Daytona Beach or Key West?

Daytona has the kind of beach that Key West lacks. About 37km of wide, firm sand lets you walk for hours, cars may park on marked stretches, and there is quieter sand at Ormond Beach and towards Ponce Inlet. The weak point is the Atlantic itself: greenish water, regular waves and rip currents, so swimmers should stay near the lifeguards.

Key West is the opposite. Its sea is warmer, clearer and calm behind the reef, but the beaches are small. Smathers is made of imported sand and Fort Zachary Taylor has a coral-rubble shore. Here you float and snorkel rather than stroll, and the nearest proper stretch of sand is at Bahia Honda, an hour up the highway.

Both towns live on seafood, but Key West does more with it. Cuban sandwiches and café con leche from takeaway windows, pink shrimp, stone crab in the cooler months and the long-running argument over Key lime pie give it a flavour of its own, and Old Town has a few more ambitious dining rooms.

Daytona's best meals are fried shrimp and smoked fish dip on the decks of the old fish camps along the Halifax River, but chain restaurants line the main roads and there is little fine dining. Neither town is worth travelling for its food, but Key West makes the more rewarding few days of eating.

In Key West the town itself is the sight. Old Town's conch cottages, verandas and streets shaded by banyan trees reward slow walking, with the Hemingway Home, the Truman Little White House and the shipwreck collections along the way.

Daytona's culture is about speed: the Speedway tour and the history of land-speed records set on the sand. It also has the Cuban art at the Museum of Arts and Sciences and the climb up the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse. Each town takes a day or two to see, but in Daytona the sights are separated by motels and strip roads, while in Key West the streets in between are half the pleasure.

Key West is the livelier night out by a wide margin. Evenings start at sunset on Mallory Square and move onto Duval Street, where you carry your drink between open-sided bars and rooftop decks until the small hours. The upper end of the street has a long-established gay scene.

Daytona really comes alive at night only during Bike Week, Biketoberfest and race weeks, when the biker saloons on Main Street spill onto the street. The rest of the year it means tiki bars and hotel lounges. Neither town has many clubs or serious cocktail bars.

Daytona's outdoors is mostly land and lagoon. South of town, Canaveral National Seashore protects undeveloped dunes, dolphins and wading birds feed in Mosquito Lagoon, and manatees gather at Blue Spring State Park in winter. Tomoka State Park adds shaded trails under live oaks. It is good, varied wildlife country, but it is flat, and summer heat pushes plans into the early morning.

Key West has the richer outdoors overall, and almost all of it is at sea. The Florida Reef lies a few kilometres offshore, with snorkelling and diving among parrotfish, rays and turtles in clear, warm water. The mangrove flats to the north are good for kayaking and for sight-fishing for tarpon and bonefish, and the remote Dry Tortugas have even clearer water and excellent birdwatching. It falls short only on land, where the parks are small and there is little walking.

Daytona wins clearly here. With a car, St Augustine's Spanish fort and narrow streets, the rockets at Kennedy Space Center and the Orlando theme parks are each about an hour away. New Smyrna Beach and DeLand make easy half days.

Key West sits at the end of the road. The ferry to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas makes a superb day out, and the drive over the Seven Mile Bridge to Marathon is worth doing. Miami and the Everglades, though, are too far for a comfortable return trip in a day.

Daytona suits a family beach stay. It has wide, flat sand, arcades and small rides along the boardwalk, a water park, and condo rentals with kitchens and pools, and Orlando's parks are an hour inland. Parents should watch for rip currents and avoid Bike Week and spring break.

Key West works best for older children who love the water. They have the calm shallows at Fort Zachary Taylor, glass-bottom boats and the Dry Tortugas ferry. On land, the small aquarium and butterfly conservatory fill only a morning, and Duval Street's drinking starts early.

Key West is far easier without a car. Old Town is flat and compact, most sights and the harbour are a short walk from Duval Street, and bicycles are how locals get about. You only need wheels to go further up the Keys.

Daytona is the opposite. Hotels, restaurants and sights are spread along wide roads on both sides of the river, the buses run too rarely to rely on, and only the beach and the boardwalk area work on foot. Plan on a car, and expect heavy traffic during big events.

Neither town is worth a trip for shopping, but each offers different things. Daytona is practical, with an outlet centre and a regional mall for brand-name clothes, and motorcycle gear on Main Street. Key West has no malls to speak of, but its Old Town galleries, hand-rolled cigars and sponge shops by the harbour are better for browsing on an evening walk.

Daytona is much the cheaper stay. Older oceanfront motels and condo rentals keep plenty of rooms available, and the diners and seafood places are reasonable. You do have to add the cost of a car and avoid the Daytona 500 and Bike Week, when rates jump.

In Key West, limited land and strong demand keep rooms expensive all year, and winter is the dearest season. Boat trips, diving and the Dry Tortugas ferry add up quickly. Walking and cycling, the free sunset and the Cuban takeaway windows ease the bill a little, and late summer is the cheapest time to go.

Key West has more live performance to stumble on. Songwriters and cover bands play the Duval Street bars every night, drag cabaret is a long-running tradition, and the street performers at Mallory Square draw the whole town at sunset. On top of that come plays at the Tennessee Williams Theatre and a winter symphony season.

Daytona's offer is more formal but thinner. It has the symphony society's winter series of visiting orchestras, touring Broadway shows at the Peabody Auditorium and free summer concerts at the oceanfront bandshell. For anything bigger, Daytona has Orlando an hour inland, which Key West cannot match.

Daytona's rest is simple, and it depends on the calendar. A slow walk along the firm sand at dawn, an afternoon of doing nothing at a rented condo with a pool, and a massage at one of the bigger resort spas or a small day spa make for an easy week. The town's big events are the problem. When the Speedway races and the motorcycle rallies arrive, engines and crowds take over the town, so anyone who wants peace has to plan around those dates more carefully than they would in Key West.

Key West is the better place to slow down, because the island is built for it. Small guesthouses with garden pools on the side streets of Old Town, bicycles rather than traffic, and a whole town that stops to watch the sun go down all make the days pass slowly, and it is easy to find a yoga class or a massage. The noise is closer, though. Duval Street parties every night, not just in event weeks, so book a room a few blocks away from it. Neither town has thermal baths or any bathing tradition.