Clearwater or Tampa?

Clearwater has a clear lead here, because the beach is the town. Its powder-white sand runs along the barrier island right in front of the hotels, with Sand Key to the south and the undeveloped shores of Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands to the north.

Tampa reaches the same Gulf beaches, Clearwater's among them, but only by car across the bridges, and its own bay shore is mostly seawall. The water is just as gentle. The difference is whether a swim is a daily habit or a planned outing.

Tampa eats better and more distinctively. Its cooking grew out of the Cuban, Spanish and Sicilian families who worked in the cigar trade, so Ybor City still has old bakeries, pressed Cuban sandwiches with salami, and counters frying deviled crab croquettes. Food halls and neighbourhood places in Seminole Heights and South Tampa add to that.

Clearwater's strengths are narrower: grouper sandwiches and stone crab at dockside shacks, and drinks on a beach deck at sunset. Chain grills fill much of the beachfront. For a more interesting meal, Clearwater visitors often drive to the Greek tavernas of Tarpon Springs.

Tampa has a real heritage to explore, though a compact one, and Clearwater has very little. Ybor City's brick cigar factories and Latin social clubs, Henry Plant's Moorish-looking railway hotel and the art and history museums by the river fill two or three good days.

Clearwater has a few early twentieth-century buildings on the downtown bluff and a restored 1920s theatre, but nothing to plan a day around. Its visitors go to Tampa or St Petersburg for that.

Tampa offers a proper night out. Seventh Avenue in Ybor City has clubs and late bars, South Howard has polished cocktail patios, and downtown has craft breweries. Each winter the Gasparilla pirate invasion turns the bayfront into a huge street party.

Clearwater's evening centres on the sunset at Pier 60, followed by tiki decks and cover bands by the water. Spring brings a louder, younger crowd, but for most of the year a night out here means a few drinks and an early bed.

Both sit in the same flat, watery landscape of mangroves, seagrass and wildlife, so the difference is what lies on the doorstep. Clearwater keeps its wild coast close, with osprey nests and pine flatwoods trails on Caladesi and Honeymoon Islands, dolphins in the harbour and the Pinellas Trail for easy cycling.

Tampa's outdoors lie mostly inland or around the bay. You can paddle the cypress swamp in Hillsborough River State Park or see manatees at Apollo Beach in winter. Longer drives reach the clear springs of Crystal River and Weeki Wachee and the alligators of Myakka.

The two share much the same ring of outings, so what differs is direction and purpose. From Clearwater, the sponge docks of Tarpon Springs are just up the coast. Days in Tampa's Ybor City or at St Petersburg's Dalí Museum also supply the city culture the beach town lacks.

Tampa is closer to St Petersburg and better placed for trips inland, to Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings at Lakeland and to Bok Tower Gardens nearby. From either base, a car does most of the work.

Both work equally well with children, but in different ways. Clearwater has the gentle, lifeguarded beach by Pier 60 and the dolphin and turtle rescue centre at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium close at hand, and plenty of condos and pool hotels built for families.

Tampa has the big attractions instead: Busch Gardens and its water park, ZooTampa's manatees, the Florida Aquarium and the Glazer Children's Museum, with the calm beaches a drive away. A family stay built around the beach leans to Clearwater, one built around theme parks to Tampa.

Neither is easy without a car, though Clearwater manages slightly better if you mostly stay in one place. The hotels, restaurants and sand on the beach are within walking distance of each other, a trolley runs down to Sand Key, and a ferry crosses to downtown.

Tampa's walkable core is downtown, the Riverwalk and the streetcar out to Ybor City. The beaches, Busch Gardens and South Tampa all mean a drive, and rush-hour traffic on the bridges adds time.

Clearwater's shopping is mostly beachwear and souvenir stands along the strip, with malls and big-box stores on the mainland. The most local thing to take home is a natural sponge, and those come from the docks of Tarpon Springs, a nearby town to the north.

Tampa offers more. A large upscale mall carries the luxury and department-store brands, and Hyde Park Village has open-air boutiques. In the small shops of Ybor City, cigars are still rolled by hand, which makes them a souvenir with real history behind it.

Both are fairly expensive in the usual American way, with tax and tip added to every meal and the highest room rates in the late winter and spring season. The costs fall in different places. In Clearwater you pay extra to sleep by the sand, and mainland motels or condos with kitchens bring the bill down.

In Tampa, hotels away from the beaches are easier on the budget and Cuban bakeries keep lunch cheap. On the other hand, a hire car is close to essential and theme-park tickets add up quickly for families. Summer is cheaper in both.

Tampa has much more on stage. The Straz Center is home to the resident opera company and stages ballet, plays and touring Broadway shows. The ornate 1926 Tampa Theatre hosts films and concerts under its twinkling ceiling, and Ybor City has small rock and indie venues.

Clearwater does well for its size, with touring acts at Ruth Eckerd Hall and smaller concerts at the restored Capitol Theatre. For opera or ballet, though, its visitors drive to Tampa.

Clearwater is the more restful base. Neither has a spa culture beyond hotel treatment rooms, but Clearwater's low-rise, unhurried routine of pools, balconies, long lunches and evenings by the marina makes doing nothing easy, except during spring break and the summer heat.

Tampa itself is sprawling, humid and car-bound. Visitors who want calm tend to book on the barrier islands, which in practice means somewhere like Clearwater.