Fort Myers or Wilmington?

The beaches are about equally good, but they suit different trips. Fort Myers sends you out to the barrier islands, where the Gulf is flat, shallow and warm enough to swim in during winter. Fort Myers Beach is the lively strip, Lovers Key and Bonita are quieter, and Sanibel is the place for shells. Algae blooms sometimes spoil the water for a while.

Wilmington has three beach towns with distinct moods: polished Wrightsville with its pier, Carolina Beach with its boardwalk, and calmer Kure. This is open Atlantic, though. Swimming is a summer thing, rip currents are a real risk on rough days, and finding parking takes patience on summer weekends.

Wilmington eats better. Shrimp, flounder and oysters come straight off the coast, vinegar-sauced whole-hog barbecue gives it a regional tradition, and its downtown has both modern Southern cooking and a strong craft brewery scene.

Fort Myers is mainly grouper sandwiches, peel-and-eat shrimp and stone crab on a deck at sunset, which is enjoyable but narrow. Away from the River District, chain restaurants along the highways take over.

Wilmington has more to see. Its historic district is one of the largest in North Carolina, with live oaks, churches and house museums such as the Bellamy Mansion that tell the story of the old port and its enslaved workers. The Battleship North Carolina, moored across the river, adds a major sight.

In Fort Myers, the highlight is Edison's and Ford's riverside winter estates on palm-lined McGregor Boulevard, which make a good half day. Apart from a few brick streets downtown, the city is modern.

Neither town has much of a club scene, but Wilmington has more going on. On weekend nights, Front Street and its rooftop bars fill up with university students, and in summer the beach bars add to that.

Fort Myers is quieter. It has a few pubs and cocktail bars in the River District, sunset crowds around the Fort Myers Beach pier and a short burst of spring-break noise in March. For most of the winter the crowd is older and goes to bed early.

Both are flat, watery landscapes, and both are good for outdoor time. The difference is what you do outside. Fort Myers is about watching wildlife: roseate spoonbills at the Ding Darling refuge, old bald cypress along the Corkscrew Swamp boardwalk, manatees in the Orange River in winter, and the mangrove tunnels of the Great Calusa Blueway.

Wilmington is more active: surfing and sailing off Wrightsville, kayaking to Masonboro Island, which has no buildings, and fishing from the piers. Carolina Beach State Park has the Venus flytrap growing in the wild, something no Florida swamp can offer.

There is about as much to do on day trips from each, and both need a car. From Fort Myers the trips are mostly polished Gulf towns, like Naples, Sanibel, Captiva and Boca Grande. Sarasota's Ringling museum is the cultural pick, and Everglades City leads into the Ten Thousand Islands.

Wilmington's trips lean more on history. Southport and the ferry to car-free Bald Head Island are the favourites, with the Civil War earthworks at Fort Fisher on the way, and colonial New Bern and Beaufort further north.

Calm Gulf water is what Fort Myers does best for children. The shallow, gentle sea suits toddlers, and shelling on Sanibel, dolphin trips and easy kayaking through the mangroves fill the days. There is no aquarium or zoo, though, and Orlando's parks are about three hours away.

Wilmington is stronger when the weather turns. The aquarium at Fort Fisher, the battleship's decks and a children's museum fill a rainy day, and Carolina Beach has an old-fashioned boardwalk with rides. The Atlantic needs closer watching, and the beaches only really work in summer.

You need a car in both places, but Wilmington is easier to get around. Its historic district and downtown are compact and flat and linked by the riverwalk, so a day or two in town works on foot, and the beaches are only a short drive away.

Fort Myers spreads across a large, low-density county. The beaches, Sanibel and the nature reserves are all separate drives, and in winter the bridges to the islands back up badly.

Outlet bargains are the draw in Fort Myers, with big open-air centres and an outlet mall along the highway towards Estero. For something more personal, the shell shops and galleries along Sanibel's Periwinkle Way are worth an hour.

Wilmington is better for browsing than for buying in bulk. Its best shopping is downtown, in the independent bookshops, antique dealers and boutiques along Front Street and inside the old Cotton Exchange.

Costs are similar, with ordinary American restaurant prices, tips on top and a hire car you cannot really avoid in either place. The big difference is the timing of the peak. Fort Myers is at its most expensive from January to April, especially on Sanibel, and much cheaper in the stormy summer, though the causeway and some beach parking charge fees.

Wilmington is the reverse. Beach rentals are in demand in summer, while city hotels are reasonable the rest of the year.

The two scenes are about the same size, and they run in different seasons. In Fort Myers the season is winter, with touring Broadway shows at the Barbara B. Mann hall, a repertory company in a restored 1908 theatre and a regional symphony, and most of it stops in summer.

Wilmington's centrepiece is Thalian Hall, a 19th-century opera house. In the warmer months, outdoor stages by Greenfield Lake and the river plus long-running jazz and blues festivals keep things going.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and most spa treatments in either happen in resort hotels. In Fort Myers, the restful spot is Sanibel and Captiva, with low buildings, bike paths and quiet evenings by a pool.

Wilmington adds day spas and yoga studios downtown. Its calm waterfront evenings are easiest to enjoy outside the busy summer weekends.