Gulf Shores or St. Pete Beach?

Both towns have superb beaches of soft white quartz sand, but they swim differently. Gulf Shores has the longer, wilder shoreline, running from Fort Morgan to the Florida line with low dunes in Gulf State Park. It has more surf, and rip currents mean you need to watch the warning flags.

St. Pete Beach has calm, shallow water that rarely has waves, plus a west-facing shore made for sunsets. Fort De Soto and the boat trip to Shell Key give it untouched sand close by, but now and then red tide can spoil the water for a while.

Both towns eat casually by the water, and neither is a reason to go for the food. Gulf Shores looks towards Louisiana, with gumbo, chargrilled oysters and deep-water Royal Red shrimp you can buy at seafood markets and cook in your condo.

St. Pete Beach serves grouper sandwiches, smoked fish spread and stone crab in season, usually with a sunset dinner on a deck. Its real advantage is St. Petersburg nearby, which has the breweries, coffee roasters and more ambitious cooking.

There is little culture in either town, but St. Pete Beach has slightly more. The pink Don CeSar hotel and Pass-a-Grille's old beach cottages give it some character, and the batteries at Fort De Soto are close by. Gulf Shores has the Civil War star fort at Fort Morgan and very little else, and its nearest proper museums are about an hour away.

Neither town has clubs, and nights out in both are spent at beach bars. Gulf Shores has the bigger reputation thanks to the legendary roadhouse on the state line at Perdido Key, which stays loud late into the night, and spring break brings a younger crowd to the main strip.

St. Pete Beach goes quiet soon after the sun goes down at its tiki decks. Its advantage is that downtown St. Petersburg, with a much bigger night out, is half an hour away.

Both are flat, watery places, but you spend your outdoor time differently. In Gulf Shores, you cycle the long paved trails of Gulf State Park, walk the dunes at Bon Secour, watch migrating birds in spring and autumn, or take a boat into the river swamp of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta.

St. Pete Beach is mostly about getting on the water. You can paddle the mangrove trails at Fort De Soto and Shell Key, look for manatees in the cooler months and see roseate spoonbills among the shorebirds.

From St. Pete Beach the day trips are bigger and better known. The Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg is half an hour away and Tampa's Ybor City is within an hour. Greek-rooted Tarpon Springs and the Ringling estate in Sarasota are also in reach, and Orlando is possible at a stretch.

From Gulf Shores the outings are pleasant but quieter. They include Mobile's ironwork balconies and the USS Alabama, bayside Fairhope, Pensacola's naval aviation museum and the car ferry to Dauphin Island.

Both towns are built for families, but they suit different needs. Gulf Shores has more to do in town: a water park, a small zoo, the Ferris wheel in Orange Beach and the theme park in Foley, all from a condo with a kitchen. Children need close watching in the surf.

St. Pete Beach has calmer, shallower water for toddlers. The aquariums in Clearwater and Tampa and the Busch Gardens theme park are within an hour, which makes up for the lack of a big aquarium near Gulf Shores.

You will want a car in both, but St. Pete Beach is easier without one. A beach trolley runs the length of Gulf Boulevard, and Pass-a-Grille and Corey Avenue are pleasant to walk or cycle. Gulf Shores is strung out for miles, with almost no public transport and heavy summer traffic on the bridges. Its Gulf State Park trails are the only place where a bike really works.

Shopping is limited in both towns and mostly means swimwear and souvenirs. Gulf Shores has the big outlet mall in Foley for a rainy afternoon. St. Pete Beach has a few independent boutiques and galleries on Corey Avenue and small craft shops in Pass-a-Grille, and you can drive to the malls in St. Petersburg and Tampa.

Gulf Shores is the cheaper of the two. Beachfront condos cost a lot in June and July, but they drop sharply in winter, and cooking in your own kitchen keeps food costs down.

St. Pete Beach is expensive, especially from February to April, when its mild winter brings visitors from the north. A cheaper stay there usually means an older motel a block back from the sand and a late-summer visit.

There is more live music in Gulf Shores itself. Bands play daily on beach-bar stages, the state-line roadhouse holds a long-running songwriters' festival every November, and an outdoor amphitheatre in Orange Beach brings touring country and rock acts in the warmer months.

St. Pete Beach has little beyond cover bands. For orchestra, theatre or touring musicals you drive to St. Petersburg or Tampa, which is a shorter trip than the hour from Gulf Shores to Mobile.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, but St. Pete Beach is the easier place to unwind. Its larger resorts have full-service spas, and Pass-a-Grille has a slow, sunset-centred rhythm outside the spring-break weeks. Gulf Shores offers a few day spas, and most of its calm comes from quiet off-season weeks on a condo balcony.