Havana or Palm Beach?

Havana meets the sea with the rock and sea wall of the Malecón, so swimming means a half-hour taxi ride east to the Playas del Este. The white sand at Santa María del Mar and Guanabo and the warm, clear water are lovely, but shade and food are basic, and the beach works best as a day off from the city.

Palm Beach is the stronger beach destination because the sea is part of every day. The Municipal Beach and Phipps Ocean Park are right in town, the Gulf Stream keeps the water clear and warm, and wider sand at Singer Island, Juno or Delray is a short drive away. Peanut Island's shallow lagoon adds calm water for snorkelling.

Neither place is a reason to travel for food, though Palm Beach is the more dependable table. Havana relies on a short list of dishes such as ropa vieja, black beans and roast pork, and the good meals are in the paladares of Vedado and Habana Vieja, with menus that depend on what the kitchen can find. Where it beats its rival is the glass: daiquiris, mojitos, aged rum and strong Cuban coffee.

Palm Beach is formal and consistent, with terrace lunches off Worth Avenue, stone crab in season and grouper all year. Across the bridge, West Palm Beach's Cuban bakeries, Caribbean takeaways and weekend green market add a more casual layer that Havana's thin street food cannot match.

Havana is the far richer city for sights. Habana Vieja's four colonial squares, the baroque cathedral, the Morro and La Cabaña across the harbour, the Capitolio and the art deco streets of Centro and Vedado make the whole city the attraction, and the Bellas Artes collection and the Museo de la Revolución add depth.

Palm Beach's heritage is a single, narrower story: Gilded Age wealth. Whitehall and the Flagler Museum, Mizner's courtyards on Worth Avenue and the estates along South Ocean Boulevard are well worth seeing, and the Norton Museum is a fine collection, but two or three days covers it.

Havana goes out late and dances. Old town bars pour rum until the small hours, salsa clubs in Vedado and Miramar fill with locals who take dancing seriously, and the Malecón turns into an open-air gathering on warm nights. It is spread out and unpolished, with taxis between neighbourhoods.

Palm Beach is the reverse: dinner, a drink in a grand hotel bar and quiet streets by eleven, with much of the social life behind private club doors. Clematis Street and Rosemary Square in West Palm Beach supply bars and rooftop terraces for a night or two, but not the energy of a Havana evening.

Havana's outdoors is mostly urban: walking the Malecón as waves break over it, sunset from the fortresses and the shade of the Almendares park. Real landscape begins at Las Terrazas, about an hour away, and Viñales is a longer journey.

Palm Beach has much more within reach. The Lake Trail runs for miles along the lagoon, the dive site under the Blue Heron Bridge is known for seahorses and octopus, reefs lie close offshore, and the Loxahatchee refuge brings alligators and wading birds on the Everglades' northern edge. Turtles nesting in summer and manatees in winter add wildlife through the year.

From Havana the easy outings are short ones: Hemingway's Finca Vigía, the village of Cojímar and the port of Matanzas with its rumba tradition. Cuba's best places, Viñales, Trinidad and Cienfuegos, are overnight trips, and without good public transport most outings need a driver or a tour.

Palm Beach is better placed for a day out, mainly because Miami is about an hour away by fast train, with South Beach, Little Havana and Wynwood. Delray Beach, Boca Raton and Jupiter's lighthouse fill shorter days, though these resort towns resemble one another and offer little older heritage.

Havana welcomes children warmly, and the National Aquarium, classic-car rides and the cannons at the fortresses are real treats. Broken pavements, heavy summer heat and the difficulty of finding baby supplies or medicines make it better for older children curious about music and history than for toddlers.

Palm Beach is the easier family base, as long as you look across the bridge rather than at the formal island itself. The zoo, the science centre and aquarium, Manatee Lagoon and a drive-through safari park cover several days, and Peanut Island's shallow water and the gentle public beaches suit small swimmers.

Havana is slightly easier for a visitor without a car. Habana Vieja is compact and walkable, the Malecón links it to Centro and Vedado on foot, and classic-car taxis, shared almendrones and rickshaws cover the rest, though uneven pavements and dim streets call for care at night.

Palm Beach has a pleasant walkable core around Worth Avenue and a flat Lake Trail made for cycling, plus a free trolley in downtown West Palm Beach. Beyond those, the beaches, zoo and reserves are spread out and buses are slow, so most visitors rent a car; the fast train to Miami is the one easy exception.

Havana is for buying what Cuba makes: cigars, aged rum, coffee and, best of all, paintings and prints from the studios of Habana Vieja and Vedado, with woodwork and guayaberas at the harbour craft market. Fashion and department stores are essentially missing.

Palm Beach is a real shopping destination. Worth Avenue gathers the major luxury houses and jewellers among Mizner's courtyards, the consignment shops sell designer pieces from wealthy wardrobes, and Antique Row in West Palm Beach is a long run of dealers. Local crafts, Havana's strength, barely appear.

Havana can be fairly cheap if you stay in casas particulares, eat simply and use shared taxis, and music and museums cost little. State hotels and the better paladares charge international rates, and you need plenty of cash because cards are unreliable.

Palm Beach is among the most expensive resort towns in the United States, from winter room rates to parking by the beach. Staying in West Palm Beach, visiting in the humid summer and leaning on the free beaches and the Lake Trail help, but it never comes close to Havana's low end.

Music runs through Havana from midday on, with son, salsa, bolero and rumba in bars, courtyards and on street corners, jazz clubs in Vedado, weekend rumba in the Callejón de Hamel and cabaret at the Tropicana. The Ballet Nacional de Cuba at the Gran Teatro and the National Symphony at the Amadeo Roldán add formal performance of a high standard.

Palm Beach is a season rather than a scene. In winter the Kravis Center brings touring musicals, orchestras and Palm Beach Opera, and Dramaworks and the Four Arts add plays and chamber concerts. From late spring the calendar thins, and apart from the bar bands on Clematis Street there is no jazz or live-music club scene to fill the gap.

Havana offers slow afternoons rather than treatments: rocking chairs in a colonial courtyard, a shaded balcony, the sea from the Malecón. Spas are few, and the heat, noise and exhaust mean real rest is best found in a guesthouse in leafy Vedado or Miramar.

Palm Beach is far better for unwinding. The island is quiet and orderly, the oceanfront resorts run large spas with salt-water pools and fitness programmes, and beach yoga and early swims are easy to arrange, though everything is private and priced to match.