Gold Coast or Noosa?

Both are excellent for a beach vacation, and in both the water stays warm enough to swim all year. The difference is in the shape of the coast. The Gold Coast is one long line of open Pacific surf beaches: the wide sand below the towers at Surfers Paradise, the grassy headland at Burleigh and the more sheltered point beaches at Kirra and Rainbow Bay. You have plenty of choice, but the rips need respect.

Noosa puts its gentle swimming in one place. Main Beach faces north under the headland, so the waves stay small, and the coves along the national park track feel almost private. Strong swimmers can head south to Sunshine or Peregian for open surf.

Neither is worth travelling to for the food, and they eat at much the same level, built on brunch, Moreton Bay bugs, prawns and fish and chips. The Gold Coast has more range, from Burleigh's cafés to the breweries in the industrial estates and the twilight markets, although Surfers itself is mostly chains. Noosa is smaller and more uniform, and its best meal is a sunset dinner on the Noosaville riverfront, cooked with produce from the hinterland farms.

There is little sightseeing in either, but the Gold Coast has slightly more: the HOTA gallery of Australian art beside the Nerang River, and the SkyPoint deck high above Surfers Paradise. Noosa has only the small regional gallery at Tewantin and a few older buildings in the hinterland towns. From either town, the place for museums is Brisbane, and it is much closer by train from the Gold Coast.

Here the gap is wide. The Gold Coast has a real party strip around Cavill and Orchid Avenues in Surfers Paradise, loud and late, especially at weekends. Broadbeach adds more grown-up cocktail bars, and Burleigh and Miami have relaxed spots for a sunset drink.

Noosa offers a drink with a view on Hastings Street, a surf club deck over the sand and a few pubs at Noosa Junction. It is pleasant on a summer weekend, but the town is quiet before midnight and has no clubs to speak of.

Both have outstanding nature, but of different kinds. The Gold Coast's best lies an hour or more inland, in the World Heritage rainforest of Springbrook and Lamington, with waterfalls, the glow-worm cave and ancient trees. On the coast, its point breaks at Snapper Rocks and Kirra are famous with surfers around the world.

Noosa's nature starts at the edge of town. The national park headland, with koalas in the trees and lookouts for dolphins, begins at the end of Hastings Street. North of the river, the Everglades offer canoeing through quiet tea-tree lakes, which the Gold Coast cannot match. Humpback whales pass both coasts in winter.

The Gold Coast has the better day trips. Brisbane is an easy train ride away, Byron Bay is about an hour south across the border, and the wineries and galleries of Tamborine Mountain are closer still.

Noosa's outings are smaller and more rural: the Eumundi market, the ridge-top villages of Montville and Maleny, and the harbour at Mooloolaba. Brisbane is about two hours away, and the big trips to K'gari and the Cooloola coast are for sand and landscape rather than towns.

The Gold Coast is built for children in a way Noosa is not. Its theme parks and water parks are grouped in the north, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary lets children get close to koalas and kangaroos, and the creek mouths and the Broadwater give small swimmers calm water.

Noosa is gentler: a small, safe town with river shallows calm enough for toddlers, boats to hire and a koala walk on the headland. But it has no theme parks, and families drive about an hour for a zoo or an aquarium.

Both are hard to explore beyond the coast without a car, but they work differently. The Gold Coast is a long, spread-out city with the G:link light rail along the beachfront and a train connection to Brisbane. Noosa is compact enough to walk between Hastings Street, Main Beach and the national park, with buses and a slow river ferry for the rest. In both, the hinterland needs a hire car or a tour.

Shopping is a sideline in both towns. On the Gold Coast it means malls and outlets such as Pacific Fair and Harbour Town, surfwear shops all along the coast and night markets at Surfers and Coolangatta. Noosa has boutiques rather than malls, selling resort wear and linen along Hastings Street, and its best shopping is the makers' market at Eumundi in the hinterland.

Australia is expensive in general, but the Gold Coast is clearly kinder to a budget than Noosa. Its huge number of vacation apartments keeps rooms reasonable outside the peak weeks, although restaurants and theme-park tickets soon add up.

Noosa is priced as a premium resort, with steep rates in summer, minimum stays and little cheap food. Self-catering in Noosaville or Sunshine Beach helps. In both towns, the beaches and the national park walks are free.

The Gold Coast has more live performance, even if it is modest. HOTA's theatres and outdoor stage host touring shows, comedy and concerts, bands play in pubs, surf clubs and breweries, and festival weekends such as Blues on Broadbeach add to the calendar. Noosa has a small community theatre, acoustic sets in bars and the short Noosa Alive festival each year. For opera or an orchestra, you go to Brisbane from either town.

Noosa is the better place to unwind. The whole town moves at a slow pace of swims, walks and long breakfasts, yoga and Pilates are part of local life, and retreats in the hinterland offer programmes lasting several days.

The Gold Coast has resort spas and its own retreats around Tamborine Mountain and Currumbin Valley, but how calm your stay feels depends on where you base yourself. Burleigh and Coolangatta are easygoing, while Surfers Paradise is noisy. Noosa loses its quiet only during the school vacations.