Fort Lauderdale or Miami?

Both sit on the same warm Atlantic with the same long ribbon of pale sand, so the swimming is equally good. The difference is the setting. Fort Lauderdale's beach is a palm-lined promenade along A1A with lifeguard towers and often clear water, and to the north Lauderdale-by-the-Sea has a reef you can snorkel straight from the shore.

Miami Beach is more urban, with South Beach's Art Deco hotels behind the sand and a busier, more social crowd. For calmer water there, Key Biscayne's Crandon Park and Bill Baggs are shallow and sheltered, and North Beach and Surfside are quieter.

Miami is in a different league here. It eats like a Latin American capital, with cafecito from ventanita windows, croquetas and Cuban sandwiches in Little Havana, Peruvian ceviche, Haitian griot and Venezuelan arepas, plus a serious tier of chef-led restaurants in Brickell and the Design District.

Fort Lauderdale is pleasant rather than memorable. Its best meals are dockside grouper and mahi on the Intracoastal and the sit-down terraces of Las Olas, and its Jamaican and Haitian cooking sits out in the western suburbs. Locals in search of a big dinner drive south to Miami, and you may well do the same.

Miami has far more to see. The Art Deco Historic District is a real architectural sight, with hundreds of pastel 1930s buildings to walk past along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue. Vizcaya's villa and bayside gardens, the Perez Art Museum, the Wolfsonian, Wynwood's murals and Little Havana's exile history fill a few full days.

Fort Lauderdale's sights take about a day. Bonnet House's eccentric estate and gardens, the Stranahan House trading post and the NSU Art Museum are worth seeing, but here you come for the water rather than the sights.

Miami is one of the world's party cities and Fort Lauderdale is not. South Beach and the downtown clubs run until dawn with big-name DJs and bottle tables, and around them are Wynwood's breweries and warehouse bars, Brickell's rooftops and salsa nights on Calle Ocho.

Fort Lauderdale goes out in a looser, beachier way, with bars on A1A from late afternoon, a young crowd on Himmarshee Street and wine bars on Las Olas. Its real distinction is Wilton Manors, whose bars and drag shows along Wilton Drive make it one of the country's best-known gay neighbourhoods.

The outdoors are about equal, both flat and watery, but the emphasis differs. Fort Lauderdale's strength is its canals and the Intracoastal for kayaking and paddleboarding, wreck diving close to shore and sailfish fishing offshore.

Miami has the Everglades right on its edge, with the Anhinga Trail boardwalks and the Shark Valley cycling loop, and Biscayne National Park for paddling among mangroves and snorkelling on reefs. In both, winter is the season for it.

Fort Lauderdale is the better base, mainly because Miami itself is the day trip. Under an hour south by car or fast train, it gives you Art Deco South Beach, Wynwood and Little Havana, while Palm Beach, Boca Raton and Delray Beach are close to the north.

From Miami the easy outings are less rewarding: Fort Lauderdale's canals, Palm Beach's mansions a bit further away, and the Upper Keys for seafood and waterfront towns. Key West is too far for one day from either.

Both work well with children, thanks to warm, gentle water and wide beaches. Fort Lauderdale is the easier of the two, smaller and calmer, with a good hands-on science museum, a butterfly garden and canal boats. Miami has more to offer, with Zoo Miami, the Frost Science planetarium and the Venetian Pool, but drives are longer and South Beach's party side gets in the way.

Both are car cities with small walkable cores. Fort Lauderdale's core is the triangle of beach, Las Olas and the Riverwalk, linked by canal water taxis and free trolleys. Miami's are South Beach on foot or by bike and the free elevated Metromover between downtown and Brickell, though Metrorail never reaches the beach. Beyond those pockets you will need ride-hailing or a hire car in either city.

Miami is the shopping city. The Design District has the fashion houses' flagship stores among architect-designed buildings, Bal Harbour is one of the country's most exclusive malls, and Aventura Mall and Lincoln Road add scale.

Fort Lauderdale offers a relaxed afternoon of boutiques and swimwear shops along Las Olas and one big draw out in Sunrise, a vast outlet mall. Serious luxury means driving to Miami or Palm Beach.

Neither is a cheap vacation. Both charge steep winter hotel rates and add tax and tips to every meal, and in both the summer low season is cheaper but comes with heat and storms. Fort Lauderdale's savings come from self-catering flats and older motels a few blocks back from the sand. In Miami it is Cuban lunch counters, the free Metromover and staying on the mainland, though South Beach club bills can undo all of that in one night.

Miami has the fuller stage. The Adrienne Arsht Center hosts Florida Grand Opera and touring shows, Miami City Ballet is a company of real standing, and the New World Symphony plays in its Gehry building. Little Havana adds live salsa, son and timba.

Fort Lauderdale rests on the Broward Center and Parker Playhouse for touring musicals, ballet and comedy, with cover bands in the beach bars, and has no resident opera or orchestra.

For rest the two are close, and both rely on resort spas and sunrise yoga on the sand. Miami has the one real bath house, a long-established Russian and Turkish banya in Miami Beach, but its loud nights and heavy traffic work against calm unless you retreat to Key Biscayne or Surfside. Fort Lauderdale's easygoing pace and morning promenade walks make unwinding simpler.