Clearwater or Fort Myers?

Clearwater's beach is the main reason people go there, and it is right there. The broad sand on the barrier island is the town's front lawn, the water shelves gently, and when Pier 60 gets crowded you can walk or take the ferry to the undeveloped sand of Caladesi Island.

Fort Myers has fine beaches too, but they lie half an hour or more out of town, on Estero Island, Lovers Key and Sanibel. What it offers in return is Sanibel's famous shelling. Seaweed and algae blooms can also cloud the water for a time.

Both cities eat in much the same way: grouper sandwiches, stone crab in season and sunset drinks on a deck, with a lot of chain dining in between. In Clearwater, the best meal often means a short drive to the Greek tavernas and bakeries of Tarpon Springs. Fort Myers has a little more in town, with independent restaurants and craft breweries clustered in the River District, and better cooking towards Sanibel and Naples.

Neither place is a culture destination, but Fort Myers has something to show at home. The Edison and Ford Winter Estates, with their riverside houses, laboratory and gardens, make a proper half day, followed by a walk under the royal palms of McGregor Boulevard and through the brick streets of the River District.

Clearwater offers a restored 1920s theatre and a few older buildings on the downtown bluff, and little more. Anyone curious about art or architecture there ends up driving to St Petersburg or Tampa.

Evenings are quiet in both, and the difference lies in where they happen. In Clearwater, night revolves around the beach: sunset at Pier 60, then tiki decks and cover bands, with Ybor City close enough for a real night out. Fort Myers splits its evenings between the cocktail and rooftop bars of downtown, livened up by the monthly art walk, and the beach bars around the pier on Estero Island. It has an older crowd for much of the winter.

Clearwater's outdoors happens mostly on the open water. You can kayak and paddleboard through the mangrove channels, head out from the marina to fish, and watch dolphins in the harbour. The pine flatwoods of Caladesi and Honeymoon Island suit a gentle walk among nesting ospreys and shorebirds. On land, the Pinellas Trail follows an old rail line for many kilometres, so you can cycle a long way on the flat without loading a bike into the car.

Fort Myers has the richer wildlife, which makes it the better base for anyone coming for nature. The Ding Darling refuge on Sanibel is one of the best places in the country to see roseate spoonbills, herons and ibis. Corkscrew Swamp and the Six Mile Cypress Slough have boardwalks through cypress forest, and the mangrove tunnels of the Great Calusa Blueway are made for paddling. Go in winter, before the summer mosquitoes arrive.

Clearwater sits on the edge of a large metropolitan area, which gives it more to do nearby. The Dalí Museum in St Petersburg, the cigar factories and Cuban clubs of Ybor City, and the sponge docks of Tarpon Springs are all within an hour, Sarasota's Ringling Museum is about the same distance, and Orlando is two hours away.

Fort Myers' outings are quieter and more scenic. Naples and its pier lie under an hour south, Boca Grande and the Captiva villages make easy island days, and the Koreshan settlement is a curious stop. The Ringling Museum is a longer drive from here.

Clearwater is the easier place with children. Lifeguards and a playground sit beside the calm water at Pier 60, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium with its rescued dolphins and turtles is close by, and Busch Gardens and Adventure Island are within forty minutes.

Fort Myers still works well for small children in the shallow Gulf, and shell hunting on Sanibel, the Shell Factory's animal park and spring-training baseball in March fill the days. But there is no aquarium or theme park nearby, and Orlando is a three-hour drive.

Clearwater lets you leave the car parked for part of the stay. Hotels, food and sand sit close together on the beach, a trolley runs down to Sand Key, and a water taxi crosses to downtown.

In Fort Myers there is no getting around that. Town, beaches, Sanibel and the reserves are spread across a wide county, the buses are too sparse to use, and in winter traffic over the bridges backs up badly.

Fort Myers gives shoppers a little more reason to go out. The outlet mall towards Estero draws bargain hunters, and Periwinkle Way on Sanibel and the Captiva villages are good browsing for galleries and shell shops. Clearwater's offer is mostly beachwear and souvenirs on the strip and malls on the mainland, though natural sponges from Tarpon Springs make the most local thing to take home.

Costs come out much the same, and both are at their dearest in the late-winter peak. In Clearwater a beachfront room is the big expense, and staying on the mainland or using a condo kitchen saves money. In Fort Myers the beach, and especially Sanibel, costs most, and a rental car is a fixed extra on top, along with beach parking and the causeway fee. Summer is cheaper in both, at the price of heat and storms.

The two are evenly matched, each with a large hall for touring Broadway shows and big names: Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater and the Barbara B. Mann hall in Fort Myers. Clearwater adds intimate concerts in its 1920s Capitol Theatre, with Tampa's large arts centre close by for opera and ballet. Fort Myers has its own professional repertory company in a 1908 theatre and a regional symphony, though its programme largely stops in summer.

Neither city offers more than resort-hotel spas, so the rest comes from the pace. Clearwater's is that of a low-rise retirement town, with pool days and evenings in the waterfront park below the bluff, though spring break weekends break the calm. Fort Myers is at its most restful out on Sanibel and Captiva, where low buildings, bike paths and dawn walks along the shell line set an even slower rhythm.