedral and the pink Palacio Cruz e Sousa with its state history museum on Praca XV, and spend an afternoon among the painted houses of Santo Antonio de Lisboa and Ribeirao da Ilha. The 18th-century forts that guarded the bay add a boat outing to Anhatomirim.

In summer Florianopolis offers the bigger and more varied night out. You can choose between the glossy beach clubs of Jurere Internacional, where daytime sessions run into the night and well-known DJs play in high season, and the younger bars and street drinking around Lagoa da Conceicao.

Nightlife in Buzios is one street. On Rua das Pedras, people eat late and then move on to lounge bars and small clubs among a well-dressed crowd. It is fun but limited. In both places the scene shrinks sharply once summer ends.

Florianopolis has much more to explore on land. Much of the island is protected, hilly Atlantic forest, with trails to remote beaches and along the Costa da Lagoa. You can sandboard on the Joaquina dunes, kitesurf or paddle on the lagoon, and see southern right whales calving to the south in late winter and spring.

In Buzios the scenery is best seen from the water: you can snorkel with turtles in the bays, kitesurf at Rasa and Manguinhos or dive off nearby Arraial do Cabo. Inland the land is low, dry scrub, with no forest walks.

From Florianopolis you can reach a good range of places on the mainland. Blumenau and Pomerode have half-timbered houses and a German beer tradition, Balneario Camboriu is a high-rise beach city with a cable car, and to the south are the surf towns of Garopaba and Praia do Rosa and the colonial centre of Laguna.

Buzios offers far less. Cabo Frio and its 17th-century fort are half an hour away, and Arraial do Cabo is mostly visited for its boat trips. Rio is three hours by road, too far for an easy day out.

Florianopolis has more for children. Its northern beaches at Canasvieiras, Jurere and Daniela are wide and shallow, older children enjoy sandboarding at Joaquina, and the Beto Carrero World theme park is a day out up the coast. The downside is that long summer traffic jams can wear out small passengers.

The bay coves in Buzios are just as gentle, and pousadas with pools are common, but once the beach day is over there is nothing built for children. In both places children are welcome in restaurants late into the evening.

Buzios is the easier of the two once you have arrived. Its centre around Rua das Pedras and Armacao beach is small enough to walk, and taxis, hired buggies and water taxis cover the hilly rest of the peninsula in short hops. The catch is the three-hour road transfer from Rio's airport.

Florianopolis has its own airport, but the island is about 50km long. Buses change at hub terminals, and in summer the roads to the north and to Lagoa slow to a crawl. Most visitors hire a car and choose a base near the beaches they want, rather than crossing the island every day.

Both are modest for shopping, and the difference is in kind. In Buzios, shopping is part of the evening stroll. Boutiques on and around Rua das Pedras sell Brazilian swimwear, linen, jewellery and art and stay open late after dinner, and there is an evening craft fair.

Florianopolis has big air-conditioned malls for practical buys and surf shops in Jurere and Lagoa. Its one real local craft is renda de bilro, the bobbin lace made in the Azorean villages, which is worth buying in Santo Antonio de Lisboa.

By Brazilian standards both are expensive, but Florianopolis is easier on the budget. Simple seafood places, bakeries, buses and hire cars there are reasonably priced, and outside the summer rooms get much cheaper. Only Jurere Internacional is priced as a luxury enclave.

In Buzios, resort pricing runs through the boutique pousadas and waterfront restaurants, and taxis and boat trips add up on a spread-out peninsula. Beach kiosks, per-kilo lunch places and coming from April to November keep costs down.

Florianopolis at least has stages. The 19th-century Teatro Alvaro de Carvalho and the Centro Integrado de Cultura host theatre, dance and touring Brazilian artists, and bars in Lagoa and the centre have samba and MPB on many nights. The Azorean boi-de-mamao pageant appears at local festivals.

In Buzios, live performance means bossa nova or samba in the background at a waterfront dinner on a summer evening, and nothing more.

Buzios has no hot springs or bathing tradition to compare with the mainland springs near Florianopolis, so rest there means a hillside pousada with a small spa and a pool looking out to sea. Add days built around one cove and a long lunch. In high season, pick a pousada well away from Rua das Pedras if you want quiet.

Florianopolis has the warm mineral water of Santo Amaro da Imperatriz and Aguas Mornas, under an hour inland, where a spa town grew up around the springs. On the island itself, yoga studios and small retreats serve the surf crowd. Outside summer, the southern villages and the quieter corners of Lagoa are the places to slow down.