Fort Myers or Savannah?

Both cities sit on rivers with the sand a short drive away, but Fort Myers has much the better beaches. You can choose between the busy, wide strand of Fort Myers Beach, quieter Lovers Key and Bonita Beach, and the shelling shores of Sanibel and Captiva, all on calm, shallow Gulf water that weak swimmers can manage.

Savannah has Tybee Island, a pleasant low-key beach town whose Atlantic water is tinted greenish-brown by the marshes. It works for a lazy afternoon or a day with children, but it is a side trip rather than the reason to come, and it is out of swimming season for much of the winter, when the Gulf at Fort Myers is still usable.

Savannah eats noticeably better, because it has a cuisine of its own. Shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, Lowcountry boil and oyster roasts are rooted in the region, family-style dining rooms pass platters down long tables, and a small group of chef-led restaurants in restored townhouses gives you a couple of memorable dinners.

Fort Myers is about simple Gulf seafood eaten outdoors: a grouper sandwich or stone crab claws on a deck at sunset. Beyond the River District's few independents and breweries, chains along the highways dominate, so food is a pleasure of the setting there rather than a reason to plan the trip.

This is where the two cities differ most. Savannah's 1733 plan of garden squares, framed by houses from the Federal to the Victorian period, is a sight you walk through for two days. The Telfair Museums, the Owens-Thomas House with its account of the enslaved people who ran it, and Bonaventure Cemetery add depth.

Fort Myers has one really rewarding stop, the Edison and Ford Winter Estates with their laboratory and gardens on palm-lined McGregor Boulevard, plus a few brick streets downtown. Most visitors have seen it all in a day.

Savannah has more of an evening to offer. Because you can carry a drink in a to-go cup through the historic district, people drift between River Street's cobbled bars, the taverns around City Market and quiet cocktail rooms, while art students fill the dive bars at the edges of downtown. St Patrick's Day becomes a citywide street party.

Fort Myers keeps things quieter: a handful of rooftop and cocktail bars in the River District, and sunset drinks by the pier on Fort Myers Beach, which turns rowdy only during spring break. Neither city has much of a club scene, and both go to bed early.

Fort Myers has the richer wildlife. Ding Darling on Sanibel is a first-rate place for roseate spoonbills and herons, Corkscrew Swamp's boardwalk runs through old-growth bald cypress, and the mangrove tunnels of the Great Calusa Blueway make for excellent paddling. Manatees gather in the Orange River in winter.

Savannah's Lowcountry is open salt marsh and tidal creek, best explored by kayak at high tide or along Skidaway Island's trails and the oak avenue at Wormsloe. It is lovely but less varied. The seasons differ too: winter is the time to be outdoors in Fort Myers, while spring and autumn are the times in Savannah.

Savannah has the stronger outings, led by Charleston, about two hours north, which is a historic city that justifies the drive on its own. Antebellum Beaufort, Hilton Head, Fort Pulaski, and Jekyll and St Simons islands further down the coast, give plenty more.

From Fort Myers the trips are mostly variations on island life and coastal towns: polished Naples, Sanibel and Captiva, sleepy Boca Grande. Sarasota's Ringling museum and Ca' d'Zan are the cultural highlight and Everglades City the wild one. From either base you need a car.

Fort Myers is the easier choice with young children. The Gulf is shallow and gentle, shell hunting on Sanibel can fill a morning, and dolphin boats, manatees and easy kayaking add adventure. The science centre and the Shell Factory's animal park cover a rainy afternoon, and spring-training baseball makes a relaxed March outing.

Savannah works better for older children who enjoy ghost walks, forts and trolley rides, and Girl Scout families make a point of visiting the founder's birthplace. Neither city has a big zoo or theme park, though from Fort Myers Orlando is within a long drive.

Savannah is far easier to get around. The historic district is flat and compact, with hotels, restaurants and sights a few shaded blocks apart, and a free shuttle and the river ferry fill the gaps. You need wheels only for Tybee, Wormsloe and Bonaventure.

In Fort Myers a car is essential from the first day, as the beaches, Sanibel and the reserves are scattered across a low-density county and the buses are sparse. In the winter season the bridges to the islands also become congested.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but the shopping is of different kinds. Fort Myers is about suburban bargains, with large open-air centres and an outlet mall on the way to Estero, plus shell shops and galleries on Sanibel's Periwinkle Way. Savannah offers a stroll down Broughton Street's restored storefronts, with boutiques, work by art-school students and antique shops and bookshops around the squares.

Neither is a cheap trip, and both charge American prices for meals once tips are added. In Fort Myers, the cost depends on the season. Beachfront rooms on Sanibel are expensive in the winter peak but much cheaper in summer, and the beaches and reserves cost little, but a hire car is a fixed extra.

Savannah's historic-district inns are priced like a popular weekend destination, but the main pleasures, the squares, Forsyth Park and the cemeteries, are free. A central room also lets you go without a car for most of the stay, a saving that Fort Myers does not offer.

The offer is similar in size, but the timing differs. Fort Myers has its season in winter, with touring Broadway shows at the Barbara B. Mann Hall, a repertory company in a restored 1908 theatre and a regional symphony, and it falls almost silent in summer. Savannah peaks in spring with the long-running Savannah Music Festival in theatres and churches, and adds an autumn jazz festival in Forsyth Park, so arrive at those times if you want a performance.

Both are places to slow down rather than to go to a spa, and neither has a bathing tradition. In Fort Myers, rest means a low-rise island stay on Sanibel or Captiva, with a pool, a resort massage, and bike paths. In Savannah it means a bench under the oaks or the courtyard of an old inn on a quiet southern square. Savannah's calm breaks on River Street at weekends.