Fort Myers or Marco Island?

Both face the same calm, shallow Gulf, so the difference is in where the beaches are. Fort Myers has no beach of its own. You drive half an hour or more to the barrier islands, where Fort Myers Beach is long and busy with bars behind it, Lovers Key and Bonita are quieter, and Sanibel and Captiva are the places for shelling.

Marco Island comes out ahead because the beach is right there: one broad crescent along the western shore, with many resorts a short walk from the sand. Tigertail's lagoon and sandbar add wading and birdwatching, and the undeveloped shore of Keewaydin is a short boat ride away.

The two eat much alike, with grouper sandwiches, shrimp and stone crab claws in season, served by the water. Fort Myers adds a small cluster of independent restaurants and craft breweries downtown, alongside plenty of chain dining on the highways. Marco Island relies on resort dining rooms and grills along the canals, and the dockside fish platters of Goodland are its more casual side. For a more ambitious dinner, both send you towards Naples.

Neither is a sightseeing destination, but Fort Myers has more to show. The Edison and Ford Winter Estates, with the inventors' riverside homes, laboratory and gardens, make a worthwhile half day. The brick streets of the River District and the royal palms of McGregor Boulevard give the town some period character.

Marco Island was built up mostly from the 1960s on. It has the historical museum, which tells the story of the Calusa and the carved wooden figures found on the island, and beyond that little more than canals, condominiums and Goodland. A culture-minded visitor staying there ends up driving to Naples, or to Fort Myers itself.

Fort Myers is livelier, though only modestly. The River District has pubs, rooftop and cocktail bars and a monthly art walk, and the pier area on Fort Myers Beach fills with sunset crowds and, in March, spring-breakers.

On Marco Island the evening usually ends after dinner, with a sunset drink on a deck or in a resort lounge, and perhaps a winter weekend afternoon at the dockside bars of Goodland. Neither has much in the way of clubs or late nights.

Both are flat country of mangroves and cypress swamp, and both are best in the dry winter months. Fort Myers is strongest for birdlife, with the Ding Darling refuge on Sanibel, Corkscrew Swamp's boardwalk, paddling on the Great Calusa Blueway and manatees gathering on the Orange River in winter.

Marco Island has the edge because of where it sits, at the northern end of the Ten Thousand Islands. You can kayak into mangrove channels straight from the island, the inshore fishing for snook, redfish and tarpon is among Florida's best, and Everglades National Park, Big Cypress and the Fakahatchee Strand, with airboats and alligators, are all within an hour.

Fort Myers has the longer list. Sanibel, Captiva and Boca Grande make good island days, Naples is under an hour south, and Sarasota, with the Ringling museum and Ca' d'Zan, is the strongest cultural outing either place can reach.

From Marco Island, Naples is closer, about half an hour away, and Everglades City and Chokoloskee make an interesting morning out. Beyond those the options thin out and lean towards nature rather than towns. From either base, every excursion needs a car.

Both suit young children for the same reasons: a shallow, calm Gulf, shells to hunt for and dolphins to spot. Fort Myers has a little more for a rainy afternoon, with its hands-on science centre, the animal park at the Shell Factory and spring-training baseball in March.

Marco Island is the easier self-contained base, with beachfront resorts that run children's programmes, the Tigertail lagoon for wading, and the zoo and children's museum in Naples half an hour away. Neither has a theme park nearby.

In both places a car is essential, and every outing assumes you have one. The difference is scale. Fort Myers is spread across a wide, low-density county where even the beaches are a drive, and winter traffic backs up on the bridges to the islands. Marco Island is small and flat enough to cycle between the beach, shops and restaurants once you are there.

Neither is a place to go for shopping, but Fort Myers has a little more close at hand. It has open-air centres and an outlet mall towards Estero for bargains, gift and shell shops along Sanibel's Periwinkle Way, and a few independent stores downtown. Marco Island's plazas stick to resort wear, galleries and coastal souvenirs, and for anything more you drive to the upmarket boutiques of Fifth Avenue South in Naples.

Fort Myers is easier on the wallet, mainly because it gives you a choice. Beachfront rooms on Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel are expensive in winter, but staying in town or near the interstate costs much less, and the beaches and nature reserves cost little to visit.

Marco Island has no cheaper fallback. Its resorts and condos are priced for a well-off winter crowd, eating out is expensive everywhere, and even with lower summer rates it is far from cheap, although a weekly condo with a kitchen helps families and groups.

Fort Myers has a proper winter season of its own, with touring Broadway shows at the Barbara B. Mann hall, a repertory company in a restored 1908 theatre downtown and a regional symphony orchestra. Marco Island has a community theatre and musicians in resort bars, and its visitors go to Naples for the philharmonic and touring shows. In both, there is little on in summer.

Neither has a bathing tradition, so the difference lies in the pace and in where you go for treatments. In Fort Myers, how calm your stay is depends on where you base yourself. Sanibel and Captiva, with their low buildings and early nights, are truly restful. On the mainland, a quiet day usually means a condo pool, and a massage means booking into a resort hotel, because there is little spa life outside them.

On Marco Island, slowing down is the default rather than something you have to arrange. The island is small, and its days run on beach, sunset and an early dinner. Treatments are not only for resort guests, since day spas and yoga classes sit in the plazas close to most places to stay. For a week of doing very little, it takes less effort.