Daytona Beach or Williamsburg, Virginia?

Daytona Beach is far ahead, because here the beach is where you stay. Its 37km of firm Atlantic sand runs right past the hotels and the sea is warm from late spring into autumn. You can choose between the busy pier area and quieter sand at Ormond Beach or Ponce Inlet. Rip currents are the catch, so stay near the lifeguards.

Williamsburg sits inland between its rivers, so a swim means a pool, a water park or a planned outing: the calm strip at Yorktown, Buckroe Beach on the Chesapeake, or Virginia Beach about an hour away. Sea nettles in the summer bay are an extra nuisance.

Neither town is worth the journey for food alone, and both eat in the same casual way, with chains lining the main roads. Daytona's best meals are fried shrimp, grouper sandwiches and smoked fish dip at the old fish camps, eaten on a deck over the Halifax River or down towards Ponce Inlet.

Williamsburg leans Virginian instead: ham biscuits, peanut soup, Chesapeake crab cakes and barbecue, with candlelit colonial taverns for the setting, a few bistros around Merchants Square and wineries on the edge of town. Go to Daytona for seafood by the water and to Williamsburg for regional Southern cooking.

Williamsburg is far stronger here, since history is its whole purpose. The restored colonial capital needs two or three days. It has costumed interpreters along Duke of Gloucester Street, the Governor's Palace, the Wren Building and serious collections of American folk and decorative art.

Daytona's sights are about speed: the Speedway tour and the story of the land-speed records set on its own sand. The Museum of Arts and Sciences, with its Cuban art, and the climb up the Ponce de Leon Inlet Lighthouse round things out. That is a day or two of sightseeing, not the point of the trip.

Daytona has more going on after dark, though it means beer and bikers rather than clubs or cocktails: tiki bars at sunset, sports bars, and the Main Street saloons that spill onto the street during Bike Week, Biketoberfest and race weeks. Williamsburg goes quiet early, with student pubs near the college in term time, a few taprooms and a candlelit ghost walk, and a real night out means driving to Norfolk or Richmond.

Daytona has the richer outdoors, mostly thanks to water and wildlife. There are undeveloped dunes at Canaveral National Seashore and kayaking among dolphins on the Mosquito Lagoon. Merritt Island is one of the best birding areas in the state, manatees gather at Blue Spring in winter and there is surf near Ponce Inlet.

Williamsburg's Tidewater is gentler and better for easy cycling: along the traffic-free Colonial Parkway or the flat Virginia Capital Trail. There are also forest walks at York River State Park and paddling on creeks where you may see ospreys and bald eagles. Both are flat, with sticky summers.

Both make good bases, with Daytona slightly ahead for range. Within about an hour it reaches three very different days out: Spanish St Augustine, the rockets at Kennedy Space Center and the theme parks of Orlando.

Williamsburg's outings are closer but share one theme. Jamestown and Yorktown are each a short drive away and complete the Historic Triangle, and beyond them are the James River plantations, Richmond and the maritime museums of Hampton Roads. A history lover finds depth there, while Daytona gives more variety.

Williamsburg is the better choice for families, because its history is presented with children in mind: fife-and-drum parades, musket firings and replica ships at Jamestown and Yorktown. Busch Gardens and Water Country USA are close by. The town is calm and its restaurants are used to children.

Daytona works well for a simpler beach stay, with wide sand, boardwalk arcades, condos with pools and Orlando's theme parks an hour away. The drawbacks are rip currents and the noise of spring break and the event weeks, which Williamsburg does not have.

Neither town works without a car, but Williamsburg is easier on foot where it matters. The Historic Area, Merchants Square and the college form a flat, walkable district. Duke of Gloucester Street is closed to cars by day, a shuttle runs around the edge and Amtrak trains stop nearby.

Daytona is spread along long, wide roads on both sides of the river. Only the boardwalk area can be done on foot, though the beach itself makes a good cycling route. Expect heavy traffic during big events.

Williamsburg has the more interesting shopping, thanks to its crafts: pewter, silver, pottery and books printed the old way in the colonial shops, Merchants Square's brick-fronted stores, and the long-established pottery and homeware store on Richmond Road. Daytona's shopping is practical, with a mall, beachwear stalls along the shore and motorcycle gear on Main Street. Both have an outlet centre for brand-name basics, and neither has any luxury shopping.

Overall costs are much the same, typical of an American resort town with tipping and a rental car on top, but the money goes on different things. In Daytona, timing matters most: older motels and condos are good value until the Daytona 500 or Bike Week sends room rates sharply up.

In Williamsburg, rooms are rarely the problem outside summer weekends. The admission tickets are the big cost, since Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and the theme parks each charge separately, so combination passes are worth planning around.

Daytona's stages mostly host visiting performers, while Williamsburg's shows recreate its own eighteenth century. In Daytona, a long-established winter symphony series brings in touring orchestras and soloists, the Peabody Auditorium hosts touring Broadway productions, and the oceanfront bandshell puts on free concerts on summer evenings.

Williamsburg offers candlelit recitals of period music, colonial theatre and fife-and-drum corps marching down Duke of Gloucester Street, plus student concerts and plays at the college in term time. Both calendars are modest. For a wider choice, visitors drive to Orlando from Daytona, or to Norfolk or Richmond from Williamsburg.

Both rely on resort spas rather than any bathing tradition, so the difference is in how you rest. In Daytona the calm comes from the beach: early walks on the hard sand, condo pools and sunsets over the river, at least outside the noisy event weeks. Williamsburg's calm is greener, with spas at the historic inn and the riverside golf resorts, and early mornings on the empty colonial greens.