Havana or West Palm Beach?

West Palm Beach has much the stronger beach life. A short drive or bike ride across the bridges brings you to soft Atlantic sand at Midtown Beach and Phipps Ocean Park, broader and quieter beaches on Singer Island and at Juno, and sheltered snorkelling off Peanut Island. Swimming is possible all year.

Havana's own seafront is rock and sea wall, so the sand is half an hour east at the Playas del Este. Santa María del Mar and Guanabo are white and warm, but they have only basic shade and food stalls. In Havana the beach is a good day off; in West Palm Beach it can be the whole trip.

Neither is a food destination, but West Palm Beach eats more reliably. It has grilled grouper and snapper, stone crab claws in season, waterfront terraces on Clematis Street, and Cuban and Haitian bakeries away from the centre.

Havana's menu is narrower: ropa vieja, black beans and roast pork. The best meals are in paladares in Vedado and Miramar, while state-run kitchens depend on what they can get. Havana's strength is in the glass, with daiquiris and mojitos in the old bars, aged rum and strong coffee.

Havana is in another league for sightseeing. Habana Vieja's colonial squares and baroque churches, the Morro and La Cabaña fortresses, the Capitolio and the art deco streets of Centro and Vedado can fill a week. The Bellas Artes holds an excellent Cuban collection.

West Palm Beach has two or three good days of sights: the Norton Museum, Flagler's Whitehall mansion and the Mediterranean Revival villas of Palm Beach. It is polished and well kept, whereas Havana is part restored and part crumbling, and that mix is part of what you come to see.

Havana's nights go later and involve far more dancing. Rum bars fill the old town, salsa clubs in Vedado and Miramar are packed with locals who dance seriously, and on warm evenings the Malecón becomes an open-air gathering place. The scene is spread out, so taxis link the evening.

West Palm Beach has a few blocks of cocktail bars, sports bars and rooftop terraces on Clematis Street and around Rosemary Square. They are busy at weekends but quiet midweek and in summer, and serious clubbing means heading down to Miami.

West Palm Beach gets far more out of the outdoors, and almost all of it happens on the water. There is paddleboarding on the Lake Worth Lagoon, Gulf Stream reefs and drift dives, and the well-known shore dive under the Blue Heron Bridge. Inland, the Everglades boardwalks at Loxahatchee have alligators and wading birds.

In Havana, the outdoors means mostly the Malecón and the shady Almendares river park. Real landscape starts with the forest trails and river pools of Las Terrazas, about an hour west, and Viñales is a long journey.

West Palm Beach has the easier outings. A fast train reaches Miami in about an hour, and Fort Lauderdale, Delray Beach with its Japanese gardens, and Boca Raton are closer still, though most of them are more coast rather than a change of scene.

From Havana, the nearby options are Hemingway's Finca Vigía, Cojímar and Matanzas. The island's best places, Trinidad, Cienfuegos and Viñales, need an overnight stay, and with poor public transport most trips mean a car with a driver.

West Palm Beach is made for an easy family beach vacation. It has calm water at Peanut Island, guarded beaches, Lion Country Safari, the zoo, the science centre and manatees in winter, all in a safe, relaxed setting, though nearly everything needs a car.

Havana welcomes children warmly and has the aquarium in Miramar, classic-car rides and the cannons at the fortresses. But the broken pavements, heavy heat and scarce baby supplies make it better suited to older children with an interest in music and history.

Both have a walkable centre and not much beyond it. Havana's is Habana Vieja and the walk along the Malecón to Vedado. After that you take taxis of every sort, from classic American cars to shared almendrones and bicycle rickshaws, and you agree the fare before setting off.

Downtown West Palm Beach has a free trolley, and the Lake Trail is good by bike, but outside the centre it is car country with slow buses. Its advantage is the train south to Miami; Havana's is that you will not need a car in the city.

West Palm Beach is by far the better place to shop. Worth Avenue's luxury houses and tiled vias, the designer consignment shops, Antique Row and the mainstream brands at Rosemary Square cover most tastes.

In Havana, shopping means buying what Cuba makes: cigars, aged rum, coffee and the harbour craft market. The best buys are paintings and prints from the studios in Habana Vieja and Vedado. Fashion and department stores are essentially absent.

Havana is much the cheaper stay if you travel the local way. Casas particulares with a big breakfast, shared taxis, museum entry and live music all cost little. State hotels and the smarter paladares can cost as much as Southern Europe, and you need to bring plenty of cash.

West Palm Beach is expensive, above all from December to April. Hotels on Palm Beach are among the costliest on the coast, tipping adds to every bill and you will almost certainly need a car. Room rates fall in summer, in exchange for heat and storms.

Havana is the place for music. Son, salsa, bolero and rumba play from midday in old-town bars and on street corners, jazz clubs in Vedado draw the island's best players, and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba performs at the Gran Teatro.

West Palm Beach has a solid formal season at the Kravis Center, with touring Broadway shows, opera and orchestras, and Palm Beach Dramaworks stages serious plays. The calendar thins in summer, though, and everyday live music is mostly cover bands.

West Palm Beach is the easier place to rest. It has large oceanfront resort spas on Palm Beach, many day spas, and quiet, manicured streets for an early walk by the lagoon.

Havana has few spas outside the larger hotels, and the city can be hot, noisy and full of exhaust fumes. Rest there means a rocking chair in a colonial courtyard, a guesthouse in leafy Vedado or Miramar, or a day at the beach.