Key West or Tampa?

Tampa has the better beaches, but you have to drive to them. Clearwater, St Pete Beach, Pass-a-Grille and Fort De Soto have fine, soft white sand and a gentle Gulf, and they are roughly half an hour to an hour from the city. That makes a beach day a planned outing rather than a stroll from the hotel.

Key West is the other way round. The water is warm and calm almost all year, but the town's beaches are small, with imported sand at Smathers and coral rubble at Fort Zachary Taylor. Most of the swimming happens from boats, and the nearest classic stretch of sand is Bahia Honda, an hour up the highway.

Both cities draw on Cuba, but Tampa has more to eat. Ybor City's Spanish, Cuban and Sicilian heritage gives it a pressed Cuban sandwich with salami, old bakeries and deviled crab croquettes. Beyond Ybor, food halls and the neighbourhood places in Seminole Heights and South Tampa add some range.

Key West's menu is narrower and closer to the sea. Pink shrimp, conch fritters, stone crab and the long-running argument over Key lime pie are eaten at dockside shacks around the Historic Seaport and Bahama Village, and Duval Street itself rarely rises above bar food.

The two are about level, and both can be seen in two or three days, but the sightseeing feels different. In Key West the town itself is the attraction: you walk the conch cottages and Victorian verandas of Old Town and stop at the Hemingway house, the Truman Little White House and the shipwreck collections.

Tampa's heritage is more industrial and immigrant. It has Ybor City's brick cigar factories and Latin social clubs, the Moorish minarets of Henry Plant's railway hotel, and a riverside art museum and history centre, with the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg as a strong extra.

Key West makes more of its evenings, even though it is a small place. The night starts with sunset on Mallory Square and carries on along Duval Street, where you can walk from one open-sided bar to the next with a drink in hand until late. There is also a long-established gay scene at the upper end of the street.

Tampa has a wider choice but less atmosphere. Seventh Avenue in Ybor has actual dance clubs, SoHo has cocktail bars and patios, and the Riverwalk has craft beer taprooms. Outside the Gasparilla weekend, it feels like a good regional night out rather than a reason to stay up late.

Key West is better for time on the water. It has the Florida Reef for snorkelling and diving, mangrove flats for paddling and fishing for tarpon or bonefish, and the remote Dry Tortugas. On land there is very little to do.

Tampa's outdoors are freshwater and wildlife. You can kayak through the cypress swamp on the Hillsborough River, watch wintering manatees at Apollo Beach, swim in the clear springs at Crystal River and Weeki Wachee, or see alligators at Myakka. Most of it needs a car.

Tampa is the much better base for day trips. Within about an hour by car you can reach St Petersburg's waterfront, the Greek sponge docks at Tarpon Springs, the Ringling estate in Sarasota and the Frank Lloyd Wright campus in Lakeland, so a week can include several quite different days out.

From Key West there is really one great excursion: the long ferry ride to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Beyond that, a drive over the Seven Mile Bridge to Marathon or Islamorada fills a day, and that is about it.

Tampa is built for a family trip. It has roller coasters and an animal park at Busch Gardens, manatees at ZooTampa, the aquarium, the children's museum and splash pads on the Riverwalk, and Legoland and Orlando are within reach. The downside is the driving between them all.

Key West keeps children happy on glass-bottom boats and in the calm shallows at Fort Zachary Taylor, and the butterfly conservatory and the six-toed cats fill an afternoon. Duval Street's drinking culture and the very adult Fantasy Fest make it a less natural fit.

Key West is far easier to get around. Old Town is small and flat, so bikes, electric carts and walking cover nearly everything, and a car is more trouble than it is worth. You only need wheels for the rest of the Keys.

In Tampa a car is close to essential. The streetcar and the Riverwalk link downtown with Ybor City, but buses are slow, and the beaches, Busch Gardens and every day trip mean driving, often in heavy bridge traffic.

Neither city is a shopping destination, but Tampa has more to offer: an upscale mall with department stores and the boutiques of Hyde Park Village. Key West's shopping is mostly T-shirts and Key lime soap, though its Old Town galleries and sponge shops are more personal. Both have hand-rolled cigars, in Ybor's small shops and in Key West's old cigar trade.

Tampa is the cheaper trip, though not a cheap one. Rooms cost roughly what they do in any mid-sized American city, summer brings them down, and the main extra cost is the hire car.

Key West costs a good deal more. Limited land pushes up room prices sharply, especially in winter, and drinks on Duval Street, diving and the Tortugas ferry all add up. Not needing a car and the free sunset on Mallory Square help a little.

For a real night at the theatre, Tampa is the better choice. The Straz Center hosts touring Broadway shows, opera, ballet and the Florida Orchestra, and the ornate 1926 Tampa Theatre is worth a visit for the building alone.

Key West's performance happens mostly on the street and in the bars. There are jugglers and cat acts at sunset, singer-songwriters along Duval, and nightly drag cabaret. The formal side is limited to the Tennessee Williams Theatre, a few playhouses and a winter orchestra season.

Key West is better for slowing down, as long as you stay away from Duval Street. Guesthouses set around small pools and gardens in the quiet lanes of Old Town, and the daily pause for sunset, make the stay restful.

Tampa itself is sprawling and humid, and relaxing usually means a hotel spa or moving out to the barrier islands. Neither place has thermal baths or a bathing tradition.