Destin or Fort Myers?

Destin has the finer beach, and it starts at the door. White quartz sand and clear green water run from Okaloosa Island and Henderson Beach State Park east to Miramar Beach, and the Crab Island sandbar in the bay adds shallow wading. The catch is rip currents on rough days, so watch the flags.

The beaches of Fort Myers are on the barrier islands, half an hour or more away. Fort Myers Beach is wide and gentle, Sanibel and Captiva draw shell hunters, and the shallow water suits weak swimmers, though seaweed and algae sometimes spoil it. Its real advantage is winter, when its water is still swimmable and Destin's is too cold.

Both cities eat from the Gulf at casual waterfront places, and neither is worth the trip for its food alone. Destin relies on its charter fleet: snapper, grouper and royal red shrimp are landed at the harbour, and some places will cook the fish you caught yourself.

Fort Myers adds stone crab claws in season and a small cluster of independent kitchens and craft breweries in the River District. In both, serious eaters have to look further afield, to 30A from Destin and to Sanibel or Naples from Fort Myers.

Fort Myers has more to see, though one day covers it. The Edison and Ford Winter Estates, with the inventors' riverside homes, laboratory and gardens, are a proper half-day visit. The royal palms of McGregor Boulevard and the early twentieth-century brick streets of the River District add some period character.

Destin has almost nothing historic. A small fishing museum, plus the temple mound and the outdoor display of military aircraft in Fort Walton Beach, are the whole list, so history lovers drive to Pensacola.

Neither is a place for big nights out, and the busy seasons fall at opposite times of year. Destin's going out is outdoors and on the water, from the bar decks along the harbour boardwalk to the afternoon raft-up of boats at Crab Island, with a few dance floors open late in summer.

In Fort Myers, evenings are split between the rooftop and cocktail bars of the downtown River District, with its monthly art walk, and the beach bars around the pier on Estero Island. The winter crowd is older, and most places close early.

Fort Myers has the richer wildlife. Ding Darling on Sanibel is one of the best places in the country to see roseate spoonbills and herons. Corkscrew Swamp has a boardwalk through old bald cypress, the Great Calusa Blueway takes kayaks through mangrove tunnels, and manatees gather in the warm water in winter.

Destin's outdoors is the open Gulf. Deep-sea charters reach big game fish quickly, the bay suits paddleboarding and sailing, and the state parks to the east have high white dunes and rare coastal dune lakes. Keen anglers will prefer it.

Destin's outings run along the coast in two directions. About forty minutes east, the planned 30A towns of Seaside and Rosemary Beach and the older village of Grayton Beach make a good afternoon of walking and browsing. An hour west, Pensacola's colonial district, naval aviation museum and brick forts fill a day. After those two, the list thins out quickly.

Within an hour of Fort Myers there is more to choose from: Naples with its old town and pier, the island villages of Sanibel and Captiva, quiet Boca Grande and the utopian settlement at Koreshan State Park. Further out, Sarasota has the Ringling museum and the Ca' d'Zan mansion, and Everglades City leads into the Ten Thousand Islands, so a week of outings is easy to fill.

Destin is the more complete family resort. Along with soft sand and clear water, it has a long-running marine park with dolphin and sea-lion shows, a large water park, go-karts and mini golf, all close to the condos.

Fort Myers is calm and easy with small children, thanks to shelling on Sanibel, manatee spotting and a hands-on science centre. But there is no theme park, zoo or aquarium, so the days are quieter. In both places summer heat and storms cut time outdoors, and in Destin parents need to watch the rip-current flags.

Without a car, neither place works. Destin strings its beaches, shops and restaurants along one coastal highway that jams in summer and has few safe crossings on foot. Still, the harbour boardwalk is pleasant to walk, and the bike trail on 30A, a short drive east, makes cycling a real option.

Fort Myers gives even less to anyone without wheels. The city, the beaches, Sanibel and the nature reserves are scattered across a low-density county, local buses are too sparse to rely on, and the bridges to the islands back up in the winter season. The beach trolley and the walkable River District help only a little.

In both, shopping means outlet malls and chain centres, with no markets or fashion district. The difference is in the browsing. Destin's 30A towns add stylish boutiques and home-décor shops, while Fort Myers has the galleries and shell shops of Sanibel's Periwinkle Way and the Captiva villages.

Neither is cheap, and in both the season sets the price more than the place, but the seasons run in opposite directions. Destin is most expensive in summer and cheapest from late autumn to early spring, when the sea is too cold for swimming. Fort Myers peaks from January to April and its prices drop sharply in summer.

A hire car is a fixed cost in both. Fort Myers has a slight edge: staying in town rather than on the islands saves a good deal, and its beaches and nature reserves cost little to enjoy.

Destin has no stage of its own worth planning an evening around. For an orchestra or a touring show you cross the bay to the college arts centre in Niceville. Beyond that, live performance is small theatre in Miramar Beach and Seaside and open-air concerts on the 30A lawns in summer, so it is something you come across rather than something you plan for.

Fort Myers has a proper winter season, and it plays in town. The Barbara B. Mann hall brings in Broadway tours and headline acts, and a regional orchestra and a professional theatre company fill the weeks in between, so a winter visitor can easily book a night out. The timing is the reverse of Destin's: Fort Myers goes quiet in summer, which is exactly when the lawn concerts along 30A are on.

Neither has a spa or bathing tradition, and in both, pampering means a massage at a resort spa, which in Destin's case are around Sandestin and Miramar Beach.

The difference is the pace. Sanibel and Captiva, with low buildings, bike paths and early nights, give Fort Myers a slower base for a restful week. Destin is most restful in spring and autumn, once the summer traffic and crowds have gone.