Charleston or Destin?

Charleston's beaches are good, but you add them to a city stay. Folly Beach, Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms are each about half an hour from the old town, and the Atlantic there is greenish and tidal rather than clear.

In Destin the beach is the main event. Fine white quartz sand runs from Okaloosa Island and Henderson Beach State Park to the 30A dune lakes, the Gulf water is clear and usually calmer, and it stays a little warmer late into the season. In both places, watch for rip currents on rough days.

Charleston is far the better place to eat. Its Lowcountry cooking, with shrimp and grits, she-crab soup and Carolina Gold rice, draws on Gullah Geechee traditions and is taken seriously everywhere from townhouse dining rooms to whole-hog barbecue pits. Book the well-known tables well ahead.

Destin's strength is narrower: very fresh Gulf snapper, grouper and royal red shrimp eaten on harbour decks, sometimes cooked from your own catch. Beyond that, the coast highway is mostly chains and family restaurants with long summer waits.

There is little contest here. Charleston's peninsula is itself the sight, with Rainbow Row, the Battery and the single houses south of Broad. The Nathaniel Russell and Aiken-Rhett houses, Fort Sumter and the Old Slave Mart Museum face the city's past honestly.

Destin grew out of a fishing village and kept almost nothing old. A small fishing museum, the temple mound and the military aircraft in neighbouring Fort Walton Beach take a morning at most.

Neither city is a night-out destination, but Charleston gives you more choice all year. Upper King Street has rooftop bars, cocktail rooms and oyster bars, and the French Quarter has quieter wine bars and old taverns. Destin's drinking is seasonal and outdoors: harbour boardwalk decks, frozen drinks, and afternoon boat parties at Crab Island, with most evenings ending early outside summer.

The two are about level, and both are flat coasts best seen from the water, but they offer different water. Charleston's is the Lowcountry marsh: kayaking through spartina creeks with dolphins, and Spanish-moss forest with alligators in the Francis Marion and ACE Basin.

Destin looks out to the open sea. Deep water lies close to shore, so the big-game fishing charters are excellent. You can also snorkel along the jetties, paddle on Choctawhatchee Bay or walk boardwalks around the rare coastal dune lakes to the east.

Charleston has more worth leaving town for, and the best of it is close. Within about half an hour lie the Ashley River estates of Middleton Place, Magnolia and Drayton Hall, where you tour the gardens and great houses alongside the story of the enslaved workforce that built them. McLeod Plantation on James Island tells only that story. With a whole day free, Savannah's squares are about two hours' drive away and Beaufort and its Gullah sea islands a little closer, so the outings add to the history you came for.\n\nFrom Destin, a day out changes the resort scenery but not the subject.

Forty minutes east, Seaside, Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach on 30A are carefully designed seaside villages, good for an afternoon stroll and a browse. Pensacola, about an hour west, is the one real dose of history, with its Spanish and British colonial quarter, brick forts and naval aviation. Beyond those two, anything distinctive is more than two hours along the Gulf, and as from Charleston, every trip needs a car.

Charleston works best with school-age children. The boat out to Fort Sumter, the aircraft carrier at Patriots Point and the replica ship at Charles Towne Landing bring history to life, and the island beaches have wide sand and gentle surf on most days. There's no theme park or major zoo, though, and the outings tend to be short.

Destin is the easier family choice overall, because the whole trip is built around the sand children want anyway. On calm days its soft sand and clear water suit even toddlers. Parents need to learn the beach flags, because rip currents make the Gulf dangerous for children on rough days. High-summer heat and afternoon thunderstorms also tire small children, so late spring and early autumn are kinder.

Charleston has the edge because its historic centre can be walked. Most sights lie within about 3km on flat streets, and pedicabs and a free shuttle cover the gaps, though you still need a car for the beaches and plantations. Destin is a car town from start to finish. It stretches along one congested highway with few safe crossings, and only the harbour boardwalk and the 30A bike trail suit walking.

Charleston is the nicer place to browse. King Street runs from antiques dealers through fashion brands to independent boutiques, and the City Market is where Gullah weavers sell sweetgrass baskets, a craft you won't find in Destin. Destin's shopping is resort retail: a big outlet centre near Miramar Beach, a chain mall and swimwear shops, with more stylish boutiques along 30A.

Neither is cheap, but Destin is a little easier on the budget. Charleston's peninsula inns cost as much as those in far bigger cities, and the popular restaurants and paid house tours add up quickly. Its old streets and the Battery are free to wander.

Destin is expensive in summer, but it drops sharply from late autumn to early spring. A condo with a kitchen cuts eating costs at any time of year.

Charleston has much more to see and hear. Spoleto Festival USA fills the city with opera, chamber music, dance and jazz each late spring, and the Dock Street Theatre, the Gaillard Center and Gullah storytelling keep things going for the rest of the year. In Destin, live performance mostly means cover bands on bar decks and summer lawn concerts in the 30A towns, with the symphony across the bay in Niceville.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and both rely on resort and hotel spas, on Kiawah Island in Charleston's case and around Sandestin in Destin's. Charleston is slightly more restful because of its pace, with shaded walled gardens, church courtyards and evenings at White Point Garden. Destin's calm comes from early walks on empty sand, and summer crowds take much of it away.