Fort Lauderdale or Sarasota?

Both are true beach towns with first-rate sand, but their seas are different. Fort Lauderdale's long, wide Atlantic strip runs behind the palm-lined A1A promenade and stays warm through the winter. At Lauderdale-by-the-Sea there is a reef you can snorkel straight from shore.

Sarasota has the finer sand: Siesta Key's white quartz stays cool underfoot. Its Gulf water is calmer and shallower, with no real waves, and you can hunt for fossil shark teeth at Venice. The drawbacks are a chilly sea in January and February and the occasional red tide.

Neither is a city to plan a trip around meals, and both rely on grouper, stone crab and waterside fish shacks. Fort Lauderdale adds a Caribbean and Latin layer, with Jamaican and Haitian cooking in the western suburbs, Cuban bakeries, and Miami close by for a serious dinner. Sarasota's surprise is the Amish and Mennonite home cooking and pie in Pinecraft, and its smarter dining is on Main Street and St Armands Circle.

Sarasota has the clear edge here, almost entirely because of the Ringling. Its Baroque art museum with the Rubens canvases, the Venetian Gothic Ca' d'Zan on the bay and the circus museum fill a full day. The mid-century houses of the Sarasota School of Architecture add interest for anyone who likes buildings.

Fort Lauderdale's sights are smaller and can be seen in a day: the Bonnet House and its gardens, the Stranahan House on the New River and the NSU Art Museum on Las Olas. Neither city has an old quarter to wander.

Fort Lauderdale is the better place to go out. The beach bars on A1A fill up from late afternoon, Himmarshee Street runs late with a younger crowd, and Wilton Manors is one of the best-known gay neighbourhoods in the country, with drag shows along Wilton Drive.

Sarasota's evenings mean wine bars on Main Street and sunset drinks in Siesta Key Village. The crowd is older, and most places are quiet before the small hours. For a bigger night out, Fort Lauderdale has Miami close by, while from Sarasota it means a drive to Tampa or St Petersburg.

Fort Lauderdale has more to do outdoors, and most of it is on the water. You can dive on reefs and deliberately sunk wrecks close to shore, go sport fishing for sailfish, or paddle the canals and the Intracoastal. The Everglades, with its airboats and alligators, is under an hour west.

Sarasota's outdoors is gentler and centred on wildlife. Myakka River State Park, with its canopy walkway and alligators on the riverbanks, is half an hour inland. The mangrove tunnels off Lido Key and the dolphins and manatees of Sarasota Bay make for easy kayaking, though there is nothing to match Fort Lauderdale's diving.

Fort Lauderdale is better placed for days out. Miami is under an hour away by car or fast train, with Art Deco Miami Beach, the murals of Wynwood and Little Havana. Palm Beach's Flagler Museum lies to the north, and Key Largo is just within reach.

From Sarasota, the best day out is St Petersburg's Dalí Museum across the Sunshine Skyway bridge. Ybor City in Tampa and the Greek sponge-diving town of Tarpon Springs are further on, and Fort Myers has the winter estates of Edison and Ford. It is a decent list, but none of these has quite the pull of Miami.

Both are safe, easy places with children, and the difference is the kind of beach day. Sarasota's shallow, waveless water off Siesta Key and Lido Key is the gentlest for toddlers, and Mote Marine's aquarium and the Ringling's circus model go down well with children, though the sea is cold in winter.

Fort Lauderdale's lifeguarded Atlantic beach is warm all year, the Museum of Discovery and Science is a strong hands-on museum, and an Everglades airboat ride is a sure hit. In both cities you need a car, and Orlando is too far for a day trip.

Both are car towns, and most visitors hire one. Fort Lauderdale has slightly more to work with: water taxis on the canals, free trolleys linking the beach, Las Olas and downtown, and fast trains to Miami and the Palm Beaches.

Sarasota has walkable pockets in downtown, St Armands Circle and Siesta Key Village, a free trolley on Siesta Key and cycling along the bayfront, but little beyond that. In the winter season, traffic on the bridges to the keys can back up badly.

Fort Lauderdale offers more for shoppers, mainly because of the huge outlet mall out west in Sunrise, along with a long-running flea market and the resort boutiques of Las Olas. In Sarasota, shopping is for browsing rather than a reason to visit: galleries, jewellery and resort wear around St Armands Circle, and independent boutiques on Main Street and Palm Avenue. Neither city has much in the way of local crafts, and for luxury shopping Palm Beach and Miami are an easy trip from Fort Lauderdale.

Both are expensive. You pay full US resort prices, with tax and tips added to every meal and the cost of a hire car on top. Fort Lauderdale is dearest through the winter, on spring weekends and over Christmas and New Year, while Sarasota peaks from January to April. In both, the hot summer months bring much lower room rates.

The ways to save differ a little. In Fort Lauderdale, an apartment or older motel a few blocks back from the sand keeps the bill down, and the beach, promenade and parks cost nothing, although parking near the sand rarely does. In Sarasota, the saving is to stay on the mainland rather than on the keys. Wherever you stay there, the public beaches are free and the state parks charge little to get in.

Sarasota is far stronger for an evening at the theatre or a concert. It has its own opera in a restored 1920s theatre, a ballet known for its Frederick Ashton repertoire, a full orchestral season and the Asolo Rep on the Ringling grounds, with most performances between autumn and spring.

Fort Lauderdale relies on the Broward Center for touring Broadway shows, ballet and comedy. Beyond that there are bands at downtown venues and cover acts in the beach bars, but no resident opera or orchestra, so for more it looks to Miami.

Both are slow-paced resort towns where wellness means hotel spas and sunrise yoga on the sand, with no bathing tradition. Sarasota has one thing Fort Lauderdale lacks: Warm Mineral Springs, a spring-fed pool about forty minutes south that stays warm all year. Fort Lauderdale's calm is best in the dry winter, with long walks on the promenade, whereas in Sarasota the height of winter brings crowds and traffic on the keys that can disturb the peace.