Cocoa Beach or Key West?

Cocoa Beach is the stronger choice for a day on the sand. A single wide strand of firm, pale sand runs the length of the barrier island, with lifeguards near the pier and wilder stretches towards the Cape. The water is greenish, though, and the open-ocean surf brings rip currents.

Key West is the reverse: its sea is warmer, clearer and calm behind the reef, but the shore is a few small beaches of imported sand or coral rubble. It is better for floating and snorkelling, and for a proper beach day you drive an hour to Bahia Honda.

Neither town is worth travelling to for the food, but Key West gives you more to remember. Its Cuban influence, Key lime pie, stone crab in the cooler months and fish shacks around the Historic Seaport and Bahama Village give it a local identity that Cocoa Beach's beach grills, raw bars and chain restaurants on the main road lack. In Cocoa Beach, the dish to try is rock shrimp from Port Canaveral.

Key West has far more to see. Its Old Town of conch cottages and Victorian mansions is worth seeing in itself, and the Hemingway Home, the Truman Little White House and the shipwreck collections fill a couple of days.

In Cocoa Beach there is the pier and little else. Its one great sight is a rocket rising from Cape Canaveral, which you can watch from the sand, and for museums you have to leave town.

Key West offers a proper night out and Cocoa Beach does not. Duval Street's open-sided bars, rooftop decks and old saloons stay open into the small hours, and the upper end of the street has a long-established gay scene. Cocoa Beach's beach and sports bars around the pier wind down early except at spring break, and for clubs you have to drive to Orlando.

Both are flat landscapes where the outdoors means water, but the water is very different. In Cocoa Beach it is the lagoon and the refuge: kayaking among manatees in the Indian River Lagoon, paddling through bioluminescent water on summer nights, alligators and winter birdlife at Merritt Island, and surf gentle enough for learners.

In Key West it is the open sea: snorkelling and diving on the Florida Reef, sight-fishing on the backcountry flats and the remote Dry Tortugas. Choose Cocoa Beach to watch wildlife from a kayak, and Key West for coral and fish.

Cocoa Beach has the better outings. The headline is the Kennedy Space Center about half an hour north, with Orlando's parks and the calmer lakeside town of Winter Park an hour inland, and St Augustine's colonial streets for a long day.

Key West sits at the end of the road. Beyond the ferry to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas, an outing means driving the Overseas Highway to Marathon or Islamorada, and Miami is too far for a day trip.

Cocoa Beach is made for a family beach week: wide sand, lifeguards, surf schools and condos with pools, with the space centre and the theme parks within reach. Key West works for older children who love boats and snorkelling, and there is an aquarium and a butterfly conservatory in town, but the drinking on Duval Street and the adults-only feel of Fantasy Fest make it a less natural fit.

Key West is far easier once you are there. Old Town is compact and flat, so you can walk or cycle everywhere, and a car is more trouble than help.

Cocoa Beach is a long strip along one road. A bicycle covers downtown and the pier, but for the space centre, the wildlife refuge and the airport in Orlando you need a hire car.

Neither place is worth choosing for the shopping. In Cocoa Beach it means surf gear: a giant surf store open around the clock on the main road, and boards from local shapers. Key West has a little more variety, with art galleries in Old Town, hand-rolled cigars, and sponge and shell shops by the harbour alongside the T-shirt shops of Duval Street.

Cocoa Beach is the cheaper stay. Motels and older condos keep rooms moderate outside spring and launch weekends, though a hire car and the space centre ticket add up.

In Key West, limited land and strong demand push room rates far higher, and Duval Street's food and drink are just as expensive. Walking everywhere and the free sunset help, and late summer is the cheapest season.

Key West has more live performance: singer-songwriters in the bars on Duval Street, nightly drag cabaret, street performers at sunset on Mallory Square, and plays at the Tennessee Williams Theatre in season. In Cocoa Beach it is mostly cover bands on beach-bar decks, with a community playhouse in Cocoa Village and a regional arts centre in Melbourne a short drive away.

Key West is somewhat better for unwinding. It has guesthouses built around pools and gardens in Old Town's quiet lanes, and resort spas, as long as you stay away from Duval Street. Cocoa Beach has only a few day spas and beach yoga classes, and its calm comes from early walks on the sand and sunsets over the river rather than from spa treatments.