Marco Island or Savannah?

The beach is the reason Marco Island exists. A long crescent of fine pale sand runs right along the hotel strip, the Gulf is calm and shallow, and Tigertail has a lagoon and a sandbar for wading. Keewaydin's undeveloped shore is a short boat ride away.

Savannah has no beach of its own. Tybee Island is half an hour's drive east and has wide, flat sand, but the water is greenish-brown from the marshes. The Atlantic there also stays cold much further into spring than the Gulf does off Marco.

Savannah gives a visitor far more to eat: shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, Lowcountry boil, family-style Southern dining rooms, and a small group of chef-led restaurants in old townhouses south of Forsyth Park. It has a cooking tradition of its own, which Marco Island does not.

On Marco a meal means Gulf seafood with a water view. It is at its best with stone crab in winter or a fish platter on the docks at Goodland. Beyond that the choice is narrow, and a more ambitious dinner means driving to Naples.

The two are far apart here. Savannah's whole historic district is the sight: the 1733 grid of garden squares, the Federal and Greek Revival houses, the Cathedral of St John the Baptist, the Telfair Museums and the Owens-Thomas House. It is enough for two full days on foot.

Marco Island is a resort built from the 1960s onwards, and its one real cultural stop is the historical museum, which covers the Calusa people and the carved wooden figures found on the island. For galleries you have to go to Naples.

Marco Island's evenings are short. After a sunset drink on a waterfront deck and dinner, a few resort lounges and marina bars keep a mellow crowd going for a while, and then the island goes quiet. The busiest it gets is at the dock bars in Goodland on winter weekend afternoons, and there are no clubs at all.

Savannah offers a proper night out. The historic district lets you carry a drink in a to-go cup, so an evening can wander from the cobbled bars of River Street to the taverns around City Market or a cocktail room in an old townhouse. Art students keep a few dive bars and dance nights going on the edge of downtown. St Patrick's Day turns the whole city into a street party, though on most nights things wind down well before the small hours.

Marco Island has the wilder outdoors. It sits at the top of the Ten Thousand Islands, with mangrove channels to paddle, manatees in the canals and some of Florida's best inshore fishing. Everglades National Park and Big Cypress are within an hour for airboat rides, alligators and boardwalks through cypress swamp.

Savannah's Lowcountry is gentler: salt marsh and tidal creeks to kayak, the oak avenue at Wormsloe and the trails on Skidaway Island. Both are completely flat and both are hard going in summer. Marco's outdoor season runs through the winter, while Savannah's is spring and autumn.

Savannah is the better base for excursions. Charleston is about two hours north, and Beaufort, Hilton Head, Fort Pulaski and the Georgia islands of Jekyll and St Simons make a good run of historic towns and coastline, all an easy drive away.

From Marco Island the list is shorter: Naples half an hour north, Everglades City and Chokoloskee, and the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers. The best outings here lead into swamp and mangrove rather than to towns.

With young children Marco Island is the easier choice, mainly because of the water. The Gulf is calm and shallow, the sand is soft, children can wade at Tigertail, and the resort pools come with children's programmes.

Savannah has trolley tours, the river ferry, the forts and the Girl Scouts founder's birthplace, and older children often like the ghost walks. But its beach is half an hour away and most of its appeal is for parents. Neither place has a large theme park.

You can see Savannah's historic district entirely on foot. It is a flat grid where the next square is never far away, and a free downtown shuttle and the river ferry cover the rest. Only Tybee, Wormsloe and Bonaventure need a car or a tour.

On Marco Island you need a car from the moment you land. The airport is about three quarters of an hour away by road and buses barely exist. In the cooler months, cycling the island's paths is the one pleasant way to leave the car behind.

Neither place is worth the trip for its shops. Marco Island's small plazas sell resort wear, beach gear, shells and coastal décor. For anything more, you drive half an hour to the boutiques on Fifth Avenue South and the open-air malls in Naples.

Savannah is the better place to browse without getting in the car. Broughton Street is lined with restored storefronts selling clothes and homewares, art school students and graduates sell their own work, and there are antique dealers and bookshops among the squares to the south. River Street and City Market sell mostly pralines and souvenirs.

Both are expensive, but Marco Island more so, especially in winter, when beachfront rooms and condos are most in demand and a hire car is unavoidable. Weekly condo rentals with kitchens help families, and rooms are much cheaper in the summer heat.

Savannah's inns are priced for a popular weekend city. Still, much of what you come for costs nothing: the squares, Forsyth Park, the riverfront and the cemeteries. If you stay in the historic district, you can manage without a car for most of the trip.

Savannah has more to see and hear, above all the Savannah Music Festival in spring, held in theatres and churches across the city. It also has the restored Lucas and Trustees theatres, a philharmonic orchestra and an autumn jazz festival in Forsyth Park. Marco Island offers a small community theatre and bands in the resort bars in winter. For an orchestra you drive to the performing arts centre in Naples.

Neither place has a bathing tradition, so the choice is between a resort spa by the Gulf and the courtyard of an old inn. Marco Island does a restful week better, with full-service beachfront spas, yoga classes in the plazas and an island that stays quiet day and night.

In Savannah the calm comes from benches under the oaks and porches at quiet inns. It fades on River Street at weekends and during the spring festivities, and the summer humidity tires you more than it relaxes you.