Daytona Beach or Ocean City, Maryland?

Both towns live for their beaches, and the difference lies in the sand and the season. Daytona's strip is more than twice as long, hard-packed enough to drive on in places, with quieter stretches at Ormond Beach and Ponce Inlet. The water is warm for much of the year but greenish and prone to rip currents.

Ocean City has softer sand, lifeguards along the whole shore and moderate surf, which makes swimming feel simpler. The sea is cooler, though, and comfortable only in high summer. Assateague's undeveloped dunes are its counterpart to Daytona's quieter southern sands.

Both are seafood towns with thin fine dining, but the rituals differ. In Daytona you eat fried shrimp, grouper sandwiches and smoked fish dip on a deck at an old fish camp on the Halifax River. Ocean City's meal is a mallet and a pile of Old Bay blue crabs on brown paper, followed by boardwalk fries, taffy and frozen custard from family firms that have been there for generations.

Daytona has noticeably more to see. Daytona International Speedway and the land-speed history of the sand give it a real identity, the Museum of Arts and Sciences has a serious Cuban collection and a planetarium, and you can climb the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse.

Ocean City's heritage is essentially the boardwalk itself, along with the Life-Saving Station Museum and an early twentieth-century carousel. It makes a pleasant evening's stroll, but nobody goes there to sightsee.

Neither town offers cocktail craft or a club scene, and they are close overall, but the crowds differ. Daytona's nights centre on biker saloons on Main Street and sports bars, which come alive during Bike Week, Biketoberfest and race weeks and are quiet tiki-bar evenings the rest of the time.

Ocean City is a younger summer party town, with sand-floored bayside bars, dance bars along the Coastal Highway and loud boardwalk nights until closing. Almost all of it shuts down from October to May.

Daytona has a little more to offer outdoors. Canaveral National Seashore and Mosquito Lagoon offer kayaking among dolphins, Merritt Island is prime birding country, and Blue Spring draws manatees in winter. Its summer heat pushes activity into the early morning.

Ocean City's highlight is Assateague, where wild ponies graze among the dunes and pine woods, and its calm back bays suit paddleboarding and crabbing. It is also the place for offshore marlin fishing.

Daytona is far better placed for outings. St Augustine's Spanish fort and old streets lie to the north, Kennedy Space Center to the south and Orlando's theme parks inland, each about an hour away, so a week can easily include three very different days out.

From Ocean City the trips are gentler and smaller in scale: Berlin's main street, Chincoteague's ponies, Rehoboth's restaurants and the ferry from Lewes to Victorian Cape May. With no big city within comfortable reach, these make pleasant drives rather than headline trips.

Ocean City is the more natural family resort. A century of catering to children shows in its two boardwalk amusement parks, the historic carousel, go-karts and themed mini-golf every few blocks, all beside a beach watched by lifeguards.

Daytona works for families too, with arcades by the pier, a water park and Orlando within reach. But rip currents, fierce summer heat and the noise of Bike Week and spring break all call for more care with dates and swimming spots.

You need a car in both, but Ocean City is easier once you arrive. Its narrow island means the beach is minutes from almost any street, the boardwalk is easy on foot, and a summer bus and boardwalk tram cover the strip.

Daytona sprawls along wide roads on both sides of the river, and its buses are too infrequent to rely on. Beyond a walk along the sand, nearly every outing means driving, and traffic jams during big events.

Neither town is a shopping destination, and both rely on an outlet centre for brands. What sets them apart is the local flavour: Daytona's Main Street specialises in motorcycle gear and Beach Street has a few galleries, while Ocean City's boardwalk sells surf wear, taffy and fudge, with beachwear boutiques in its bayside villages.

Daytona tends to be a little kinder on the budget. Its older oceanfront motels and condos are plentiful and casual seafood is reasonable, although rates jump during the Daytona 500 and Bike Week.

Ocean City's oceanfront rooms on summer weekends and its crab feasts add up faster. The savings come from staying a few blocks back, sharing a condo, or coming in late May or September.

Daytona has more to offer the serious listener. Its symphony society's winter series brings visiting orchestras, the Peabody Auditorium hosts touring Broadway shows, and a long-running community playhouse adds plays and musicals.

Ocean City's stage is mostly comedians, tribute bands and free summer concerts at the bandstand, with cover bands in the bars. It has no company or orchestra to seek out.

Neither has a spa tradition, but Daytona is somewhat easier to unwind in. Resort spas, early walks on the hard sand and quiet evenings by the river make for slow days, provided you avoid race weeks and Bike Week.

Ocean City in high summer is noisy, with traffic and late crowds, so rest there means the northern condo stretches or the shoulder months.