Cocoa Beach or St. Petersburg, Florida?

These are two equally strong beach towns on different seas. Cocoa Beach sits on one long, firm Atlantic strand that starts a few streets from almost every room. The water is greenish, there is steady small surf with rip currents to watch, and quieter dunes stretch north towards the Cape.

St. Petersburg's beaches are on the Gulf islands west of downtown, so you have to drive or take the bus to reach them. The reward is fine white sand and calm, shallow water at St. Pete Beach and Pass-a-Grille, wilder shores at Fort De Soto, and Caladesi Island reached by ferry. Choose the Atlantic for surf and the Gulf for still water and sunsets.

St. Petersburg eats noticeably better. Grouper sandwiches, smoked fish spread and stone crab come from waterfront shacks, while the Grand Central and Edge districts add chef-led restaurants, brunch places and a strong spread of local breweries. Tampa's Cuban cooking is also close by.

Cocoa Beach covers the basics of a beach day: rock shrimp from Port Canaveral, fish tacos, raw bars and big breakfasts before a surf. Most of it comes from beach grills, dockside seafood houses and chains along the main road, so food is not a reason to choose it.

There is little contest here. In Cocoa Beach the only cultural draw is watching a rocket launch arc up from Cape Canaveral, and it is a memorable one. Beyond the wooden pier, the town itself has almost nothing to visit.

St. Petersburg has a compact museum quarter on its waterfront, built around the Dalí collection in its glass bubble. The Museum of Fine Arts, the James Museum of western art, the Chihuly glass and a museum of the Arts and Crafts Movement are all close by, with murals and 1920s Mediterranean Revival buildings such as the pink Don CeSar beyond. It gives you two or three good days.

St. Petersburg has the better night out. Central Avenue gives you cocktail bars, rooftop terraces and taprooms close enough to walk between, and the beaches add tiki bars for the sunset. Cocoa Beach means beach bars and decks with cover bands around the pier and a few downtown blocks. It gets louder at spring break but usually goes quiet early.

Neither town has a club scene to speak of. The bigger night is a 40-minute trip to Ybor City from St. Petersburg, but a full drive to Orlando from Cocoa Beach.

Both are flat, watery landscapes, and both are best explored by kayak, but they are wild in different ways. On the Cocoa Beach side, the Indian River Lagoon has manatees, dolphins and bioluminescent water on summer nights. Merritt Island refuge and the undeveloped dunes of Canaveral National Seashore add alligators, winter birds and nesting turtles, and the beach breaks make it a natural place to learn to surf.

St. Petersburg offers paddling trails through the mangroves at Weedon Island and Shell Key, birding at Fort De Soto, and fishing charters and sailing from the city marinas. It also has the paved Pinellas Trail, which makes long, easy bike rides possible in a way Cocoa Beach does not.

The two are about level, but their day trips are of different kinds. Cocoa Beach has one outstanding outing, the Kennedy Space Center, and it sits about an hour from Orlando's parks. After that the choice is thin: Cocoa Village, the Titusville museums and a long day to St Augustine.

St. Petersburg has no single draw to match the space centre, but it has more variety. You can visit the cigar-factory streets of Ybor City in Tampa, the Ringling in Sarasota, the Greek sponge docks of Tarpon Springs or the old beach villages of Anna Maria Island. Orlando, at about two hours, is a stretch.

Both work well with children, and the choice mostly comes down to their age. Cocoa Beach suits older children who want surf lessons and rockets, and it puts the space centre and Orlando's theme parks within easy reach. The open-ocean currents mean keeping to the lifeguarded stretches near the pier and the town parks.

St. Petersburg's gentle, shallow Gulf water is kinder to toddlers. It also has more indoor places for stormy afternoons: the Great Explorations children's museum in town, the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to the north, and the Florida Aquarium and a science museum across the bay in Tampa. On a dry day, Busch Gardens and ZooTampa make a full outing of their own.

Neither is easy without a car, but St. Petersburg gets you further on foot. Its museums, pier, waterfront parks and Central Avenue are all close together downtown, a trolley loop serves the centre, and a rapid bus line runs out to St. Pete Beach.

Cocoa Beach is a thin strip along one road. The sand is always close and a bicycle covers the downtown blocks, but the space centre, the wildlife refuge and the Orlando airport, about an hour away, all need a hire car.

St. Petersburg is the better place to browse. Along Central Avenue you will find vintage and record shops, local boutiques and galleries selling local glass and prints, and the Saturday Morning Market runs through the winter. For big brands, both towns send you to a mall, in Tampa or Orlando.

In Cocoa Beach, shopping means surfing. Ron Jon Surf Shop, a landmark on the main road since the 1960s, is worth a visit for its sheer size, and smaller shops sell boards made by local shapers. Beyond that there is beachwear, or a short drive to the boutiques of Cocoa Village.

Costs are much the same in both: full American prices with tax and tips, plus a hire car. In Cocoa Beach, motels and older condos keep a room affordable outside the busy weeks, but rates jump on launch weekends, and the space centre ticket adds up.

In St. Petersburg, beachfront hotels charge most from February to April, and you pay for parking at the beaches. Staying downtown or coming in summer brings the cost down.

St. Petersburg has a modest but real stage scene. The Florida Orchestra and touring shows play the Mahaffey Theater, and there is a professional regional theatre, a former church used as a concert hall and an open-air courtyard for bands. Tampa's large arts centre, half an hour away, covers opera and ballet.

In Cocoa Beach, live performance mostly means cover bands on beach decks. For anything more, you have to drive to the arts centre in Melbourne or the community playhouse in Cocoa Village.

Neither has a bathing tradition, but St. Petersburg has more ways to be pampered. The large historic beach hotels have resort spas, and the town adds the sleepy streets of Pass-a-Grille and a nightly ritual of watching the sun set over the Gulf.

Cocoa Beach offers only a few day spas and beach yoga classes. Its calm comes from early walks on the sand and sunsets over the river rather than over the sea, and for a proper spa you have to go to the hotels around Orlando.