Clearwater or Pensacola?

Both have the soft white Gulf sand people picture, but Clearwater's is right on hand. The beach shelves so gently into calm, clear water that you can wade a long way out. Around it are Sand Key and the wilder islands of Caladesi and Honeymoon.

Pensacola's beaches are a twenty-minute drive across the bay from town, on Santa Rosa Island. In return you get miles of protected dunes and green water along the national seashore. The open Gulf side can be rougher, though, and rip-current flags need watching, so small children are better off on the calm sound side.

Pensacola eats better. It has raw and chargrilled oysters, royal red shrimp and Creole-leaning gumbo by the water, plus a real downtown dining scene on Palafox Street with modern Southern cooking, breweries and a Saturday market.

Clearwater offers the grouper sandwich, stone crab in season and sunset drinks, but its beachfront relies heavily on chains. The best meal nearby usually means driving to the Greek tavernas of Tarpon Springs.

This is where the two differ most. Pensacola's past under five flags still shows in the restored houses of the Seville district, in Fort Pickens at the tip of the island and in the vast National Naval Aviation Museum. Two or three days of sightseeing come easily, but the base has ID checks, so take identification.

Clearwater has a few early twentieth-century buildings on the downtown bluff and little else. Its culture lies across the bay in St Petersburg and Tampa.

Neither city has a club scene, but Pensacola has a proper downtown night out. Palafox Street and the Seville Quarter fill their pubs, cocktail bars and rooftops with locals and young Navy personnel at weekends. The rowdy roadhouse on the Alabama line is a local rite.

Clearwater's evening is built around the sunset at Pier 60, followed by tiki decks and cover bands. It only gets loud in spring, and for anything more you would go to Ybor City in Tampa.

Both are flat, watery coastlines with ospreys and dolphins, but Pensacola has more variety. The national seashore protects long runs of dunes, salt marsh and maritime forest. Inland, the clear, sand-bottomed Blackwater River is made for canoeing and tubing, and a sunken aircraft carrier offshore draws experienced divers.

Clearwater's outdoors happens mostly on a paddle: kayaking through mangrove channels, watching for winter manatees and walking the trails on Caladesi Island. The long, flat Pinellas Trail is there for an easy bike ride.

Clearwater sits in a much richer region. Within about an hour you can reach the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg, Ybor City's cigar factories in Tampa, the sponge docks of Tarpon Springs and the Ringling estate in Sarasota. Orlando's parks are about two hours away.

From Pensacola, Mobile's antebellum streets and battleship are the best outing, with Fairhope and Fort Morgan close by. Heading east, the options are mostly other beach towns such as Destin and Seaside.

Clearwater is the stronger family base. The main beach itself is safe for paddling, and the marine aquarium's rescued dolphins and turtles are a guaranteed hit. Busch Gardens, Adventure Island and the Florida Aquarium are within about forty minutes.

Pensacola works well for a beach week, helped by the toddler-friendly sound side, the aviation museum, the Blue Angels, the zoo and the climb up the lighthouse. But there are no theme parks, and the open Gulf beach needs more watching.

Both are car country, but Clearwater asks a little less of you. Hotels, restaurants and sand sit together on the island, and a trolley and a water taxi link the beach with Sand Key and downtown.

In Pensacola, the walkable historic downtown and the beach are separated by bridges and a drive. Buses are of little use, so even a dinner in town after a day on the sand usually means getting in the car.

Neither city is a place to shop, and the difference is only in kind. Clearwater offers beachwear, mainland malls and natural sponges from Tarpon Springs, with Tampa for anything upmarket. Pensacola's Palafox Street is better for browsing independent boutiques, antiques and the Saturday craft market.

Pensacola is the somewhat cheaper trip. Casual seafood is reasonably priced, the aviation museum is free and the national seashore costs little. Prices on the island drop sharply once summer ends.

Clearwater peaks in late winter and spring, when northern visitors and spring breakers compete for beachfront rooms, and it is cheapest in the hot, stormy months. In both places, budget for a hire car.

The two are evenly matched, but the stages are different. Clearwater's Ruth Eckerd Hall brings touring rock acts, comedians and Broadway shows, with smaller concerts at the 1920s Capitol Theatre. Pensacola's 1925 Saenger Theatre is home to the city's own symphony, opera and ballet, so it is the better choice if you want a night of classical music without driving to Tampa.

Neither has a spa tradition beyond hotel treatment rooms, so rest comes from the pace, and Clearwater's pace is slower. As a retirement and resort town it settles into pools, long lunches and evenings by the marina for much of the year, losing its calm mainly during spring break and the summer heat.

Pensacola's beaches feel busier in the warm months. Its stillness belongs to the off-season and the quiet stretches of Perdido Key, when swimming is no longer part of the day.