Clearwater or Daytona Beach?

Clearwater has the better beach for swimming. Its powder-white sand runs into clear, shallow Gulf water with barely a ripple. The wild stretches on Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands are a short ferry ride or causeway drive away.

Daytona's 37km of hard-packed sand is wider and longer, and cars are allowed on marked stretches. The Atlantic there is greener and choppier, though, and its rip currents are a real danger. That suits surfers at Ponce Inlet and New Smyrna Beach better than anyone who wants to float in still water.

Neither town is worth the trip for its food, and both serve the same grouper sandwiches, smoked fish dip and shrimp, eaten on a deck over the water. Clearwater adds stone crab in season and has the Greek bakeries and tavernas of Tarpon Springs nearby. In Daytona the best meals are at the old fish camps on the Halifax River and down towards Ponce Inlet, and Southern breakfasts take care of the mornings.

Daytona Beach has more of its own to see. You can tour the Speedway, visit the Museum of Arts and Sciences with its Cuban art and planetarium, and climb Florida's tallest lighthouse. Together they make a solid day or two, rooted in the town's history of racing on the sand.

Clearwater has little beyond a few early twentieth-century buildings on its downtown bluff and a restored 1920s theatre. For culture you drive to the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg or to Tampa.

Daytona has the rowdier nights, at least when the bikers and race fans arrive and Main Street's saloons spill onto the street during Bike Week and Biketoberfest. Outside those weeks it settles down to tiki bars, sports bars and hotel lounges.

Clearwater's evenings centre on the sunset at Pier 60, followed by cover bands on open-air beach decks, and only spring gets louder. Neither town offers much for clubbing or late dancing, and from Clearwater people cross to Ybor City in Tampa for that.

The two are evenly matched: both are flat and watery, with dolphins close to shore and manatees in winter. Clearwater's outdoors centres on the Gulf islands of Caladesi and Honeymoon, kayaking through mangrove channels and easy cycling on the Pinellas Trail.

Daytona's options are more spread out. There are the undeveloped dunes of Canaveral National Seashore and the Mosquito Lagoon, excellent birding on Merritt Island, manatees inland at Blue Spring, and surf breaks near Ponce Inlet.

Daytona is better placed for outings. St Augustine's Spanish fort and old streets, the rockets at Kennedy Space Center and Orlando's theme parks are each about an hour away, which gives you three very different days out.

Clearwater's best trips lean towards art: the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg, the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, plus Tampa's Ybor City and the sponge docks at Tarpon Springs. Orlando takes about two hours from Clearwater against one from Daytona, and from either town you need a car.

Clearwater is the easier place to bring children. The calm, shallow Gulf has little surf, Pier 60 has a playground and lifeguards, and the rescued dolphins and sea turtles at the marine aquarium are a reliable favourite. Busch Gardens and Tampa's water park are within forty minutes.

Daytona works for a family beach stay too, with arcades, rides and ice cream around the boardwalk and Orlando's parks about an hour away. However, rip currents mean children have to swim near the lifeguards, and Bike Week and race weekends bring noise that families tend to avoid.

Neither is easy without a car, but in Clearwater you can do more on foot. Hotels, restaurants and the sand are close together on the beach, a trolley runs down to Sand Key, and a ferry crosses to downtown.

Daytona is more completely built around driving. Its sights are strung along long roads on both sides of the river, and the buses run too rarely to rely on. The hard sand makes a pleasant route for walking and cycling, but the Speedway and the state parks need a car.

Shopping comes a long way behind the beach in both towns. Clearwater's most local buys are natural sponges and Greek goods from Tarpon Springs, and Tampa is the place for luxury brands. Daytona has a large outlet centre for brand-name clothes, and its Main Street sells motorcycle gear and biker clothing that suit the town.

Daytona Beach is the cheaper of the two. Its many older oceanfront motels and condos keep room rates lower, and diners and casual seafood keep meals reasonable. The savings disappear during the Daytona 500, Bike Week and the other event weeks, so it pays to avoid them.

Clearwater's beachfront hotels are expensive, especially at the late winter and spring peak. Staying on the mainland, or coming in summer or autumn, keeps the cost down.

Clearwater has the slightly better venues. Ruth Eckerd Hall books touring rock and pop, Broadway tours and orchestral concerts, and the restored Capitol Theatre gives smaller shows an intimate setting. For opera and ballet, Tampa's large arts centre is close by.

Daytona's calendar is more seasonal. A long-running winter series brings visiting orchestras, the Peabody Auditorium hosts Broadway tours, and the oceanfront bandshell has free summer concerts. For a wider choice, people drive to Orlando.

Neither has spas worth travelling for, so the difference lies in the pace. Clearwater is a low-rise resort and retirement town of hotel pools and evenings in the waterfront park, which makes it the more restful choice for most of the year.

Daytona can be just as slow, with early walks on the hard sand and sunsets over the river. Race weeks and Bike Week fill it with engines and crowds, though, so your dates matter much more there.