Cocoa Beach or West Palm Beach?

Both have excellent Atlantic sand, but in different ways. In Cocoa Beach the town is the beach. One long, firm strand runs the length of the island, a few streets from any room, with steady small surf and greenish water, and the winter sea keeps most people out.

West Palm Beach means crossing a bridge to reach the ocean, but the water there is clearer and warmer. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, you can swim even in winter. There is also more variety, from the neat sand of Palm Beach to the broad, quiet stretches of Singer Island and the sheltered lagoon swimming on Peanut Island.

Neither is a place to travel for food, but West Palm Beach gives you more choice. Clematis Street and Rosemary Square have waterfront terraces and seafood rooms, and Palm Beach adds formal dining. Away from the centre, Cuban and Haitian bakeries add some character, and there is stone crab in season and a green market in winter.

Cocoa Beach is simpler. Expect Port Canaveral rock shrimp, fish tacos and fried fish at beach grills and at dockside places on the Banana River, with chain restaurants along the main road filling the gaps.

The gap here is wide. Cocoa Beach has its pier and, above all, rocket launches rising from Cape Canaveral, a sight no museum can match. Beyond that, there is nothing in town to visit.

West Palm Beach has enough for two or three full days. The Norton Museum has American, European and Chinese art, and Flagler's marble mansion at Whitehall tells the story of the railway that built this coast. Add the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens and an afternoon among the Mediterranean Revival villas and narrow passages, known as vias, of Palm Beach.

West Palm Beach has the livelier evenings, though neither goes on very late. Clematis Street and Rosemary Square pack cocktail bars, rooftop terraces and a couple of dance spots into a few blocks that fill up at weekends, and Miami's clubs are within reach.

Cocoa Beach is beach bars and open-air decks with cover bands around the pier. It gets louder over spring break, but most nights wind down early, and the nearest real late scene is in Orlando.

Both are flat, watery and full of wildlife, but the best of it is in different places. In Cocoa Beach it is the lagoon and the refuge. You can kayak among manatees and dolphins on the Indian River Lagoon and paddle through glowing plankton on summer nights. Merritt Island has alligators and winter birds, Canaveral National Seashore has wild dunes, and the surf is gentle enough for learners.

West Palm Beach is at its best underwater. Gulf Stream reefs and drift dives are a short boat ride out, and the shallow site under the Blue Heron Bridge is one of the country's best-known shore dives and snorkels. Inland, Grassy Waters and the Loxahatchee refuge give a taste of the Everglades.

The two are about level here, but the trips are completely different. From Cocoa Beach there are few outings, but they are unusual. The Kennedy Space Center has the Saturn V and the shuttle Atlantis, and Orlando offers theme parks and quieter Winter Park. St Augustine's Spanish fort is also in reach if you accept a long day.

West Palm Beach has a big city nearby instead. Miami's South Beach, Little Havana and Wynwood are an hour away by fast train, and Delray Beach's Japanese gardens and Boca Raton's pink Mediterranean buildings are easy stops. Beyond those, most of the choices are similar coastal towns.

Cocoa Beach is a little easier with children, mostly because everything happens on the sand. The beach is wide and close to family condos with pools, and surf lessons are everywhere. The space centre and Orlando's theme parks are an easy drive, though the surf can pull hard.

West Palm Beach has more for days off the beach: a drive-through safari park, the zoo, the science centre and aquarium, and the free Manatee Lagoon centre. Peanut Island's calm water suits small swimmers. On the other hand, nearly every outing needs a car, and the theme parks are a long drive away.

West Palm Beach is easier without a car, up to a point. Downtown is compact and walkable with a free trolley, and the Lake Trail makes Palm Beach a pleasant bike ride. Fast trains also run south to Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

Cocoa Beach is a thin strip along one road. A bicycle covers downtown and the pier, but the space centre, the wildlife refuge and Orlando all mean driving, and the nearest major airport is about an hour away. In both places, most visitors still rent a car for anything beyond the centre.

This is one of the biggest differences between the two. West Palm Beach has Worth Avenue, a palm-lined street of luxury fashion, jewellery and galleries around tiled courtyards and vias. Nearby, consignment shops sell designer pieces from Palm Beach wardrobes, and the mainland adds Rosemary Square's brands and the furniture and lighting dealers of Antique Row.

In Cocoa Beach, shopping means surf gear. There is a huge round-the-clock surf store that has been a landmark on the main road since the 1960s, plus smaller shops selling locally made boards and beachwear. For anything else, people go to Cocoa Village's boutiques or Orlando's malls.

Cocoa Beach is the cheaper place to stay. Motels and older condos keep rooms affordable outside the busiest weeks, and the seafood grills are fair value. Spring and launch weekends push rates up, though, and the hire car and space centre ticket add up over a week.

West Palm Beach is priced for a wealthy winter crowd. Hotels on Palm Beach are among the most expensive on the coast, and even downtown rates are high from December to April. Rooms get cheaper in summer, but that is exactly when the heat and storms are at their worst.

West Palm Beach has a real performance season, mostly from late autumn to spring. The Kravis Center hosts touring Broadway musicals, orchestras, dance and the Palm Beach Opera. A respected regional company stages serious plays on Clematis Street, and the Society of the Four Arts adds concerts.

In Cocoa Beach, live performance usually means a cover band on a beach-bar deck. The playhouse in Cocoa Village and the arts centre in Melbourne are a short drive away, but for anything bigger, visitors go to Orlando.

Neither has a spa tradition, but West Palm Beach is much better for pampering. Large oceanfront resort spas on Palm Beach and along the coast have pools and treatment rooms, and the island's quiet, well-kept pace suits slow days.

Cocoa Beach offers a simpler kind of rest: a few day spas and beach yoga classes, early walks on the sand and sunsets over the Banana River. For a proper spa resort, visitors have to look towards Orlando.