Cocoa Beach or Destin?

Destin's beach is the prettier one. Its powdery white quartz sand and clear green Gulf water are usually calm, and the coast stretches from Okaloosa Island to the dune lakes of 30A, with the Crab Island sandbar on the bay side.

Cocoa Beach answers with one long strand of firm, pale sand facing open ocean. The water is greener, there is steady small surf, and the season runs longer because the Atlantic stays warmer in winter. Both beaches have real rip currents, so swim near lifeguards or watch the flags.

Destin eats a little better, mainly because of its harbour. Charter boats bring in snapper, grouper and royal red shrimp, some kitchens will cook your own catch, and more ambitious restaurants sit along 30A.

Cocoa Beach is simpler: rock shrimp from Port Canaveral, fish tacos, raw bars and big surfers' breakfasts at beach grills and dockside places on the Banana River. Neither town is worth the trip for its food alone.

Neither town has much culture, and the difference lies in what little each has. Cocoa Beach has rocket launches arcing up from Cape Canaveral, a sight you can watch from the sand. Destin has a small fishing museum, with a prehistoric temple mound and an outdoor collection of military aircraft next door in Fort Walton Beach.

Destin has more going on after dark. Bars with docks and decks fill the harbour boardwalk on summer evenings, boats raft up at Crab Island for afternoon drinking, and a few dance floors stay open late in peak season.

In Cocoa Beach a night out means sports bars and cover bands around the pier and the short downtown strip, and most evenings end early. In both towns the liveliest weeks are spring break and summer, and for clubs from Cocoa you would have to drive to Orlando.

Cocoa Beach has the richer wildlife. The Indian River Lagoon behind the island has mangrove islands, manatees and summer bioluminescence, and the Merritt Island refuge and Canaveral National Seashore add alligators, winter birdlife and nesting sea turtles. The town is also a dependable place to learn to surf.

Destin's outdoors is mostly about fishing and the water. Deep-sea charters reach big game fish quickly, Choctawhatchee Bay is good for paddleboarding and sailing, and the state parks to the east protect high dunes and rare coastal dune lakes.

Cocoa Beach has the stronger day trips because of one standout. The Kennedy Space Center, with its Saturn V and the shuttle Atlantis, fills a whole day, and Orlando's theme parks and Winter Park's museums are about an hour away. St Augustine is possible but makes for a long day.

Destin's outings are gentler. The planned pastel towns of 30A, such as Seaside and Rosemary Beach, are about forty minutes east, and Pensacola, an hour west, has a colonial historic district, a naval aviation museum and brick forts.

Both towns are easy with children, in different ways. Cocoa Beach's draw is space: launches, the space centre and beginner surf lessons, with Orlando's theme parks within a day's reach, though the town itself has little built for children.

Destin has more to do on the spot, with a marine park, a water park, go-karts, mini golf and pirate-ship cruises, and its calmer, clearer water suits small swimmers better on gentle days. Summer storms and heat shape the day in both places.

You will want a car in either town, since both stretch along a single main road. Cocoa Beach is easier on foot and by bike, because the island is narrow, the sand is only a few streets away and downtown is compact. Destin's coast highway jams in summer and has few safe crossings, so walking there is mostly limited to the harbour boardwalk and the 30A bike trail.

Cocoa Beach is a good place to buy a surfboard and not much else. Ron Jon, the round-the-clock surf store that has been a landmark on the main road since the 1960s, is worth a look even if you don't surf, and keen surfers can pick up a board shaped in town. Once you have the wetsuit, the swimwear and a souvenir T-shirt, the choice runs out.

Destin gives a shopper far more range and can fill a whole day, from hunting for bargains on brand names to browsing art and homeware in the 30A towns. Neither town has luxury labels or local crafts, so serious fashion shoppers will be disappointed in both.

Cocoa Beach is the somewhat cheaper stay. Its motels and older condos keep rooms affordable outside the busiest weeks, although launch weekends and spring push rates up.

In summer Destin charges full resort-coast prices, and charter fishing and parking add to the bill. Off season it gets much cheaper, but the sea is too cold for swimming then. In both places a hire car is an unavoidable extra cost.

Destin has a bit more live performance. The regional symphony plays across the bay in Niceville, small theatres stage plays in Miramar Beach and Seaside, and the 30A lawns host summer concerts.

Cocoa Beach relies on cover bands on bar decks, plus a community playhouse in Cocoa Village and an arts centre in Melbourne. Serious theatre-goers will find more in Orlando.

Neither town has a spa tradition, so rest here mostly means early walks on the sand. Destin has the better pampering, with full spas in the big golf and beach resorts around Sandestin, but summer traffic takes the edge off the calm. Cocoa Beach is quieter on weekdays and has sunsets over the river, though only small day spas and beach yoga.