Destin or Myrtle Beach?

Both are true beach towns, and both have excellent beaches, but they look different. Destin has fine white quartz sand and clear green Gulf water, the shallow Crab Island sandbar on the bay side, and Henderson Beach and Okaloosa Island for public access. Swimmers need to watch the flags, because rip currents are a real danger on rough days.

Myrtle Beach offers far more sand rather than finer sand. The Grand Strand runs for about 100km of wide, flat beach, with loud tower-lined blocks in the centre and quieter dune-backed stretches at Surfside and Garden City. The Atlantic there is shallow with small waves, but greener and less clear than the Gulf.

Neither town is worth the trip for the food, and both rely on seafood, but in different ways. Destin's strength is the harbour, where charter boats land snapper, grouper and royal red shrimp and some kitchens will cook your own catch, and the more ambitious restaurants are along 30A.

Myrtle Beach itself leans on buffets and pancake houses, so the better meals are just outside town, at the waterfront places in Murrells Inlet and in Calabash-style fried seafood over the North Carolina line, with Lowcountry dishes like shrimp and grits on many menus.

Culture is thin on both coasts, but Myrtle Beach has more to fill a day with. Brookgreen Gardens, a former rice plantation turned sculpture garden that also tells the story of the people enslaved there, is a genuine sight, and Atalaya, the Moorish-style winter house next door, adds an oddity from the 1930s.

Destin offers a small fishing museum, and in neighbouring Fort Walton Beach there is a prehistoric temple mound and a collection of military aircraft. Anyone wanting more has to drive along the coast.

Myrtle Beach goes out harder and later. The boardwalk blocks, rooftop decks and entertainment complexes have a cluster of dance clubs, and North Myrtle Beach keeps the shag, the Carolina beach dance, alive in long-standing Main Street clubs. Spring breaks and motorcycle rallies make some weeks rowdy.

Destin's evenings are gentler and centre on the open-air decks of the harbour boardwalk and beach bars on Okaloosa Island. Its liveliest scene is in the afternoon, when boats tie up together at Crab Island.

Destin is the better base for the outdoors, mostly because of the water. The continental shelf drops off near shore, so deep-sea charters reach big fish quickly, dolphins swim through the pass, and the calm bay suits kayaks and sailing. The state parks to the east protect high dunes and rare coastal dune lakes, with boardwalks and bike paths.

Myrtle Beach's outdoors is quieter: marsh boardwalks with herons and alligators at Huntington Beach State Park, kayaking among the Waccamaw's cypress swamps, and a great many golf courses.

Myrtle Beach has the stronger single day out in Charleston, a long two-hour drive that pays off with antebellum streets and harbour forts. Georgetown, Pawleys Island and Wilmington's riverfront are also within range.

From Destin, the planned towns of 30A, Seaside, Rosemary Beach and Alys Beach, are pleasant to walk and only forty minutes away. Pensacola, an hour west, has its colonial district and naval aviation museum. Beyond these there is little until you go much further.

Myrtle Beach keeps children busier once they have had enough of the sea, though Destin has the better water for the very young. On calm days the Gulf at Destin is clear and gentle enough for toddlers, and condos with pools make a long stay easy. Away from the sand, the marine park on Okaloosa Island has dolphin and sea-lion shows, and there are a water park, go-karts and pirate-ship cruises from the harbour. Parents need to learn the beach flags, because rip currents can make the Gulf dangerous on rough days.

Myrtle Beach simply has more to fill the days, with an old wooden roller coaster, a giant observation wheel on the boardwalk, several water parks and volcano-themed mini golf. The catch is noise: parts of the oceanfront get rowdy at night, and spring break weeks are best avoided with children.

Both are places to drive, and neither has public transport that a visitor would use. Destin is strung along a single coastal highway that clogs in summer and has few safe places to cross on foot. Walking is mostly limited to the harbour boardwalk and a few beachfront stretches, and the 30A trail further east is good for cycling. Otherwise you rely on the car, ride-hailing or resort shuttles.

Myrtle Beach spreads along a much longer coast, about 100km, on multi-lane roads such as Kings Highway, with few pavements. Within the oceanfront blocks around the boardwalk, though, you can get about on foot, the wide, flat beach makes a long walking promenade, and some visitors use bikes or golf carts on the local streets.

Both are outlet-mall towns with plenty of swimwear and souvenirs and nothing luxurious. Destin has the edge for browsing because of the 30A towns nearby, where small boutiques, galleries and home-décor shops add some style. Myrtle Beach offers more scale, with two big outlet centres and the town-centre feel of The Market Common, plus the one local craft on either coast: sweetgrass baskets sold along the road south.

On both coasts a hire car and American tipping add to the bill, and attractions and paid outings cost much the same. Where Destin costs more is in the warm months, when beach parking, charter fishing and meals on the waterfront decks soon add up. You can cut the cost by sleeping inland or on the bay side instead of the Gulf front, in a condo where you can cook.

Myrtle Beach leaves more money in your pocket for a similar stay, but when you go matters more than where you stay. July and long weekends push prices up sharply. A week early or late in the season, when the sea can still be warm, often costs much less, so it pays to plan the dates first.

Myrtle Beach has a real evening-show industry, even if it isn't highbrow. Large theatres put on country, gospel and comedy revues, there are dinner shows with knights and pirates, and touring country and rock acts play the main entertainment complex.

Destin has little to match it. The regional symphony and touring productions play across the bay in Niceville, and otherwise there are small theatre companies, summer lawn concerts in the 30A towns and cover bands on bar decks.

Neither coast has a bathing tradition, and in both the spas are in the resorts. In Destin they cluster in the golf and beach resorts around Sandestin and Miramar Beach. Myrtle Beach spreads them through its oceanfront hotels. In either place, quiet means going in spring or autumn. For a calm base, Destin offers early walks on white sand, and Myrtle Beach has the slower pace of Pawleys Island at its southern end.