Florianopolis or Punta del Este?

Florianopolis has more beaches and more variety, because a single island gives you three kinds of coast. The northern bays around Jurere and Daniela are calm and warm, Mole, Joaquina and Campeche face open surf, and Lagoinha do Leste and Naufragados in the south can only be reached on foot or by boat. The water is also several degrees warmer at the height of summer.

Punta del Este has a simpler setup. On the peninsula you choose between still Playa Mansa and surf-pounded Playa Brava, and then wide sandy beaches run east past La Barra and Manantiales towards José Ignacio. Each beach draws its own crowd, but the sea is cool even in January.

Florianopolis has the stronger table, and it is built on the sea. Oysters farmed in the island's own waters are served by the water in Ribeirao da Ilha and Santo Antonio de Lisboa, and the sequencia de camarao turns lunch into a long run of shrimp dishes. Away from seafood the choice is thin.

In Punta del Este you eat Uruguayan food: beef and lamb from the parrilla, chivito sandwiches and fish from the port stalls. Its real strength is the wine country around Garzón, with Albariño and Tannat at a long winery lunch. Many of its best dining rooms close once summer ends.

Neither city is a sightseeing destination, but Florianopolis gives you a little more to explore. It has colonial and Azorean heritage in the whitewashed villages along the bay, 18th-century fortresses such as Anhatomirim, and the old square around Praca XV with its cathedral and pink palace.

Punta del Este grew up as a 20th-century resort, so there is little history in its streets. What it has is art and design. Casapueblo, Carlos Páez Vilaró's white cliffside house-studio at Punta Ballena, is the one sight not to miss, best seen at sunset.

Both are big summer party destinations, and both go quiet in winter. In Florianopolis there are two scenes: glossy beach clubs with big-name DJs in Jurere Internacional, and a looser, younger night of bars and street drinking around Lagoa da Conceicao. The busy season runs from December through Carnival.

Punta del Este keeps Río de la Plata hours. Dinner starts late, bars fill after midnight and the clubs in La Barra keep going past sunrise, with a dressed-up, moneyed crowd. Its peak is shorter, though, from Christmas to the end of January.

Florianopolis has far more varied outdoor life. Much of the island is protected Atlantic forest crossed by trails to remote beaches. The Lagoa da Conceicao draws kitesurfers and paddlers, sandboarders use the Joaquina dunes, and the east-coast surf is consistent.

The landscape around Punta del Este is gentler and flatter, with dunes, pine woods and quiet lagoons for birdwatching. Boats go out to the sea lions of Isla de Lobos, and the only hikes are short ones in low hills. Southern right whales visit both coasts in spring.

The day trips are about as good in both, but they are very different. From Florianopolis you can visit the German-settled towns of Blumenau and Pomerode with their half-timbered houses and beer, the high-rises of Balneario Camboriu, or the laid-back surf towns of Garopaba and Praia do Rosa.

From Punta del Este you can reach a capital city: Montevideo, with its old town and riverside promenade, is about two hours away. Closer in are the wineries around Pueblo Garzón and old-fashioned Piriápolis.

Either works for a simple beach vacation with children, though they are set up differently. Florianopolis has the gentle northern bays, sandboarding for older children and the Beto Carrero World theme park up the coast. The cost is long summer traffic jams between beaches.

Punta del Este has calmer days on a smaller scale. Small children can swim in the shallow Mansa side, the residential streets are green and safe, and young families stay out late with everyone else. Apart from the sea lions, there is almost nothing built for children.

Punta del Este is a little easier to get around. The peninsula is compact enough to walk, a seaside path along the coast road suits walking and cycling, and local buses run to Maldonado and La Barra. To reach José Ignacio or the wineries you will still want a car.

Florianopolis is harder work. The island is about 50km long and has only a few narrow roads, buses run through hub terminals, and in summer the bridges slow to a crawl. The best plan is to choose a base close to the beaches you want.

Florianopolis is a place to shop for what you need rather than for fun. The city malls stock Brazilian fashion and beachwear, and Jurere and Lagoa add a few surf and swimwear boutiques. The one thing really worth taking home is renda de bilro, the bobbin lace still made by hand in Santo Antonio de Lisboa and the other Azorean villages.

Punta del Este gives a shopper more to do, as long as you come in summer. That is when seasonal designer boutiques join the chains on Avenida Gorlero, and La Barra and José Ignacio fill up with linen and design pieces for second-home owners. Its local crafts come from Uruguay's ranching country, not Azorean fishing villages, so at the Plaza Artigas market you find leather, woollens and mate gourds where Florianopolis has lace. Come in winter and most of this is shut.

Here the gap is wide. Florianopolis is pricey for Brazil but feels moderate to most foreign visitors, and once the summer peak passes it is good value. Jurere Internacional, though, is priced as a luxury enclave.

Punta del Este is expensive all round, in one of the costliest countries in the region. Hotel rooms, beach-club loungers and dinners in January are priced for its wealthy summer crowd. The shoulder months bring room rates down, but fewer places are open.

Neither city is a place to go for performances, but Florianopolis has more on through the year. The 19th-century Teatro Alvaro de Carvalho and the Centro Integrado de Cultura stage plays and concerts, and many evenings bring samba and MPB in the bars around Lagoa.

Punta del Este packs most of its performances into a short season. The main event is a long-established international jazz festival every January on a country estate, alongside chamber concerts near José Ignacio. For the rest of the year you have to go to Montevideo.

Florianopolis has more on offer for a restful trip, mainly because of the hot springs at Santo Amaro da Imperatriz and Aguas Mornas, less than an hour inland. It also has yoga studios and small retreats for surfers, and the southern villages are calm outside high season.

Punta del Este has no bathing tradition, only hotel spas and studios that open in summer. Its calm comes from setting instead: pine-shaded streets and the slow lagoon country beyond José Ignacio, best in the shoulder months.