Daytona Beach or Panama City Beach?

Both towns are one long ribbon of sand, but the sand and the water differ. Daytona's 37km of hard-packed sand is so firm that cars drive on marked stretches. The Atlantic in front of it is greenish and wavy, with surf breaks near Ponce Inlet.

Panama City Beach has the more beautiful shore, with powder-white quartz sand and shallow Gulf water that turns clear green on calm days. The lagoon at St. Andrews State Park and the empty sand of Shell Island give quieter swimming than Daytona's busy central stretch by the pier. Rip currents are a real hazard on both coasts, so swim near lifeguards and watch the flags.

Neither town is a reason to travel for food. Both rely on fried and blackened seafood eaten casually, and chain restaurants fill the main roads. What differs is the setting. Daytona's best meals are at old fish camps on the Halifax River and towards Ponce Inlet, with smoked fish dip and Southern breakfasts as local touches. Panama City Beach centres on Gulf grouper, shrimp baskets and bay oysters at open-air shacks, and a few more careful kitchens sit near the lagoon and at the western end.

Daytona has real sightseeing, if not much of it. The Speedway tour tells a history of speed that began with land-speed records on the beach itself. The Museum of Arts and Sciences holds a notable collection of Cuban art, and you can climb the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse, the tallest in Florida.

Panama City Beach offers far less: the small Man in the Sea Museum, which covers diving and the navy's underwater research, and the older streets of St. Andrews across the bay. Daytona's sights take a day or two. At Panama City Beach an afternoon is plenty.

Daytona has the livelier and more varied night out. Alongside the beach bars and tiki decks are the biker saloons of Main Street, which overflow onto the street during Bike Week, Biketoberfest and race weeks. Panama City Beach is mostly frozen drinks at sunset, cover bands and dockside bars around Pier Park. It is quiet by mid-evening outside summer and rowdy only during spring break in March.

Neither town has a club or cocktail-bar culture, so dancing late into the night is a slim prospect in both.

Both are flat coastal country where the outdoors mostly means the water, but the emphasis differs. Daytona's strength is wildlife: you can kayak the Mosquito Lagoon in Canaveral National Seashore, go birding at Merritt Island and see manatees at Blue Spring in winter. Panama City Beach looks more to the sea, with snorkelling in the St. Andrews lagoon, dolphin trips on St. Andrew Bay and diving on wrecks and artificial reefs offshore, plus the rare coastal dune lake at Camp Helen.

Daytona is the better base for outings, with three major ones each about an hour away: St Augustine's Spanish fort and old streets, the rockets at Kennedy Space Center and Orlando's theme parks. Winter Park and DeLand make quieter days.

From Panama City Beach the choice is gentler and smaller. You can visit the pastel planned towns along Highway 30A, such as Seaside and Rosemary Beach, the old oyster port of Apalachicola, or Pensacola's historic district near the two-hour mark. You need a car for all of these from either town.

Daytona works for a family beach stay. It has arcades and small rides by the boardwalk, a planetarium for wet afternoons and Orlando's parks an hour inland, but the Atlantic surf is rougher for small swimmers.

Panama City Beach is the more complete family resort. It has shallow summer water, a sheltered lagoon at St. Andrews State Park for first snorkels, a marine park with dolphin shows, a small zoo, a water park and go-karts, all close together. Each town has noisy weeks to avoid: Bike Week and race weekends in Daytona, and spring break in March at Panama City Beach.

Both are car towns strung along long roads, and in neither is the bus service worth planning around. Daytona has a little more to offer on foot, because its firm beach doubles as a walking and cycling route and the area by the boardwalk is walkable. Panama City Beach spreads over some 43km, with patchy pavements and a slow trolley-bus, and Front Beach Road crawls in summer much as Daytona's roads jam during big events.

Neither town is a place to shop, and both cover mainstream brands and beachwear. Daytona has an outlet centre, a regional mall, the biker gear of Main Street and a few galleries on Beach Street. Panama City Beach has the open-air chain stores of Pier Park and souvenir warehouses with shark-mouth entrances, and the boutiques of the 30A towns are a drive west for anything more individual.

Costs are close, and both sit at the cheaper end of American beach resorts. Condo kitchens help keep meals down, and you need a car in either town. The timing differs: Daytona's rates jump around the Daytona 500, Bike Week and other events, while Panama City Beach is dearest in summer and spring break and much cheaper for long winter stays.

Daytona has more to hear and see. A long-established winter series brings visiting orchestras and soloists, the Peabody Auditorium hosts touring Broadway shows, a community playhouse stages plays and musicals, and the oceanfront bandshell has free concerts in summer.

Panama City Beach is largely cover bands and acoustic sets on bar decks, with a modest season of touring shows at the restored historic theatre across the bay in Panama City. Neither has opera or a theatre district.

Neither town has a spa tradition, so in both, wellness means resort spas, day spas and the calm of the sand. What differs is when the calm comes. Daytona is restful for much of the year but loses its peace to engines in race weeks and Bike Week. Panama City Beach is quietest from autumn to spring, when the beach empties for long sunset walks, and loud through summer and spring break.