Clearwater or Orange Beach?

Both towns have fine white sand sloping gently into clear Gulf water, so the difference is in the setting. Clearwater's sea is especially calm with little surf. The main beach around Pier 60 is busy and well served. For wilder sand you take the ferry to Caladesi Island or drive the causeway to Honeymoon Island.

Orange Beach is one long, unbroken strip backed by low dunes and condo towers, with more room at Alabama Point and in the state park. Rip currents are a real hazard there, so the warning flags matter more than they do in Clearwater's sheltered water.

Both eat the same way: casual Gulf seafood with a view of the water, and not much depth beyond it. In Clearwater that means a grouper sandwich, stone crab in season and smoked fish spread, and the more interesting meals are a drive away, in the Greek tavernas of Tarpon Springs or the cities across the bay.

Orange Beach's best eating is closer to home. Sweet Royal Red shrimp, chargrilled oysters and West Indies crab salad are served in fish houses on the back bays and at the marina. Plan a trip around a few good seafood dinners there.

Neither town is a place for sightseeing, but Clearwater has a little more. Its downtown on the bluff keeps some early twentieth-century buildings and the restored 1920s Capitol Theatre, and serious galleries are under an hour away.

Orange Beach grew from a fishing settlement into a line of condominiums. Its heritage fits into one small museum of Native American and fishing history, and anything more substantial means a full day out.

Evenings in both are relaxed beach-bar affairs that get louder at spring break. Clearwater's evening starts with the sunset crowd at Pier 60 and moves to tiki decks and cover bands within walking distance. For a proper night out you go to Ybor City.

Orange Beach's night revolves around the Flora-Bama, the sprawling old roadhouse on the state line, where people stay late on summer weekends. Out of season it is quiet, and getting between bars takes a car or a taxi.

Clearwater's outdoor life happens mostly on the water: kayaking through mangrove channels, dolphins in the harbour and manatees gathering in sheltered water in winter. On land there is easy cycling on the Pinellas Trail along an old rail line, and ospreys nest in the pine flatwoods of Caladesi and Honeymoon islands.

Orange Beach has a little more to do away from the sand. Its paved backcountry trail winds through pine woods and past alligator ponds into Gulf State Park. Anglers and divers head out to the artificial reefs offshore, and Bon Secour and the Perdido Key dunes are good for birding during the spring and autumn migrations.

Clearwater has the better outings, enough to fill several days. You can see Dalí in St Petersburg, the brick cigar factories of Ybor City, the sponge boats of Tarpon Springs and the Ca' d'Zan mansion in Sarasota, and Orlando's theme parks are about two hours away.

From Orange Beach, the best day out is Pensacola's colonial quarter and naval aviation museum, followed by Mobile's antebellum streets and Fort Morgan at the mouth of the bay. These are pleasant breaks from the beach, but none of them is a reason to come. Both towns need a car for all of this.

Clearwater's strengths for children are its very calm water, the lifeguards and playground at Pier 60, and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, a rescue centre for dolphins and sea turtles. Busch Gardens and Adventure Island in Tampa are close enough for bigger days out.

Orange Beach is built around the condo vacation, with large rentals that have kitchens and pools and suit big family groups. Mini golf, a Ferris wheel by the marina and a small zoo fill the days off the beach. They are spread along one main road, though, so plan on driving. Rip currents also mean watching children closely in the sea.

Neither works well without a car, but Clearwater gives you some leeway. On the beach island, hotels, restaurants and sand are close together, a trolley runs down to Sand Key and a ferry crosses to downtown.

Orange Beach is strung out along one coastal highway, and on foot you can only reach the block you are staying on. A car is needed even for dinner, and in summer the main road slows to a crawl. Bicycles on the paved trails are the only real alternative.

From Clearwater, the shopping worth doing is away from the beach. Tarpon Springs has natural sponges and Greek goods, the most local thing to take home, and Tampa has the department stores and luxury brands. On the island itself it is beachwear and souvenirs.

Orange Beach's answer is the large outlet mall in Foley, about twenty minutes inland, for brands at lower prices. Along the main road and around the marina, the shops add surf and fishing gear to the usual beachwear.

Both cost what American beach resorts cost, with tips on top, but they are cheap at opposite times of year. Clearwater is most expensive in late winter and spring, when northern visitors arrive, and cheaper in the hot, stormy summer and autumn.

Orange Beach is most expensive in summer and on long weekends, and rates drop sharply from late autumn to early spring. In both, condos with kitchens and staying away from the beachfront keep costs down.

The two are much alike in scale but offer different kinds of show. Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall has a broad programme of Broadway tours, comedy and orchestral concerts, and the 1920s Capitol Theatre adds smaller concerts.

Orange Beach is more about country and rock. Touring acts play the open-air amphitheatre at the marina, and songwriters fill the stages around the state line at the festival every November. There is no theatre or classical music.

Neither has a spa culture, but Clearwater is the more restful place for more of the year. It is a low-rise resort and retirement town with nothing that needs an early start, more resort spas, and the waterfront park and marina for quiet evenings. It feels least calm at spring break and in the heaviest summer heat.

Orange Beach has fewer spas, and its calm depends on the season. Long empty mornings and sunsets over the back bays come mainly from autumn to spring, when its weather is cooler and wetter.