Fort Lauderdale or St. Augustine?

Fort Lauderdale's beach is the main event: a long, wide stretch of pale sand on the barrier island with lifeguard towers, the palm-lined A1A promenade behind it and water often clear enough to see the bottom. The sea stays swimmable all winter, and quieter spots such as Lauderdale-by-the-Sea add reef snorkelling straight from the sand.

St. Augustine's beaches on Anastasia Island are broad and pleasant, with dunes and a lagoon in the state park and gentle surf for swimmers. But they sit a short drive from where most people stay, the water is greenish rather than clear, and from late autumn to spring they are for walking rather than swimming.

Neither town is a destination for food, but Fort Lauderdale has more range. Beyond grilled grouper, stone crab in season and dockside fish shacks on the Intracoastal, its Jamaican, Haitian and Cuban communities inland cook jerk chicken, oxtail and fresh pastries, and Miami is an easy evening away.

St. Augustine has the more unusual local flavour: the fiery datil pepper brought by Minorcan settlers, in hot sauces, a spicy clam chowder and pilau. Beyond that and plates of local shrimp and oysters, the choice is small, and St. George Street caters mostly to passing visitors.

This is where St. Augustine pulls far ahead. Founded by the Spanish in 1565, it has the coquina-stone Castillo de San Marcos, a colonial quarter of balconied houses and walled gardens, and a second Gilded Age layer in Flagler College's Tiffany glass and the Lightner Museum, enough for two or three days.

Fort Lauderdale is a young city whose sights fit into a day: the eccentric Bonnet House estate, the pioneer Stranahan House on the New River and the NSU Art Museum on Las Olas. Visitors come for the water, not the history.

Fort Lauderdale has the bigger night out. Beach bars along A1A fill from late afternoon, Himmarshee Street keeps a young crowd out late, and Wilton Manors is one of the country's best-known gay neighbourhoods, with drag shows along Wilton Drive. For clubs, Miami is close.

St. Augustine's evenings are gentler: courtyard pubs and cocktail bars around St. George Street and the bayfront, busier at weekends and in college term, but mostly quiet well before the small hours.

Both landscapes are flat and watery, but Fort Lauderdale offers more to do in them. Offshore reefs and sunken wrecks give good scuba diving close to the coast, sport fishing for sailfish is a serious pursuit, the canals suit kayaks and paddleboards, and the Everglades with their alligators and airboats lie under an hour west.

St. Augustine's outdoors is quieter and more about wildlife: kayaking through salt-marsh creeks among dolphins and ospreys, birding walks in the Guana Tolomato Matanzas reserve, and dune trails in Anastasia State Park.

Miami is the outing that sets Fort Lauderdale apart. Its Art Deco district, Wynwood and Little Havana are under an hour away by fast train, Palm Beach's Flagler Museum lies to the north, and Key Largo is reachable at a stretch.

From St. Augustine almost everything needs a car. Jacksonville is close, Victorian Fernandina Beach makes a pretty outing, and Kennedy Space Center is a long but popular two-hour drive, yet nothing nearby matches a day in Miami.

Both work well with children, in different ways. Fort Lauderdale's strength is warm, gentle water year-round on a lifeguarded beach, plus the hands-on Museum of Discovery and Science and airboat rides past Everglades alligators.

St. Augustine makes history fun instead, with cannon firing at the Castillo, the lighthouse climb and the Alligator Farm, running since 1893. It is also two hours from Orlando's theme parks, a manageable day, where Fort Lauderdale's three hours rule them out.

Both are car towns once you leave the centre. St. Augustine's historic district is a little easier: small, flat and walkable, with the fort, Flagler College and the bayfront minutes apart, though the beaches need a drive or a bike ride.

Fort Lauderdale's walkable core is a triangle of beach, Las Olas and downtown, tied together by canal water taxis and free trolleys, and trains to Miami and Palm Beach help with day trips.

Fort Lauderdale has more to offer shoppers, chiefly the vast outlet mall in Sunrise that draws bargain hunters from abroad, plus an afternoon among the boutiques and resort wear of Las Olas Boulevard.

St. Augustine's St. George Street is mostly fudge and pirate souvenirs, though the galleries and antique dealers on Aviles Street and a bottle of local datil-pepper sauce make for better souvenirs than anything on Las Olas.

Neither is cheap, and costs are broadly similar. The difference is timing: Fort Lauderdale's beach hotels are dearest in the dry winter season and drop sharply in the hot, stormy summer, when motels a few blocks back help further.

St. Augustine's rates peak at weekends and through spring and summer, so a midweek stay in a highway or island chain motel is the way to save.

The Broward Center on the New River gives Fort Lauderdale the fuller programme, with touring Broadway shows, ballet and comedy, and Miami's arts centre is close enough for opera or orchestra.

St. Augustine's highlight is the open-air Amphitheatre in the woods of Anastasia Island, good for rock, country and folk concerts, alongside patio acoustic sets and a modest community theatre.

Fort Lauderdale is better set up for a restful stay, with the spas of large beachfront resorts, day spas along Las Olas, sunrise yoga on the sand and warm, dry winter days for long promenade walks.

St. Augustine has fewer treatment rooms, and its calm comes from quiet B&B verandas, courtyard gardens and evening strolls along the bayfront seawall.