Fort Lauderdale or Naples, Florida?

These are two of Florida's best beach towns, so the choice comes down to the sea. Fort Lauderdale faces the Atlantic, with a long, lifeguarded strip along the A1A promenade and a reef you can snorkel from the shore at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.

Naples is on the Gulf of Mexico, where the water is calmer and shallower, the shelling is good and the evening ritual is watching the sun set over the sea. The undeveloped dunes of Barefoot Beach feel wilder than anything near Fort Lauderdale. The trade-off is a cooler Gulf in winter and the occasional algae bloom.

Neither city is worth the trip for its food, and both do their best with seafood such as grouper and winter stone crab. Fort Lauderdale has more variety, thanks to Jamaican, Haitian and Cuban cooking in the suburbs and a weekend brunch habit. Naples is the more formal of the two, with white-tablecloth steak and Italian dining rooms on Fifth Avenue South and Gulf fish houses around Tin City.

Each city's sights fit into a single day. Fort Lauderdale has the eccentric gardens of the Bonnet House and the pioneer story told at the Stranahan House. Naples has the Baker Museum's American art and the Revs Institute, a serious collection of historic racing cars that is worth a detour for car enthusiasts.

Fort Lauderdale is far better for a night out. The beach bars on A1A fill from late afternoon and Himmarshee Street runs late with a young crowd. Wilton Manors, with its bars and drag shows, is one of the best-known gay neighbourhoods in the country.

In Naples the evening usually means a sunset drink, dinner and a piano lounge on Fifth Avenue South. The crowd is older, and there are almost no clubs. In summer the town goes quiet very early.

Both offer flat, watery outdoors, but of different kinds. In Fort Lauderdale you are on the sea and the canals: you can dive on reefs and sunken wrecks close to shore, fish for sailfish or paddle the Intracoastal past waterfront mansions. The Everglades are within an hour.

Naples is closer to real wilderness. Big Cypress, the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp and the Fakahatchee Strand are all within easy reach, and kayaking through the mangroves of the Ten Thousand Islands is the best outing on either coast.

Fort Lauderdale is the better base for day trips, mainly because Miami is under an hour away by fast train. Wynwood, Little Havana and the Art Deco district all make easy days out, and the Flagler Museum in Palm Beach is just up the coast.

From Naples, the outings are gentler and every one needs a car. You can visit the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers or cycle and collect shells on Sanibel. Sarasota and Miami are both about two hours away.

Both are safe, easy places to bring children, and both are too far from Orlando's theme parks for a day trip. Fort Lauderdale has the better rainy-day option in its hands-on science museum with an aquarium, plus airboat rides to see alligators. Naples suits younger children, with very calm, shallow water, dolphins seen from the beach, a zoo with a boat tour and a children's museum for the under-tens.

You will want a car in both cities, but Fort Lauderdale is easier to manage without one. Water taxis on the canals and free trolleys link the beach, Las Olas and downtown, and trains run to Miami and the Palm Beaches.

In Naples, Old Naples is walkable and good for cycling. Everything else, including the northern beaches, the swamps and every day trip, means driving on long roads that get busy in winter.

Both offer resort fashion along palm-shaded streets, but the bargains are in different places. Fort Lauderdale has one of the country's largest outlet malls in Sunrise for serious bargain hunting. Naples is stronger on jewellers and galleries along Fifth Avenue South, and it has an open-air designer mall, so it suits shoppers looking for luxury rather than discounts.

Both cities are expensive, but Naples costs noticeably more. Its restaurants are priced for wealthy seasonal residents, and its resorts charge premium rates from January to April.

Fort Lauderdale also charges high-season rates, but it has older motels and self-catering apartments a few blocks back from the sand. Since you can get around the centre without a car, you can also save on car hire. In both cities summer is much cheaper, and the beaches cost nothing.

Both cities offer a similar amount of live entertainment, but of different kinds. In Fort Lauderdale the Broward Center brings touring Broadway shows, ballet and comedy all year, and small venues host touring bands, but there is no resident orchestra. Naples has its own Philharmonic in a dedicated hall and a professional theatre company. Its programme is concentrated in the winter season and thins out almost completely in summer.

Neither city has a bathing tradition, and in both, wellness means resort spas and the slow pace of the beach. Naples is the more restful of the two, with large resort spas open to non-guests, plenty of golf and a population that has largely come to unwind. Fort Lauderdale is easygoing outside spring weekends, but its beachfront can get noisy.