Fort Lauderdale or Orlando?

This is where the two cities differ most. Fort Lauderdale has a long, lifeguarded beach of pale sand along its barrier island, with clear water and a reef you can snorkel from shore at Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, so the beach becomes part of every day.

From Orlando, the nearest sand is at Cocoa Beach, about an hour's drive east, and the calmer Gulf beaches near Clearwater are about two hours west. Day-to-day swimming there happens in hotel pools and water parks, which children love, but it is not a beach vacation.

Neither city is a reason to travel for food, and they are about level. What differs is where the good meals are. In Fort Lauderdale it is seafood eaten on a dock beside the Intracoastal, plus Jamaican and Haitian cooking in the western suburbs.

Orlando's best eating is away from the park chains, in the Vietnamese kitchens of Mills 50 and the chef-led restaurants of Winter Park, though you will need to drive to reach them. Epcot's World Showcase is the one place where eating in the parks is worth planning around.

Both are young cities with little heritage, so neither suits a trip planned around sights. Fort Lauderdale edges ahead with the Bonnet House, an eccentric artists' estate in subtropical gardens, and the pioneer Stranahan House, both easy to fit around beach days.

Orlando's best single sight is the Morse Museum in Winter Park, with its Tiffany collection and the chapel interior from the 1893 World's Fair. It is worth an afternoon, but beyond it there are only a few modest museums in Loch Haven Park and downtown.

Fort Lauderdale has the livelier and more varied evenings. The beach bars on A1A fill from late afternoon, a short walk from the sand. Downtown, Himmarshee Street draws a younger crowd that stays out late, while Las Olas has wine bars and terraces for a calmer evening. Wilton Manors, just north of downtown, is one of the best-known gay neighbourhoods in the country, with drag shows along Wilton Drive.

Orlando's evenings are split. The themed bars of Disney Springs and CityWalk are easy and safe but quieten early. Around Orange Avenue downtown, a university crowd only gets going late at weekends, and by then most visitors to the parks are asleep.

Both landscapes are flat and wet, but Fort Lauderdale has more to do outdoors because it has the sea. Diving on reefs and wrecks close to shore, sport fishing offshore and kayaking on the Intracoastal can fill whole days, and the Everglades airboats are less than an hour away.

Orlando's nature is fresh water: clear springs at Wekiwa for kayaking, manatees at Blue Spring in winter, and fine birdwatching at Merritt Island towards the coast. In both places the best season is winter, when the heat and storms ease.

The day trips are evenly matched, but they go in different directions. From Fort Lauderdale the obvious outing is Miami, under an hour away by car or train, for Art Deco, Wynwood and Little Havana. Palm Beach is to the north, and Key Largo is possible if you don't mind a long day.

From Orlando almost every trip means a drive of one to two hours: the Kennedy Space Center and its rockets, St Augustine's Spanish fort and old streets, or Tampa and the Dalí Museum. Orlando's trips offer more history, and Fort Lauderdale's offer more city.

Orlando is in a different league for children. Walt Disney World, Universal, SeaWorld and Legoland can fill a week or more, and the whole place, from character breakfasts to hotel suites with bunk rooms, is designed for families.

Fort Lauderdale is easy with children in a quieter way: a gentle, lifeguarded beach, the hands-on Museum of Discovery and Science and an airboat ride in the Everglades. It suits families who want sand rather than rides, and Orlando's parks are about three hours away, too far for a day out.

Neither city is easy without a car, but Fort Lauderdale is the more forgiving. If you stay between the beach, Las Olas and downtown, you can walk, take the free trolleys or ride the water taxis on the canals, and trains run to Miami and the Palm Beaches.

Orlando is built along Interstate 4 and its toll roads. The parks, hotels and downtown are miles apart, and the buses are of little use to visitors. The exception is staying at a Disney or Universal resort, where monorail, boats and buses link the hotels and parks.

Orlando is slightly better for shopping if you are after brands. It has two large premium outlet centres, a luxury mall and the park merchandise of Disney Springs, and Park Avenue in Winter Park adds a pleasant street of boutiques.

Fort Lauderdale's main shopping street is Las Olas, a shaded boulevard of resort fashion and galleries, and it has a huge outlet mall out in Sunrise. Neither city offers much in the way of local crafts.

Both are expensive, and the gap between them is small. What changes is where the money goes. In Fort Lauderdale it goes on beachfront rooms in the winter high season, restaurant bills with tips and parking near the sand, though summer brings lower rates.

In Orlando, rooms away from the parks along International Drive and in Kissimmee are fairly priced, but theme-park tickets for several days, express queue passes and meals in the parks soon cancel out the saving. In Fort Lauderdale, at least, the main attraction, the beach, is free.

There is little to choose between them. In Fort Lauderdale, evenings out centre on the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, with touring musicals and ballet, while the beach bars have cover bands. For more classical music or dance, Miami is less than an hour away.

Orlando has its own orchestra at the Dr. Phillips Center, Shakespeare in Loch Haven Park and a long-running Fringe festival in spring. Still, many visitors see only the polished stage shows and fireworks inside the parks.

The pace is what sets them apart. Fort Lauderdale is the more restful place away from spring weekends, with sunrise yoga on the sand, long walks on the promenade and quiet afternoons by the water in the dry winter. Its resort spas and the day spas on Las Olas are good but ordinary, and there is no bathing culture behind them.

Orlando's rhythm works against rest, with early starts, queues and long days on foot. Its spas and lazy rivers around Lake Buena Vista are for recovering between park days. The calmest corner is Winter Park, with its lakes and tree-lined streets.