Fort Myers or Key West?

Fort Myers has the better beaches by some way. Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island is a long, wide strip of fine sand with shallow water for wading. Lovers Key and Bonita Beach are quieter, and Sanibel adds the shelling. The catch is that every one of them is a drive from the city, across bridges that get busy.

Key West's own beaches are small. Smathers has imported sand, Fort Zachary Taylor has a coral-rubble shore, and seagrass flats make wading awkward. The island's strength is the water itself: warmer in winter, clear and calm behind the reef, and better for snorkelling from a boat than for a day on a towel.

The two are broadly level. Both eat mainly from the sea, with grouper, shrimp and stone crab in season, and neither has much range. They differ in character. Key West adds a Cuban side, with café con leche and Cuban sandwiches from takeaway windows, plus conch fritters and its own Key lime pie, all within walking distance in Old Town and around the Historic Seaport.

Fort Myers eats in a more suburban way. You get a grouper sandwich on a waterfront deck at sunset, a small group of restaurants and breweries in the River District, and chain dining along the highways in between. The better cooking is out towards Sanibel and Naples.

Key West has more to see, and the town itself is the reason. A walk through Old Town's conch cottages and Victorian mansions is the main sight, with the Hemingway Home, the Truman Little White House, the lighthouse and the shipwreck collections close by.

Fort Myers has one real set piece, the Edison and Ford Winter Estates on palm-lined McGregor Boulevard. Add a few brick streets downtown and some small museums, and its sights fit into a single day.

Key West is the place for a night out. Evenings start with the sunset gathering on Mallory Square and move on to Duval Street. There you can carry a drink between open-sided bars and old saloons until the small hours, and the upper end of the street has a long-established gay scene.

Fort Myers is much quieter. It has a few pubs and rooftop bars in the River District, a monthly art walk and the beach bars by the pier, which get livelier in March, and most places close early. Neither town has much in the way of clubs.

The two are almost equal outdoors, in very different ways. Fort Myers is about wildlife in the swamps and bays: roseate spoonbills at the Ding Darling refuge, boardwalks through old cypress at Corkscrew Swamp, paddling in the mangrove tunnels of the Great Calusa Blueway and manatees in winter.

Key West's outdoors is on and under the water. There are snorkelling and diving trips to the Florida Reef, tarpon and bonefish on the backcountry flats, and the Dry Tortugas for clear water and birds. On land the island has little, so choose by whether you would rather watch birds or fish.

Fort Myers has far more within reach. Naples is under an hour south, and Sanibel, Captiva and Boca Grande make easy island days. Sarasota, with the Ringling museum, and Everglades City are each about an hour and a half away, all by car.

Key West sits at the end of the Overseas Highway, so its one great outing is the ferry or seaplane to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Beyond that, you drive back up the Keys to Marathon or Islamorada, crossing the Seven Mile Bridge on the way.

Fort Myers is the easier choice with children. The calm, shallow Gulf, shelling on Sanibel, dolphin and manatee spotting, the Shell Factory and spring-training baseball in March give them plenty to do. Condos with pools are easy to find, though every outing means the car.

Key West can work for families who love the water, with glass-bottom boats, snorkelling, the Dry Tortugas ferry, a small aquarium and a butterfly conservatory. But the town is built around adult evenings, and Duval Street and Fantasy Fest are no place for small children.

Key West wins easily here. Old Town is flat and compact, most sights and the harbour are a short walk from Duval Street, and a rented bicycle covers the rest. A car is more trouble than it is worth.

In Fort Myers a car is essential. The city, the beaches, Sanibel and the nature reserves are spread across a low-density county, buses are too sparse to rely on, and winter traffic on the bridges to the islands can be slow.

Neither town is a shopping destination, but Fort Myers has more. There are large open-air centres and an outlet mall towards Estero for bargains, plus galleries and shell shops along Sanibel's Periwinkle Way. Key West's shopping is mostly T-shirts and Key lime souvenirs on Duval Street, and the more interesting finds are the Old Town galleries, hand-rolled cigars and the sponge shops by the harbour.

Fort Myers is the cheaper of the two, mainly because you can choose where to stay. Rooms in town or near the interstate cost far less than beachfront condos on Sanibel, and rates fall sharply in summer. The rental car is the one extra cost you cannot avoid.

Key West is expensive across the board. Limited land keeps rooms dear, and boat trips, diving and the Tortugas ferry add up. You save by not needing a car, by watching the free sunset on Mallory Square and by eating from the Cuban takeaway windows.

Neither has a large scene, and the two are broadly level, but the style differs. Fort Myers is more formal, with touring Broadway musicals at the Barbara B. Mann hall, a repertory company in a restored 1908 theatre and a regional symphony, all in the winter season.

Key West's performances are mostly informal and happen every night. There are singer-songwriters in the Duval Street bars, long-running drag cabaret and street acts at sunset on Mallory Square, with the Tennessee Williams Theatre for plays. Both go quiet in summer.

Both are places to slow down rather than to visit a spa, with resort spas and pools but no bathing tradition. Fort Myers finds its calm on Sanibel and Captiva, with low buildings, bike paths and early nights. Key West has guesthouses around small Old Town gardens and pools, and yoga and massage are easy to find, but the party on Duval is never far away, so stay on a street away from the bars.