Fort Myers or Pensacola?

Both cities rely on barrier islands for their beaches, and Pensacola's are the stronger. Santa Rosa Island is about twenty minutes from downtown, with miles of very white quartz sand, low dunes and clear green water. Much of it is protected as national seashore, so long stretches stay undeveloped. Keep an eye on the flags, though, because rip currents form on rougher days.

From Fort Myers the beaches are a longer drive, and the sand is fine and pale rather than dazzling. They have their own appeal. Sanibel's shelling is famous, the shallow Gulf there is gentler still, and it stays swimmable in winter, when Pensacola's water is only good for walking along the shore.

The two eat much alike, mostly Gulf seafood in casual places by the water, and neither is a reason in itself to visit. In Fort Myers that means grouper sandwiches, peel-and-eat shrimp, stone crab claws in season and sunset decks, with chain dining along the highways once you leave the River District.

Pensacola leans further into the Deep South, with chargrilled oysters, royal red shrimp and Creole-tinged gumbo. Palafox Street also gives it a slightly more rounded downtown, with modern Southern kitchens, brunch spots and a Saturday market.

Pensacola has more history to show. Spanish, French, British, Confederate and American rule all left traces, and they show in the restored houses around the Seville district and Plaza Ferdinand. Add Fort Pickens on the island and the vast collection of the National Naval Aviation Museum, and there is enough for two or three days, though the museum sits on an active base with ID checks.

Fort Myers is a largely modern city. Its main sight is the riverside winter homes and laboratory of Edison and Ford, and the palm-lined avenue in front of them. With a few brick streets and small museums downtown, it is done in a day.

Evenings in Pensacola are livelier. Palafox Street and the Seville Quarter fill with pubs, rooftop terraces and taprooms on weekends, the island's beach bars take on a party feel in summer, and a famous rowdy roadhouse sits on the state line at Perdido Key.

Fort Myers is quieter. It has a handful of bars in the River District, a monthly art walk and sunset crowds around the pier on Fort Myers Beach, which grow during spring break in March. For much of the winter the crowd is older and most places close early. Neither city has much of a club scene.

Both are flat, watery landscapes and roughly equal for outdoor time, but the wildlife is different. Fort Myers is about mangroves and cypress. There are spoonbills and ibis at the Ding Darling refuge, a boardwalk through old-growth swamp at Corkscrew, paddling routes through mangrove tunnels and manatees in the warm winter water.

Pensacola's strengths are dunes, salt marsh and clear rivers. Inland, the Blackwater River is good for canoeing and tubing over a sand bottom, and offshore a sunken aircraft carrier draws experienced divers. Fort Myers is best for outdoor time in winter, Pensacola in spring and autumn.

Both need a car for every outing, and Fort Myers has a slightly wider choice. Naples is under an hour away, the island villages of Sanibel, Captiva and Boca Grande are close, and the Ringling museum in Sarasota and the Ten Thousand Islands at Everglades City are each about an hour and a half's drive.

From Pensacola the best outing is Mobile, about an hour west, with antebellum streets, deep Mardi Gras roots and a battleship museum. Fairhope and Fort Morgan lie around the bay. Heading east, Destin and the planned towns of Seaside and Rosemary Beach are more beach towns, and after them the list thins out.

Both work equally well for a beach vacation with young children, with calm water, condos with pools and no big theme park. Fort Myers keeps children busy with shell hunting on Sanibel, dolphin and manatee spotting, the Shell Factory's animal park and spring-training baseball in March. Orlando is about three hours away.

Pensacola's extras suit children who love planes and forts. There is the aviation museum, the Blue Angels on their home base, the lighthouse climb, Fort Pickens' tunnels and a small zoo. The timing differs too: Fort Myers suits a winter break, Pensacola the summer.

In both you will be driving almost everywhere, since buses are too sparse to use and the sights sit far apart. Pensacola is a little easier. Its beach is about twenty minutes from a walkable downtown, and a free trolley runs along the strip in season.

Fort Myers spreads across a wider county, with beaches up to 45 minutes away. In the winter season, traffic over the bridges to Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach backs up badly.

Fort Myers is the better place to shop, though in a suburban way. The draw is the large open-air centres and the outlet mall on the road towards Estero, along with the galleries and shell shops along Sanibel's Periwinkle Way and in the Captiva villages.

Pensacola has antique and gift shops and a few boutiques on Palafox Street, crafts at the Saturday market, one regional mall and beachwear stalls on the island. That is pleasant for an hour, but not something to plan a day around.

Neither is a budget trip once car hire is counted, but Pensacola usually costs less. Its rooms are moderately priced for a US beach town, the naval aviation museum is free and the seashore costs little. Its expensive months are summer and long weekends.

Fort Myers is at its dearest from January to April, when beachfront rooms on Sanibel book up early. On top of that come causeway and beach parking fees. Staying inland or visiting in summer brings the cost down sharply.

The two cities are evenly matched on stage, each with a winter season of regional scale. Fort Myers has the larger touring venue in the Barbara B. Mann Hall, which hosts Broadway musicals and big-name shows, plus a repertory company in a restored 1908 theatre. Its programme largely stops in summer.

Pensacola gathers its symphony, opera company and ballet under one roof at the 1925 Saenger Theatre, so its programme leans more towards classical music and dance.

Neither has a spa culture, and in both relaxing means resort spas, a pool and slow days by the water. Fort Myers has the more settled calm on Sanibel and Captiva, with low buildings, bike paths and early nights through the winter.

In Pensacola the quiet comes outside the summer peak, on the empty stretches of Perdido Key and the island. For a massage you go to the day spas or the studios in town.