Gulf Shores or Miami?

Both are long, flat strands of pale sand, and in summer the water is equally warm on either coast. Gulf Shores has the finer sand, white quartz that squeaks underfoot, with low dunes in Gulf State Park and towards Fort Morgan. Its drawbacks are rip currents and a winter sea too cold for most swimmers.

Miami edges ahead because you can swim all year: the Atlantic stays warm through the winter. It also has more variety, from the Art Deco crowd of South Beach to the calm shallows of Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. In return, the shoreline is more built-up and seaweed can wash in during the warmer months.

Gulf Shores does one thing: Gulf seafood eaten casually. That means Royal Red shrimp, chargrilled oysters and Louisiana-style gumbo at open-air shacks, and many visitors simply buy shrimp at a seafood market and cook it in the condo. The food is honest and filling, but there is little choice beyond that.

Miami's food is far broader. Cuban cooking runs through the city, from cafecito at a ventanita window on Calle Ocho to slow-cooked lechon, and Venezuelan, Peruvian, Haitian and Nicaraguan kitchens add more. Stone crab in winter and chef-led restaurants in Brickell and the Design District give it a high end that Gulf Shores lacks.

On culture, Miami is far ahead. Gulf Shores has Fort Morgan, the brick star fort from the Battle of Mobile Bay, a small local museum and little else, so anyone wanting more drives to Mobile or Pensacola.

Miami's real draw is its architecture: the pastel 1930s hotels of the South Beach Art Deco district. Add Vizcaya on Biscayne Bay, the Perez Art Museum, the Wolfsonian and Wynwood's murals. Almost nothing is more than a century old and a few days covers it, but it gives a beach trip some culture to go with it.

A night out in Gulf Shores means a beach-bar deck with sand underfoot and frozen drinks. The legendary roadhouse on the state line at Perdido Key is the loudest option, while most of the resort is asleep early.

Miami goes out until dawn. South Beach and downtown have big clubs with international DJs and dress codes, Wynwood has warehouse bars and breweries, Brickell has rooftop cocktail bars and Calle Ocho has salsa nights. It suits people with money and stamina.

Both coasts are flat and watery, but Miami has the bigger wild places on its doorstep. The Everglades are within an hour, with alligators and wading birds along the Anhinga Trail boardwalks and airboat rides. Biscayne National Park and the reefs off Key Largo add snorkelling.

Gulf Shores is quieter: cycling the paved trails of Gulf State Park, watching migrating birds on the western peninsula, taking dolphin cruises and kayaking the Mobile-Tensaw Delta. In both places summer heat pushes activity into the early morning, and in Miami the outdoors is really best in winter.

Gulf Shores has the better choice of outings within an hour. Mobile has ironwork balconies and the USS Alabama, Fairhope has bayside gardens, Pensacola has its naval aviation museum, and a car ferry runs from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island. None is famous, but they make easy and varied days.

From Miami the nearby options are thinner: the canals of Fort Lauderdale and the Gilded Age mansions of Palm Beach. Key West is three to four hours away each way, so it works better as an overnight trip, and most visitors spend their spare days in the Everglades instead.

Gulf Shores is built around families. It has beachfront condos with kitchens and pools, soft sand, an unhurried pace, and a water park, small zoo and Ferris wheel for the afternoons. On the other hand, every outing needs a car and children need watching in the surf.

Miami has bigger attractions in Zoo Miami, the aquarium at the Frost Science Museum and the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables, plus calm water at Key Biscayne. But distances are long, and South Beach's late-night side is not where most parents want to stay.

You need a car in both places for anything beyond the beach, but Gulf Shores depends on it completely. The resort runs along one long beach road, the attractions sit on inland highways and there is almost no public transport. Bikes are only really useful inside Gulf State Park.

Miami at least has some walkable areas. South Beach is easy on foot, the free Metromover links downtown and Brickell, and ride-hailing gets you to Wynwood and Little Havana without a hire car. You will still want a car for the Everglades or the Keys.

In Gulf Shores, shopping means beachwear and souvenir emporiums, fishing shops and a large outlet mall in Foley for a rainy afternoon.

Miami is a luxury shopping destination in its own right. The major fashion houses have flagship stores in the Design District, Bal Harbour has a very exclusive open-air mall, and there are huge malls and outlets, with Lincoln Road for mainstream brands. Neither city has much local craft, though Little Havana has cigar shops and guayabera makers.

Gulf Shores is the cheaper of the two, though summer is its expensive season. Beachfront condos cost a lot in June and July, but winter and shoulder-month rentals drop sharply, and a condo kitchen keeps food costs down.

Miami costs more across the board. Beachfront hotels add resort fees and parking, club drinks are very expensive, and tax and tipping push up restaurant bills. Cuban lunch counters, the free Metromover and staying in a mainland neighbourhood all help.

Gulf Shores has music rather than performing arts. Bands play daily on beach-bar stages, the state-line roadhouse hosts a long-running songwriters' festival every November, and the Orange Beach amphitheatre brings in touring country and rock acts. For a symphony you drive an hour to Mobile.

Miami has a proper main stage in the Adrienne Arsht Center, home to Florida Grand Opera and touring Broadway shows. It also has Miami City Ballet and the New World Symphony, which plays in a Frank Gehry building. Its most local sound is Cuban and Caribbean music in Little Havana.

Neither city has a real bathing tradition, but Miami offers more. The big hotels on Miami Beach and Key Biscayne have large spa floors, there is sunrise yoga on the sand, and a long-established Russian and Turkish bath house has steam rooms and cold plunges.

Gulf Shores has a few day spas, and the rest it offers comes from the quiet itself: early nights and sunsets from a condo balcony away from summer weekends. In Miami you have to look for calm in Surfside or on Key Biscayne, away from the noise of South Beach.