Daytona Beach or Washington DC?

This is where Daytona Beach is far ahead. Its barrier-island sand runs for about 37km, wide and hard enough to drive on in places, with surf near Ponce Inlet and calmer, more local beaches at Ormond and New Smyrna. Swimmers should stay near the lifeguards, because rip currents are common.

Washington DC has no beach life. Its rivers are not for swimming, the Chesapeake shore near Annapolis is small and brackish, and the real Atlantic resorts are a weekend trip away.

Daytona Beach is at its best with simple seafood: grouper sandwiches, smoked fish dip and oysters eaten on fish-camp decks over the Halifax River. Away from the water, it is mostly chains and beachfront grills.

Washington DC eats much better. It has Ethiopian cooking around Shaw and U Street, pupusas in Columbia Heights, the half-smoke, and serious tasting menus in Logan Circle and Penn Quarter. Eastern Market and Union Market are good places for grazing, and you will find Chesapeake crabs and oysters in season.

Daytona Beach's sights are about speed and the coast. It has the Speedway tour, the Museum of Arts and Sciences with its Cuban art and planetarium, and the climb up the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse. Most visitors have seen them in a day or two.

Washington DC is in a different league. The Smithsonian museums along the Mall, the National Gallery of Art, the Capitol, the Library of Congress and the memorials around the Reflecting Pool can fill a week. Nearly all of them are free.

Daytona Beach's evenings are tiki bars, sports bars and the biker saloons of Main Street. The town gets loud only during Bike Week, Biketoberfest and race weeks, and there is little for anyone after cocktails or dancing.

Washington DC offers more choice. The 14th Street and U Street corridor has cocktail bars, rooftops and late dance spots, Adams Morgan has a rowdier late-night strip, and Dupont Circle is the centre of LGBTQ+ nightlife. The city is busiest from Thursday to Saturday.

Washington DC has the edge, mainly because of its range. Rock Creek Park and the C&O Canal towpath start in the city itself, Great Falls offers cliff paths and whitewater, and Shenandoah's ridge hikes are within a long morning's drive.

Daytona Beach's outdoors is flat and watery. You can kayak among dolphins on Mosquito Lagoon, watch birds at Merritt Island, see manatees at Blue Spring in winter and paddle a canoe at Tomoka. It has no hills, though, and summer heat limits you to early mornings.

Both are good bases, but Washington DC has more within easy reach, much of it by train. You can go to Old Town Alexandria and Mount Vernon, Baltimore, Annapolis, the battlefields at Gettysburg and Antietam, and even Philadelphia.

Daytona Beach's outings are fewer but varied, and all of them need a car. St Augustine's Spanish fort lies to the north, Kennedy Space Center to the south, and the Orlando theme parks inland.

Washington DC is the easier family trip overall. The dinosaurs at Natural History, the rockets at Air and Space and the National Zoo are free, the Mall has room to run, and every Metro station has lifts for buggies. The downsides are long, exposed walks in summer.

Daytona Beach offers a simpler beach week, with wide sand, boardwalk arcades and condos with pools, and Orlando's parks are an hour away. However, you need to watch for rip currents, and avoid the crowds of race weeks and spring break.

Daytona Beach is a car town. Its sights are strung along wide roads on both sides of the river, buses are too infrequent to rely on, and traffic seizes up during big events. Only the beach and the boardwalk area are pleasant on foot or by bike.

Washington DC needs no car in the city. The centre is a flat grid, the Metro reaches Arlington, Alexandria and the airport, and bike-share docks link the monuments. Georgetown, which has no station, is the main gap.

Daytona Beach's shopping is practical: an outlet centre, a regional mall, beach shops for swimwear, and biker gear on Main Street.

Washington DC has more to browse. Georgetown has boutiques and antique shops in old brick buildings, CityCenterDC has luxury labels, Eastern Market has weekend craft stalls, and the Smithsonian shops sell good books and prints. It is still a sideline rather than a reason to go.

Daytona Beach is the cheaper stay. It has plenty of older oceanfront motels and condos, and casual seafood keeps meals reasonable. Hiring a car adds to the cost, and rates jump during the Daytona 500 and Bike Week.

Washington DC's hotels and restaurants are expensive all year, and even more so in cherry blossom season. Free museums and monuments make the sightseeing itself almost free, and staying in Arlington helps on rooms.

Washington DC is much stronger here, especially for theatre. Arena Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth, the Folger and Ford's Theatre all have their own seasons, alongside the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera. U Street's restored Lincoln and Howard theatres and summer lawn concerts at Wolf Trap add music.

Daytona Beach offers a winter series of visiting orchestras, touring shows at the Peabody Auditorium and free summer concerts at the oceanfront bandshell. For more choice, people drive to Orlando.

Neither city has a spa tradition, and both rely mostly on hotel spas. In Daytona Beach, the calm comes from beach-town slowness: early walks on hard sand, afternoons by the pool and sunset on the river, as long as you avoid race weeks and Bike Week. In Washington DC, rest means finding quiet green spaces in a working capital, such as the Tidal Basin at dawn, Dumbarton Oaks or the National Arboretum.