Gulf Shores or Myrtle Beach?

Both coasts have the long, soft-sand beach their visitors come for, so the choice comes down to character. Gulf Shores sits on the Gulf of Mexico, with fine white quartz sand that squeaks underfoot and water that turns clear and green on calm days. Around Fort Morgan and in Gulf State Park, the dunes give a wilder shore away from the condo towers, but rip currents need watching.

Myrtle Beach faces the open Atlantic along the Grand Strand, about 100km of wide, flat sand with piers and a boardwalk in the centre. The water is greener and less clear, but the gently shelving shallows and small waves make for easy swimming. For a calmer stretch, head south to Surfside, Garden City or the state park beaches.

Neither is a place to travel for food, and both come down to seafood, fried or grilled, eaten casually. The accent differs, though. Gulf Shores leans towards Louisiana, with gumbo, chargrilled oysters and deep-water Royal Red shrimp, and many visitors buy fresh shrimp from the seafood markets to cook in their condo kitchen.

Myrtle Beach feeds the crowds on its strip with buffets and pancake houses, but its better meals are just outside town. Try the waterfront at Murrells Inlet or the lightly battered Calabash-style fish, and look for Lowcountry dishes such as shrimp and grits or she-crab soup.

There is little culture on either coast, but Myrtle Beach has more to fill a day. Brookgreen Gardens sets American figurative sculpture among the live oaks of a former rice plantation and tells the story of the people enslaved there. Next door, in Huntington Beach State Park, is Atalaya, a Moorish-style winter house.

Gulf Shores has really one sight: the brick star fort at Fort Morgan, which played its part in the Battle of Mobile Bay and is worth a morning. For museums and historic streets beyond that, you have to drive to Mobile or Pensacola.

Myrtle Beach is the livelier choice after dark. Besides the beach bars and rooftop decks around the boardwalk, its entertainment complexes have a cluster of dance clubs that stay open late in summer. North Myrtle Beach also keeps the shag, the Carolina beach dance, going in its long-standing clubs on Main Street.

Gulf Shores is a beach-bar town with no clubs. Evenings mean open-air decks on the sand, a few late bars on the main strip, and the famous roadhouse on the state line at Perdido Key as the big night out. Most of the resort is asleep early.

Both sit on flat coastal country of dunes, marsh and maritime forest, but Gulf Shores gives you more of it to explore. The paved trails through Gulf State Park make cycling a real pleasure, and Bon Secour refuge protects quiet dune and lake walks. Inland, the Mobile-Tensaw Delta is one of the country's great river swamps, best seen by kayak.

Myrtle Beach has excellent birdwatching from the marsh boardwalks of Huntington Beach State Park, where alligators share the lagoon, and good paddling among the cypress swamps of the Waccamaw River. Its biggest outdoor draw, though, is golf, with dozens of courses along the Grand Strand.

Both need a car for any outing, and both have enough for a few good days out. Gulf Shores has a tighter circle. Mobile's ironwork balconies and the USS Alabama, bayside Fairhope and Pensacola's historic district are all within about an hour, and the car ferry from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island makes a pleasant outing in itself.

Myrtle Beach has the bigger name, but it is farther away. Charleston, about two hours south, makes a long but rewarding day among antebellum streets and harbour forts. Closer to hand, the old port of Georgetown and the quiet village of Pawleys Island make easier half days.

Both resorts are built around families, with kitchen suites, pools and soft sand, but Myrtle Beach has more to keep children busy off the beach. There is a large aquarium, a seaside amusement park with an old wooden roller coaster, an observation wheel on the boardwalk and endless themed mini-golf. Its gentle Atlantic surf is also easier for small swimmers.

Gulf Shores is calmer and has fewer big attractions. It offers a water park, a small hands-on zoo, the Ferris wheel in Orange Beach and the nature centre and fishing pier at Gulf State Park, but no major aquarium. Rip currents mean closer watching in the water. In Myrtle Beach, the drawbacks are the rowdy oceanfront at night and spring break weeks, which are best avoided.

You will need a car in either place. Gulf Shores runs along a single beach road with the shops and restaurants on highways inland, and a bike is useful on the Gulf State Park trails. Myrtle Beach is longer and spreads along busy multi-lane highways with few pavements, though the blocks around the boardwalk are walkable and the flat beach makes a long promenade.

In summer, expect slow traffic at both: over the bridges in Gulf Shores and along Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach is the better place for shopping, though neither is worth a trip for it. It has two big outlet centres, waterfront complexes that mix chain shops with restaurants, and the Market Common on the old air force base, which feels more like a town centre. Sweetgrass baskets are sold along the coast road to the south.

Gulf Shores has the big souvenir and beachwear shops on the beach road, a few boutiques in Orange Beach and one large outlet mall inland at Foley, where most rainy days end up.

Myrtle Beach is easier on the wallet. Its huge stock of motels, hotels and condos keeps rooms cheap outside the summer peak, although shows, attractions and golf soon add up.

Gulf Shores is more expensive in June and July, when beachfront condos are at their dearest, but winter rentals fall sharply and long off-season stays are common. In both places the beach is free, a kitchen saves on meals and car hire is part of the cost.

Neither has theatre, opera or an orchestra season, so the difference is in the kind of evening. Gulf Shores runs on live bands and singer-songwriters playing beach-bar stages, with a long-running songwriters' festival every November at the state-line roadhouse. Touring country and rock acts play the outdoor amphitheatre in Orange Beach.

Myrtle Beach puts on polished indoor shows for the whole family: country, gospel and pop revues, comedy, Christmas shows and dinner shows with knights or pirates.

Both have resort spas but no thermal baths, so rest depends on where and when you go. Outside summer weekends, Gulf Shores is quiet and early to bed, and a slow week of sunsets from a condo balcony is the whole idea. Myrtle Beach's main strip is loud in summer, so go south to Pawleys Island, or visit in spring or autumn, for a slower pace.