Charleston or Key West?

Charleston has the better beaches in the usual sense. Folly Beach, Sullivan's Island, Isle of Palms and the long, quiet stretches of Kiawah and Seabrook offer wide sand and real surf, all within about half an hour of the old town by car. The water is greenish and tidal, though, and swimming is mostly a late-spring-to-October affair.

Key West is the other way round. Its sea is warmer, calmer and clearer for far more of the year, but the town beaches are small strips of imported sand or coral rubble, better for floating and snorkelling than for a long day on a towel. For soft sand you drive an hour to Bahia Honda.

Charleston is much the better place to eat. Lowcountry cooking with Gullah Geechee roots, from shrimp and grits and she-crab soup to winter oyster roasts and whole-hog barbecue, is taken seriously in restored townhouse dining rooms around King Street and the French Quarter. The best tables need booking ahead.

Key West's range is narrower: local seafood, conch fritters, Key lime pie, and Cuban sandwiches and coffee from takeaway windows. Its best meals are casual ones at dockside shacks around the Historic Seaport, and the bar food on Duval Street is the weak spot.

Both are historic towns that are best seen on foot, but Charleston has more to see and more depth to it. South of Broad and along the Battery, Georgian and antebellum houses open as museums that show both the grand rooms and the enslaved people's quarters. Fort Sumter, the Old Slave Mart Museum and the International African American Museum make the history hard-hitting.

Key West's Old Town of wooden conch cottages and Victorian verandas is a lovely walk, but its sights are smaller and more about local stories: Hemingway's six-toed cats, Truman's Little White House and the shipwreck treasure collections. Two days is enough.

Key West is the one for a night out. Duval Street is a long run of open-sided bars and old saloons where you carry a drink from one to the next until the small hours. The evening starts with the sunset crowd on Mallory Square, and the upper end of Duval has a long-established gay scene. The mood is loud and boozy rather than stylish.

Charleston's evenings are tidier and end sooner. There are rooftop and cocktail bars on upper King Street, wine bars and old taverns in the French Quarter, and most places close around 2am. Neither town has much for anyone who wants to dance.

Both are flat and both are best seen from the water, but Key West has more to offer. The Florida Reef is a short boat ride out, with clear-water snorkelling and diving among turtles and rays. The mangrove backcountry is made for kayaking and flats fishing, and the Dry Tortugas add remote islands and good birdwatching.

Charleston's Lowcountry is greener and its water murkier: tidal creeks and spartina marsh where kayak tours meet dolphins, live oaks hung with Spanish moss, and alligators along quiet trails in the Francis Marion National Forest and the ACE Basin. There is more to do on land than in Key West, but nothing to match the reef.

Charleston has far more within a day's reach. The Ashley River plantations, Boone Hall and McLeod Plantation are about half an hour away. Beaufort and the Gullah sea islands are about an hour and a half, and Savannah, about two hours away, makes a full day. You need a car for all of them.

Key West sits at the end of the road, and its one standout outing is the ferry to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Beyond that, the Overseas Highway leads to Marathon and Islamorada, and the drive over the Seven Mile Bridge is a sight in itself.

Charleston gives school-age children more to do. The boat out to Fort Sumter is an adventure in itself, and Charles Towne Landing has a replica ship to explore and a small wildlife area. Expect gaps, though. There is no theme park or major zoo, house tours soon bore small children, and summer afternoons are draining, so spring and autumn work best.

Key West's appeal for children is almost all water: glass-bottom boat trips, snorkelling over the reef, the calm shallows at Fort Zachary Taylor and the long ferry ride to the Dry Tortugas. On land there is less, mainly the butterfly conservatory, the shipwreck museum and the Hemingway cats, though trolley tours and the quiet residential streets make the town easy with younger ones. Fantasy Fest in late October is strictly for adults.

Charleston's historic peninsula is flat, compact and a pleasure on foot, with most of downtown within about 3km, and pedicabs and a free shuttle bus fill the gaps. The beaches, plantations and day-trip towns are what need a car. City buses barely reach them, so most visitors drive or use ride-hailing, and parking downtown is tight.

Key West is simpler to manage. All of Old Town lies within a short walk or ride of Duval Street, bicycles are how locals get about, and rental bikes, electric carts and scooters are everywhere, so a car is more trouble than help. You only need wheels for Bahia Honda, Big Pine Key and the rest of the Keys.

Charleston has much more for browsers. King Street changes along its length, from antiques and galleries on lower King to fashion brands in the middle and independent boutiques on upper King, and in the City Market Gullah artisans weave and sell sweetgrass baskets. Key West's Duval Street is mostly T-shirts and Key lime souvenirs, and the better finds are the Old Town art galleries, hand-rolled cigars and the sponge and shell shops by the harbour.

Neither is cheap, but Charleston is the easier of the two on a budget. Inns on the peninsula and the well-known restaurants are expensive, but staying in Mount Pleasant or the suburbs saves real money. Free pleasures like the old streets, the Battery and the beaches go a long way.

Key West costs more. Limited land keeps rooms expensive, Duval Street charges resort prices, and boat trips, diving and the Dry Tortugas ferry soon add up. Cycling everywhere, the free sunset on Mallory Square and the Cuban takeaway windows help, and late summer is the cheapest season.

Neither town has a big formal arts scene, but they offer different kinds of performance. Charleston's year peaks in late spring, when Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto bring opera, chamber music, dance and theatre. At other times the Dock Street Theatre and the Gaillard Center have a modest programme, and Gullah storytelling and song are worth looking out for.

Key West's performances are more informal and happen every night: singer-songwriters and cover bands in the Duval Street bars, drag cabaret, and the jugglers and musicians at the Mallory Square sunset. The Tennessee Williams Theatre and a winter symphony season cover the formal side.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, and in both, spa time means hotel or resort spas, on Kiawah Island in Charleston's case. The difference is the kind of calm. Charleston's comes from shaded gardens, quiet church courtyards, porches and long evenings at White Point Garden.

Key West offers guesthouses built around small pools and gardens, easy-to-find yoga and massage, and the daily pause for sunset. The party on Duval is never far off, though, so a quiet stay means a residential street and avoiding winter weekends and festivals.