Destin or Orlando?

Here the two cities are far apart. In Destin the beach is the main event: fine white sand on clear green water along Okaloosa Island, Henderson Beach State Park and Miramar Beach, plus the shallow Crab Island sandbar in the bay. On calm days children can wade straight in, but on rough days the flags matter because of rip currents.

Orlando is inland, so the sea means an hour's drive to Cocoa Beach or New Smyrna Beach on the Atlantic, or nearly two hours to the calmer Gulf at Clearwater. Most visitors swim in hotel pools and water parks and fit in one day at the coast.

Destin is the better place for fish straight off the boat. Charter boats land snapper, grouper and royal red shrimp at the harbour, and some places will cook what you caught. Beyond seafood decks and the chain restaurants along the highway, though, there is little else.

Orlando has the wider range, although you have to drive away from the parks to find it. Mills 50 has a strong run of Vietnamese and other Asian kitchens, Winter Park and Audubon Park have chef-led restaurants and farmers' markets, and Epcot's World Showcase is fun for grazing.

Neither city is a place for history or architecture, but Orlando has the one sight worth planning around: the Morse Museum in Winter Park, with its large Tiffany collection and the chapel made for the 1893 World's Fair. The art and history museums in Loch Haven Park and downtown add a quiet afternoon.

In Destin, culture means a small museum about its fishing past. Next door in Fort Walton Beach there is a prehistoric temple mound and a collection of military aircraft, and for anything more you have to go to Pensacola.

Destin's best drinking happens in daylight and in the open air, while Orlando's comes late and downtown. In Destin that means decks along the harbour boardwalk, beach bars on Okaloosa Island and boats rafted together at Crab Island in the afternoon, all flip-flops and frozen drinks. It is mostly a summer and spring-break scene, and out of season evenings end early.

Orlando's resort districts at Disney Springs and CityWalk are easy and safe but wind down fairly early. Downtown along Orange Avenue, a university crowd fills bars and clubs until late at weekends, and Ivanhoe Village has a relaxed gay scene. Of the two cities, only Orlando has real club life.

Destin has more outdoors for a visitor, and most of it is on the water. Deep-sea charters reach big fish quickly, the bay suits paddleboards and kayaks, and dolphins swim in the pass. East along the coast there are white dunes and rare coastal dune lakes with boardwalks.

Orlando's nature is freshwater and wildlife. You can kayak at Wekiwa Springs, see manatees at Blue Spring in winter, take airboats past alligators, or watch birds at Merritt Island. Its outdoor season runs through the cooler months, while Destin's water life is at its best in summer.

Orlando has more good day trips. The Kennedy Space Center, with the Saturn V and the shuttle Atlantis, is an hour away, and St Augustine's Spanish fort and old streets are a little further. Tampa's Ybor City and the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg make a full day.

From Destin the best outings are the planned pastel towns of 30A, such as Seaside and Rosemary Beach, and Pensacola's colonial district, naval aviation museum and brick forts. After that there is little within easy reach.

Orlando was built for children, and Destin can't match it. Walt Disney World's four parks and two water parks, Universal for older children and teenagers, SeaWorld and Legoland can fill a week or more. The resorts are designed around families, down to bunk-room suites and character breakfasts.

Destin offers a classic beach trip instead. There are soft sand, condos with kitchens and pools, a marine park with dolphin shows, a water park, go-karts and pirate-ship cruises. It is simpler and slower than Orlando, but the rip-current flags need watching.

You need a car in both, but Destin is the easier of the two. Everything lies along one coastal road, the harbour boardwalk and some beachfront stretches can be walked, and bikes work on the 30A trail. The catch is heavy summer traffic.

Orlando spreads its parks, hotel zones, airport and downtown many miles apart along Interstate 4 and toll roads. The exception is a stay inside Disney or Universal, where monorails, boats and gondolas let a family manage without a car.

Orlando is the stronger place to shop, and many international visitors come partly for the brands. It has two premium outlet centres, the Mall at Millenia for luxury labels, brand stores at Disney Springs, and Park Avenue in Winter Park for boutiques.

Destin has one large outlet centre near Miramar Beach, an open-air mall, and swimwear and souvenir shops. The 30A towns add small galleries and home-décor stores with more style.

Both are costly, in different ways. In Destin the cost is accommodation: beachfront rates peak from late spring through summer, and off season is much cheaper only because the sea is too cold to swim. A condo with a kitchen or a room on the bay side helps.

In Orlando, hotels away from the parks are fairly priced, but park tickets for several days, express passes, parking and meals inside the parks soon add up. Staying off-site and eating at casual places away from the resorts saves the most.

Orlando is clearly ahead. The Dr. Phillips Center takes touring Broadway shows and is home to the Philharmonic, Orlando Shakespeare Theater plays in Loch Haven Park, and the long-running Fringe fills the spring. The parks add polished stage shows, dinner shows and fireworks.

In Destin, live music mostly means cover bands and acoustic sets on bar decks. The regional symphony plays across the bay in Niceville, and there are summer lawn concerts in the 30A towns.

Neither has a spa tradition, and both rely on resort hotels for pampering. Destin's are around Sandestin and Miramar Beach. The real difference is the kind of rest each offers. In Destin it is early walks on empty sand and quiet balcony afternoons in spring and autumn.

In Orlando, rest means a pool day between days in the parks, with lazy rivers and spas at Lake Buena Vista, or a slower stay among the lakes of Winter Park.