Charleston or Cocoa Beach?

Both towns sit on the Atlantic, with greenish, tide-stirred water and the same need to watch for rip currents. The difference is how close the sand is. In Charleston the beaches are a drive away from where you stay, and you choose between surfy Folly Beach, quiet Sullivan's Island with its old forts and dunes, and wider Isle of Palms, with Kiawah and Seabrook further south.

In Cocoa Beach the beach is the town: one long strand of pale, firm sand that is never more than a few streets off, with lifeguards near the pier and wilder stretches north and south. Its sea also stays warmer through the cooler months, so the beach season runs longer.

Charleston is a serious food destination, and Cocoa Beach is not. Charleston's Lowcountry cooking, shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, Carolina Gold rice and winter oyster roasts, draws on Gullah Geechee and West African roots and is served everywhere from restored townhouse dining rooms to whole-hog barbecue, mostly around upper King Street and the French Quarter.

Cocoa Beach eats well enough after a day in the sun: rock shrimp from Port Canaveral, fish tacos and raw bars on dockside decks along the Banana River. Beyond that it is beach grills and chains, with no fine dining or food culture to plan a trip around.

Charleston is the place for sightseeing. The peninsula south of Broad Street, with Rainbow Row, the Battery, walled gardens and steeples, is a sight in itself, and the Nathaniel Russell and Aiken-Rhett houses, Fort Sumter and the International African American Museum give the history real depth over two or three days.

Cocoa Beach has almost nothing to visit in town beyond the pier. Its one unforgettable experience is watching a rocket climb from Cape Canaveral, seen straight from the sand.

Neither town is a reason to travel for nights out, and both are about bars rather than clubs. Charleston still gives you more choice: rooftop and cocktail bars and oyster bars on upper King Street, older taverns in the French Quarter, and a lively weekend crowd.

Cocoa Beach keeps to beach and sports bars around the pier, with cover bands on open decks, and is usually quiet well before late. For anything bigger, people drive to Orlando.

Both sit in flat, watery country without hills, but Cocoa Beach has the richer wildlife. Its lagoon has manatees, dolphins and summer-night paddles through bioluminescent water, and Merritt Island and Canaveral National Seashore add winter birding, alligators and nesting sea turtles, with steady learner surf on the beach as well.

Charleston's Lowcountry is quieter and more wooded: kayaks through spartina marsh creeks with dolphins, live oaks hung with Spanish moss, and trails in Francis Marion National Forest and the ACE Basin.

Charleston has more good outings. Middleton Place, Magnolia, Drayton Hall and McLeod Plantation are half an hour off, and the historic towns of Savannah and Beaufort make full days with Gullah culture on the sea islands along the way.

Cocoa Beach has one outstanding trip, the Kennedy Space Center with its Saturn V and shuttle Atlantis, plus Orlando's theme parks and Winter Park inland. After that come smaller stops like Cocoa Village and Titusville, with St Augustine a long day away. Both need a car.

Cocoa Beach is the easier choice with children, though Charleston has more for them to do in town. Charleston's aquarium and children's museum sit on the downtown waterfront, Patriots Point lets them climb through an aircraft carrier, and the boat to Fort Sumter and the replica ship at Charles Towne Landing suit school-age children. Its house tours bore small ones, though, and there is no theme park or major zoo.

In Cocoa Beach the whole stay is built around the sand, with lifeguarded beaches in the main parks, beginner surf lessons all along the strand, and condos with kitchens and pools that make family days simple. Rocket launches and a day at the space centre thrill most children, and Orlando's theme parks are close enough for a day inland. Away from the beach and the pier there is little else in town, and on summer afternoons the heat and lightning storms decide when you can be on the sand.

Charleston is easier to get around. Its flat historic peninsula is a pleasure on foot, with pedicabs and a free shuttle filling gaps, though beaches and plantations need a car.

Cocoa Beach is a thin strip along one road: the sand is a short walk and a bike covers downtown, but for everything else you need a car, and the nearest big airport is an hour away in Orlando.

Charleston is a real place to shop. King Street changes from antiques and galleries at the lower end to fashion brands and then independent boutiques, and the City Market is where Gullah weavers sell sweetgrass baskets.

In Cocoa Beach shopping means surfboards, beachwear and souvenirs, led by one famous giant surf store on the main road. For anything else, people go to Cocoa Village or the Orlando malls.

Cocoa Beach is the cheaper stay. Motels and older condos keep rooms reasonable outside busy weeks, though a hire car and space centre and park tickets add up.

Charleston's peninsula hotels and well-known restaurants cost what larger American cities do, especially on spring and autumn weekends. Its old streets, the Battery and the beaches are free, and staying in Mount Pleasant saves money at the cost of driving in.

Charleston has far more on stage, above all in late spring, when Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto bring opera, dance, theatre and jazz for over two weeks. The rest of the year there are the Dock Street Theatre, the symphony at the Gaillard Center and Gullah storytelling and song.

Cocoa Beach offers cover bands on beach decks, with a community playhouse in Cocoa Village and a regional arts centre in Melbourne.

Neither has a bathing or spa tradition. Charleston has better hotel spas and resort spas on Kiawah, and its slow pace, shaded gardens and evenings at White Point Garden make it easy to unwind. Cocoa Beach relaxes in a different way, with day spas, beach yoga, early walks on the sand and sunsets over the river.