Destin or Panama City Beach?

Both towns sit on the same powder-white quartz sand in front of clear green Gulf water. The swimming season and the rip-current flags are the same on each, so the difference is in the shape of a beach day.

Destin's sand is spread across Okaloosa Island, Henderson Beach State Park and Miramar Beach. On the bay side it adds Crab Island, a sandbar where boats anchor and people wade in warm, shallow water. Panama City Beach is one long 43km strip lined with condo towers. Its edge is St. Andrews State Park, with a sheltered lagoon and boats out to the undeveloped sands of Shell Island, which Destin has nothing to match.

Neither town is a food destination, but Destin eats better. Its harbour is a working charter-boat port, so red snapper, grouper and royal red shrimp come in fresh, and some kitchens will cook what you caught. The more ambitious restaurants of 30A are a short drive east.

Panama City Beach serves the same Gulf seafood: blackened grouper, shrimp baskets and oysters from the nearby bays, mostly at shacks and dockside decks. National chains and themed restaurants dominate Front Beach Road, and only a handful of kitchens near the lagoon put in more effort.

Culture is thin in both towns, and neither is worth choosing for it. Destin borrows its main sights from Fort Walton Beach next door, a prehistoric temple mound with its museum and an outdoor display of military aircraft, and adds a small museum on its fishing past. Panama City Beach has the Man in the Sea Museum on diving and naval underwater research, and across the bay are the older streets of St. Andrews and downtown Panama City.

Destin has the slightly better evening out. The harbour boardwalk puts its open-air bars on docks and decks in one walkable place, and Okaloosa Island adds beach bars. The boats rafted up at Crab Island make the afternoon one of the liveliest times of day.

Panama City Beach's bars are spread more thinly, from tiki bars on the sand to sports bars around Pier Park. Its loudest weeks are in March, when spring break fills Front Beach Road with students. Outside summer both towns go quiet early, and neither has a club scene.

Both are flat coasts where the outdoors means water, white dunes and the odd dolphin. Destin leans towards fishing: the continental shelf drops off close to shore, so deep-sea charters reach big game fish quickly, and Choctawhatchee Bay is calm for paddling and sailing.

Panama City Beach does more under the water, with diving on artificial reefs and offshore wrecks and snorkelling in the St. Andrews lagoon. Inland it has conservation trails and state forest for walking and cycling. Both can reach the rare coastal dune lakes, Destin through the state parks to the east and Panama City Beach at Camp Helen.

The real difference is where the longer outing goes. Destin looks west to Pensacola, about an hour away, for its historic district from Spanish and British colonial times, the naval aviation museum and the old brick forts on the barrier islands. Panama City Beach looks east to Apalachicola, an old cotton and oyster port with brick warehouses and a working waterfront. It is about an hour and a half away, by way of Port St. Joe and Mexico Beach.

Between the two towns lie the planned towns of Scenic Highway 30A, so Seaside and Rosemary Beach are under an hour from either one. Pensacola is close to two hours from Panama City Beach, and Apalachicola is further still from Destin, so each town keeps its own side of the coast. Either way you need a car.

Both towns are built around family beach trips. Each has condos with pools, a long-running marine park with dolphin shows, a large water park, go-karts and mini golf. Destin adds pirate-ship and dolphin cruises from the harbour. Panama City Beach has a small zoo, an upside-down science attraction and the calm St. Andrews lagoon for a child's first snorkel.

What you plan around is different. In Destin it is summer traffic and heat on the coast highway. In Panama City Beach it is March, when spring break makes the strip a poor place for children.

Plan on a car in either town. Destin is a little easier on foot in places, with a walkable harbour boardwalk and the bike trail along 30A, though crossing the coast highway on foot is risky. Panama City Beach stretches much further, its pavements are patchy and unshaded, and its trolley-bus network is too slow and sparse to replace driving.

Destin is the better place to shop. The outlet centre near Miramar Beach draws day shoppers from across the region and an open-air mall has the main chains. The galleries and home-décor shops of the 30A towns are a short drive east.

Panama City Beach centres on Pier Park, with mainstream chain stores and a department store. Along the strip are the giant beachwear warehouses with shark-mouth entrances. For anything more individual you drive west to the same 30A towns.

Panama City Beach is the cheaper of the two. Its condo rentals are more moderately priced to begin with, and outside summer and spring break they fall sharply, so long winter stays are especially good value.

Destin charges full resort-coast rates from late spring through summer, and waterfront meals, charter fishing and parking add to the bill. It also gets much cheaper off season, and staying inland or along the bay helps. In both towns, hiring a car is part of the cost.

For Destin, the best live performance is across Choctawhatchee Bay in Niceville, where a college arts centre hosts the regional symphony and touring shows. Panama City Beach looks across St. Andrew Bay instead, to Panama City's civic centre and a restored historic theatre with a modest season of touring shows and local productions.

Nearer the sand, both towns mostly offer cover bands and acoustic sets on bar decks. Destin adds small theatre companies in Miramar Beach and Seaside and summer concerts on the lawns of the 30A towns. Panama City Beach has outdoor concerts at its shopping centre in summer.

Neither town has a spa tradition, so wellness here means a resort spa or a quiet beach out of season. Destin has more to choose from, thanks to the spas in the large golf and beach resorts around Miramar Beach and Sandestin. Panama City Beach offers a few day spas and the occasional yoga class on the sand. In both towns the real calm comes outside summer, when the sand empties and long walks are easy, and in Panama City Beach outside March as well.