Fort Myers or St. Petersburg, Florida?

Both have the calm, shallow Gulf water and fine pale sand of this coast, but St. Petersburg offers more choice. St. Pete Beach and Pass-a-Grille are close to the city, Fort De Soto's park beaches feel wilder, and Clearwater and Caladesi Island are within reach to the north. A rapid bus even runs from downtown to the sand.

The Fort Myers beaches lie a longer drive away on the barrier islands. Fort Myers Beach is the busy one, Lovers Key and Bonita are quieter, and the shelling on Sanibel is something St. Petersburg cannot match. Its winter sea is also a couple of degrees warmer.

St. Petersburg eats better. The seafood staples are the same in both, from grouper sandwiches to stone crab claws, but St. Petersburg adds the modern kitchens and chef-led places of the Grand Central and Edge districts, a deep craft beer scene and Tampa's Cuban cooking across the bay.

Fort Myers has waterfront decks for sunset and a small cluster of restaurants and breweries in the River District. Beyond that it is mostly chains along the highways, and the better tables are out towards Sanibel and Naples.

The gap here is wide. St. Petersburg has a real museum quarter on its waterfront, led by the Dalí Museum and backed by the Museum of Fine Arts, the Chihuly glass collection and the Arts and Crafts museum. Add the murals of the Central Arts District and there is enough for two or three days.

Fort Myers has one sight to plan around, the Edison and Ford Winter Estates with their laboratory and gardens. A few streets of old brick in the River District complete the picture, and most visitors are done in a day.

Neither is a clubbing town, but St. Petersburg gives you more of an evening. Central Avenue has cocktail bars, rooftops and taprooms within walking distance of each other, and Ybor City in Tampa is there for a later, rowdier night. Fort Myers is quieter still, with a few River District pubs, the sunset crowd around the beach pier and an older winter crowd that heads home early.

Both are flat country of mangroves and shallow water, best seen from a kayak, and both draw manatees in winter. Fort Myers has the stronger wildlife sites: the Ding Darling refuge on Sanibel for spoonbills and herons, the old-growth cypress boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp and the mangrove tunnels of the Great Calusa Blueway.

In St. Petersburg the outdoors is more about the water and the bike. You can paddle at Weedon Island and Shell Key, go birding at Fort De Soto, sail or fish from the marinas, and cycle the long, paved Pinellas Trail.

Each has a fair handful of outings, and Sarasota's Ringling museum is within reach of both, to the north of Fort Myers and the south of St. Petersburg. From Fort Myers the trips lean towards small places and quiet landscapes: polished Naples, the island villages of Sanibel, Captiva and Boca Grande, and Everglades City for the Ten Thousand Islands.

St. Petersburg has a whole city on its doorstep instead, with the cigar-factory streets of Ybor City and the riverwalk in Tampa. It also has the Greek sponge docks of Tarpon Springs and the old beach villages of Anna Maria Island within reach.

St. Petersburg has more to fill a week with children. Besides gentle beaches, it has a children's museum in town and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium to the north. Busch Gardens, ZooTampa and the Florida Aquarium are across the bay, and Orlando is close enough for a long day.

Fort Myers is just as easy on the sand, with calm water and shell hunting on Sanibel to keep children busy. It has no zoo, aquarium or big park, though, and Orlando is around three hours away.

Both need a car, but Fort Myers depends on one completely. Its beaches, Sanibel and the nature reserves are spread across a sprawling county, the buses are too sparse to use, and winter traffic backs up on the bridges.

St. Petersburg at least has a compact, walkable downtown, with the museums, the pier and Central Avenue close together. A trolley loop and a rapid bus to St. Pete Beach make a car-free stay possible if you keep to those areas.

Neither city is worth packing an empty suitcase for, but they suit different shoppers. Fort Myers is for the bargain hunter with a car. The draw is discount prices on familiar brands in the big centres off the highway south towards Estero, while Sanibel and Captiva are the place for something to take home, such as shells, prints and island gifts.

St. Petersburg suits someone who would rather wander and browse on foot. Central Avenue can fill an afternoon with second-hand vinyl, vintage clothes and glass made by local artists, and in winter the Saturday market downtown adds crafts and produce. If you want designer labels, you will end up driving across the bay to Tampa.

Costs are much the same. Both have US restaurant prices with tips, a hire car and beach parking to pay for, and summer is the cheaper season in each. The difference lies in where you can save.

In Fort Myers, beachfront Sanibel is the expensive end and rooms in town or near the interstate cost far less, though the Sanibel causeway adds a fee. In St. Petersburg, staying downtown keeps the room cheaper while the free waterfront parks and the bus to the beach stay within reach.

St. Petersburg has a slightly fuller programme. The Mahaffey Theater hosts the Florida Orchestra and touring shows, a former church serves as an intimate concert hall, an open-air courtyard stages indie bands, and there is more live music in bars at weekends. Tampa's large arts centre is half an hour away.

Fort Myers relies on its winter season: Broadway tours at the Barbara B. Mann hall, repertory theatre in a restored 1908 theatre and a regional symphony. In summer the programme largely stops.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and in both the spas are mostly inside resort hotels. The calm comes in different forms. Fort Myers offers the sleepy island pace of Sanibel and Captiva, with bike paths and early nights. St. Petersburg adds day spas and yoga studios downtown and the nightly sunset ritual on its beaches, with Pass-a-Grille as its quiet corner.