Destin or Palm Beach?

Both are first-rate beach destinations, but the beaches are different. Destin has fine white quartz sand and clear green Gulf water, with broad public stretches on Okaloosa Island and at Henderson Beach State Park, and the Crab Island sandbar in the bay. The drawback is the season: you can swim from late spring to October only.

Palm Beach has the warm, blue Gulf Stream all year, but the town's own shore is narrow in places and much of it sits behind private seawalls. For wide sand you drive to Singer Island, Juno or Jupiter. Peanut Island offers calm, shallow snorkelling.

You eat about equally well in each, but the style differs. Destin is about Gulf seafood straight off the charter boats, such as grouper sandwiches, royal red shrimp and your own catch cooked for you on a harbour deck. Away from the water it's mostly chains.

Palm Beach is jacket-and-reservation dining, with French and Italian rooms and stone crab in season. Across the bridge, West Palm Beach adds Cuban bakeries, Caribbean takeaways and a weekend green market, a mix of cooking Destin doesn't have.

Palm Beach has a proper short list of sights. Whitehall, Henry Flagler's marble mansion, is a real Gilded Age landmark. Mizner's tiled vias and Bethesda-by-the-Sea give Worth Avenue character, and the Norton Museum holds serious American, European and Chinese art. Together they fill two or three good days.

Destin grew out of a fishing village and kept almost nothing old. The local museum, the temple mound and the military aircraft collection in Fort Walton Beach take a morning, and anyone after history has to drive to Pensacola.

Neither is a place to plan a trip around nights out, but the evenings feel different. Destin's fun is outdoors and seasonal: boats rafted together at Crab Island in the afternoon, then frozen drinks on the harbour boardwalk decks, with a few dance floors open late in summer.

Palm Beach island goes quiet by eleven after dinner and a hotel bar. The going out happens across the lagoon on Clematis Street and around Rosemary Square, a small town-centre scene of rooftops and cocktail bars that is busiest at weekends.

There is plenty to do outdoors in both, mostly on the water. In Destin that means fishing. The continental shelf drops close to shore, so deep-sea charters reach big game fish quickly. Choctawhatchee Bay is calm for paddling, and dolphins are common in the pass. The coastal dune lakes to the east are a rare landscape.

Palm Beach is better below the surface. Divers come for the reefs near the shore and the small sea creatures under the Blue Heron Bridge. Inland, the Loxahatchee refuge on the edge of the Everglades has alligators and wading birds, and manatees gather nearby in winter.

Palm Beach has the stronger day trips, mainly because Miami is about an hour away by fast train, with South Beach's Art Deco, Little Havana and Wynwood's murals. Fort Lauderdale, Delray Beach and Jupiter's lighthouse fill easier half-days, although the resort towns along this coast resemble one another.

From Destin, the good outings are the planned pastel towns along 30A, such as Seaside and Rosemary Beach, and Pensacola's colonial district, naval aviation museum and brick forts. Beyond those two, there is little within easy reach.

Destin is designed for family beach trips. Condos with pools, gentle water on calm days, a marine park with dolphin shows, a water park, mini golf and pirate-ship cruises are all along one coast road. Parents do need to learn the flag system, because the rip currents are serious.

Palm Beach is calm and safe but made for adults, and its formal restaurants can feel stiff with children. The family outings are on the mainland: the zoo, the science centre and aquarium, Manatee Lagoon in winter and Peanut Island's shallow lagoon.

You will want a car in both, but Palm Beach is easier without one. The Worth Avenue area is walkable, the flat Lake Trail makes cycling a pleasure, downtown West Palm Beach has a free trolley, and the fast train takes you to Miami without driving.

Destin stretches along a single coastal highway that clogs in summer, with few safe places to cross on foot. Apart from the harbour boardwalk and the bike trail along 30A, you will be driving or using ride-hailing.

Palm Beach is a real shopping destination. Worth Avenue has the big luxury houses and jewellers in Mizner's shaded courtyards, the consignment shops sell designer clothes from wealthy local wardrobes, and Antique Row in West Palm Beach is a long strip of dealers in furniture and decorative arts.

Destin's shopping is mainstream American: a large outlet centre near Miramar Beach, an open-air mall and swimwear shops. The 30A boutiques and galleries are the more stylish part.

Neither is cheap, but Destin is the gentler on your wallet. Its summer condo rates are high, yet Palm Beach in winter charges far beyond big-city hotel prices, its restaurants are priced for the very rich, and even beach parking adds up.

Each has a cheaper season, at a cost. Destin's low season is late autumn to early spring, when the sea is too cold to swim. Palm Beach's rates fall in the hot, stormy summer, though the sea stays warm. In both, staying inland or across the water saves money.

Destin has no stage of its own worth planning an evening around. Orchestral concerts and touring productions mean a drive across the bay, the plays come from small local companies, and most of the music on a summer night is a cover band or a guitarist on a bar deck. The nicest moments are informal, such as a free summer concert on the lawn of one of the 30A towns.

Palm Beach works on a different scale. A major arts centre across the lagoon draws national tours, visiting orchestras and ballet, and the town also has its own opera company, a theatre known for demanding plays and chamber music on the island itself. The catch is timing. This is a winter calendar, built around the months when wealthy residents are in town, and by summer it has largely gone quiet, just as Destin's outdoor concerts are at their best.

Palm Beach is the more restful place. The manicured, quiet island and slow mornings along the lagoon are calming in themselves, and the large oceanfront resort spas are built for a proper wellness stay, with salt-water pools and fitness programmes.

Destin's spas are in the golf and beach resorts around Sandestin, with a few day spas besides. Its calm comes from empty sand early in the day in spring and autumn. In summer, traffic and crowds take much of that away.