Cocoa Beach or Miami Beach?

Both towns sit on a barrier island with a long ribbon of pale sand facing the Atlantic. In Cocoa Beach, the shore takes steady small waves, which makes it good for surfing but means watching for rip currents. Families stay near the lifeguards by the pier and the town parks. Emptier, wilder sand lies towards Cape Canaveral.

Miami Beach is the stronger swimming beach. The water is warmer for more of the year, it is usually calm, and lifeguards cover the whole shore. You can choose your mood: crowds and people-watching in South Beach, resort calm in Mid-Beach, space in North Beach. The trade-off is sharing the busy stretches with music, vendors and crowds.

Cocoa Beach eats simply after a day in the sun: fried fish, Port Canaveral rock shrimp, fish tacos and raw bars, at dockside places along the Banana River or chain restaurants on the main road. It's enjoyable, but nobody travels there for the food.

Miami Beach has much more range, shaped by Latin America. You'll find Cuban sandwiches and cafecito from takeaway windows, stone crabs in winter, ceviche and arepas, plus chef-led dining rooms. Skip the tourist menus on Ocean Drive and eat on the side streets or in North Beach's Latin cafés instead.

Cocoa Beach has a pier and its beach, plus one unforgettable sight: rockets lifting off from Cape Canaveral, which you can watch from the sand. For anything else, you drive out of town.

Miami Beach has a sight worth travelling for in its Art Deco Historic District, hundreds of pastel 1930s buildings that are easy to explore on foot. The Wolfsonian, the Bass and the Holocaust Memorial add an afternoon or two.

In Cocoa Beach, going out means sports bars and open-air decks around the pier, and most nights are over well before the small hours. For clubs, you would have to drive to Orlando.

Miami Beach is the reverse. South Beach clubs with guest DJs run until dawn, the hotel pool parties start in the afternoon, and Collins and Washington Avenues stay loud late into the night. Expect dress codes and door policies. Sunset Harbour is the quieter alternative for cocktails.

Cocoa Beach has the richer wildlife on its doorstep. You can kayak the Indian River Lagoon among manatees and dolphins, or through water that glows with bioluminescence on summer nights. Merritt Island's refuge has alligators and winter birdlife, and sea turtles nest on the beaches. The gentle surf also makes it a good place to learn.

Miami Beach is more about being on the water: paddleboarding in the bay, plus diving and snorkelling on the reefs and wrecks offshore. Real wilderness means a drive, to the mangroves of Oleta River or to the Everglades about an hour away.

Both have a similar number of good outings, but they are very different. From Cocoa Beach, the big day out is the Kennedy Space Center, with the Saturn V and the shuttle Atlantis. Orlando's theme parks are an hour inland, and St Augustine's Spanish fort is a long day there and back.

From Miami Beach you head across the bay to Little Havana, Vizcaya and the Mediterranean Revival streets of Coral Gables, or drive north to Palm Beach or south to Key Largo. You need a car for most trips from either town.

Cocoa Beach was made for easy family trips. Condos have kitchens and pools, beginner surf lessons are everywhere, and both rockets and theme parks are within a drive. Just watch the currents in the sea.

The sea in Miami Beach is gentler, but the town suits children less well. The zoo, the science museum and the animal parks are all on the mainland, and South Beach is a loud party district. Families do best in Mid-Beach or North Beach.

Cocoa Beach is one long strip along a single road. A bicycle gets you around the centre, but you need a car for almost everything else, and the nearest major airport is about an hour away in Orlando.

In Miami Beach you can manage without a car for a beach stay. South Beach is flat and compact, and free trolleys and bike share cover the rest of the island. Leaving it is harder, since there is no rail link and buses get stuck on the causeways.

Shopping in Cocoa Beach means surfboards and beachwear, led by a huge round-the-clock surf store that has been a landmark on the main road for decades. For boutiques, you cross to Cocoa Village.

Miami Beach has two different worlds. Lincoln Road, designed by Morris Lapidus, is a palm-shaded mall of mostly international chains, nicer for an evening stroll than for finds. At the island's northern tip, Bal Harbour gathers the big European fashion and jewellery houses.

Cocoa Beach is the cheaper stay. Motels and older condos keep rooms affordable outside the busy weeks, although car hire and the space centre ticket add up.

Miami Beach is expensive at every level. Resort fees, parking charges and service charges push bills higher, and South Beach drinks and club entry are dearer still. Staying in North Beach or coming in the hot summer softens the cost.

In Cocoa Beach, live performance means cover bands on beach-bar decks. You'd drive to Melbourne's arts centre or the playhouse in Cocoa Village for a show.

Miami Beach has a much richer arts scene than its party image suggests. The New World Symphony plays in a Frank Gehry hall, sometimes with concerts projected for the audience on the lawn outside. Miami City Ballet is based here, and the Colony Theatre hosts smaller productions.

Cocoa Beach offers rest through its slow pace: early walks on the sand, sunsets over the river and quiet weekdays. For pampering there are only a few day spas and beach yoga classes.

Miami Beach has the real resort spas, with saunas, steam rooms and hydrotherapy circuits, and sunrise yoga on the sand. It's best enjoyed from a hotel in Mid-Beach or towards Surfside, away from the late nights of South Beach.