Gulf Shores or St. Augustine?

Gulf Shores has the better beach. Its fine quartz sand squeaks underfoot and runs unbroken from Fort Morgan to the Florida line, with dune-backed stretches in Gulf State Park, and on calm summer days the Gulf is clear and green. The catch is the rip currents, so pay attention to the flags.

St. Augustine's sand on Anastasia Island is wide and pale, and the surf is easy, with gently shelving water that suits less confident swimmers. The Atlantic here is usually greenish and churned rather than clear, though. The beach is also a short drive from town rather than outside your door, which suits a trip split between sightseeing and swimming.

The two eat at much the same level, and seafood dominates both. Gulf Shores leans towards Louisiana, with Royal Red shrimp, chargrilled oysters and gumbo served at big open-air shacks. Many visitors simply buy shrimp at the seafood markets and cook in their condo.

St. Augustine has a more distinctive local flavour in the Minorcan datil pepper, which turns up in its spicy clam chowder and pilau. It also has a few chef-driven restaurants and wine bars around the old town and San Marco, which give a dinner out a little more polish.

There is no real contest here. Gulf Shores has one serious sight, Fort Morgan, the brick star fort at the tip of the peninsula that saw action in the Battle of Mobile Bay in 1864, and it fills a morning at most.

St. Augustine has a star fort of its own, the coquina Castillo de San Marcos, but that is only the start. The Spanish founded the town in 1565, and behind the fort the Spanish quarter's narrow lanes, balconied houses and walled gardens mix original buildings with careful reconstructions. Flagler College and the Lightner Museum add a Gilded Age layer, and with the Cathedral Basilica, the lighthouse and Fort Matanzas there is enough for two or three days.

Neither town is a place for clubbing, but the evenings feel different. In Gulf Shores you drink on beach-bar decks with sand underfoot, and the famous roadhouse on the state line at Perdido Key stays loud late into the night. Spring break brings a younger crowd.

St. Augustine is more about a drink after dinner in a pub or cocktail bar with a courtyard in the old town, livened up by Flagler College students in term time. Most places close well before the small hours.

Both sit in the same flat, watery coastal landscape, so the difference lies in what you do there. Gulf Shores is stronger on cycling and fishing: Gulf State Park's paved trails run through maritime forest, deep-sea charters leave from Orange Beach, and inland the Mobile-Tensaw Delta swamp is a fine kayaking trip. The western peninsula is also a major stop for migrating birds.

St. Augustine is better for quiet paddling and marsh walks. You can kayak the tidal creeks among dolphins and ospreys, paddleboard on the Anastasia lagoon, or follow the long trails of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas reserve.

The day trips are about equally good but differ in range. From Gulf Shores, several modest outings lie within an hour: the ironwork balconies of Mobile and the USS Alabama, the bayside gardens of Fairhope, Pensacola's naval aviation museum, and the car ferry over to Dauphin Island.

St. Augustine's nearby choices are fewer, with Jacksonville and Daytona Beach the closest. However, Kennedy Space Center and the Orlando theme parks are within a long two-hour drive, which gives it bigger names if you don't mind the miles.

Gulf Shores is the stronger family base because the whole resort is designed for families. Condos with pools and kitchens make life easy, and when it rains or gets too hot there is a water park, a hands-on zoo, the Ferris wheel in Orange Beach and a theme park in Foley. The main worry is the rip currents.

Children enjoy St. Augustine too. The Alligator Farm has been running since 1893, the Castillo has cannon firing, and there is the lighthouse to climb. Still, the town is built around history and inns rather than family resorts, and its big thrill rides are two hours away in Orlando.

In St. Augustine you can do much of your sightseeing on foot. The fort, St. George Street, Flagler College and the bayfront are all a few minutes' walk apart, and the trolleys cover the rest of the old town, so you can park once and leave the car. You will still need it for the beaches.

Gulf Shores offers no such centre. The resort stretches for miles along one beach road, the restaurants and attractions are spread along highways, and summer weekend traffic over the bridges is heavy. Plan to drive everywhere except within Gulf State Park.

Neither town is worth a trip for shopping, and both have a large outlet mall for brand names, Gulf Shores at Foley and St. Augustine by the interstate. Beyond that, Gulf Shores offers mostly beachwear emporiums and fishing shops. St. Augustine does a little better: the galleries, antique dealers and craft shops around Aviles Street, plus bottles of datil-pepper sauce, make for more interesting souvenirs.

Gulf Shores is usually the cheaper stay, especially outside June and July, when beachfront condos drop sharply in price and long winter stays are common. A condo kitchen also keeps food costs down.

St. Augustine's historic inns and hotels within walking distance of the old town are in high demand, and their rates climb steeply at weekends and in peak season. To save money, stay in a highway motel or on the island and visit midweek.

St. Augustine has more of a performing arts life. Its amphitheatre in the woods on Anastasia Island hosts touring rock, country and folk acts for much of the year, and there are a community theatre and a modest classical series.

In Gulf Shores, live music means bands on beach-bar stages, the state-line roadhouse's long-running November songwriters' festival, and summer concerts at the Orange Beach amphitheatre. For anything formal you have to drive an hour to Mobile.

Neither has a spa tradition, and both offer only a few day spas and hotel treatment rooms, so relaxation comes down to the pace. In Gulf Shores that means quiet evenings and sunsets from a condo balcony. In St. Augustine it means a B&B veranda, a courtyard garden and an evening stroll along the bayfront seawall, which are calmest midweek.