Marco Island or St. Pete Beach?

Both places have long, soft, pale beaches on calm, shallow Gulf water with almost no surf, and the beaches are equally good. Marco Island's shore is a single curving crescent. Its best feature is Tigertail on the north end, where a tidal lagoon and sandbar make for gentle wading, and the empty barrier sands of Keewaydin are a short boat ride away.

St. Pete Beach gives you more variety along one strip: low-rise Pass-a-Grille at the south end, quieter Upham Beach to the north, and the pine-backed beaches of Fort De Soto and Shell Key nearby. In winter the water at Marco Island stays a few degrees warmer. St. Pete Beach sometimes has spells of red tide.

Eating out is much the same in both places: grouper sandwiches, shrimp and stone crab claws at grills on the water, with not much else on offer. Marco Island's most characterful meal is a fish platter on the docks at Goodland. St. Pete Beach has beach bars, smoked fish spread and a few relaxed sit-down places on Corey Avenue and in Pass-a-Grille. If you want better food, the two point in different directions: Naples for polished dinners, and St. Petersburg for craft breweries, coffee roasters and more adventurous cooking.

Neither place is built for sightseeing, and you will run out of things to see quickly in both. Marco Island's one real stop is its historical museum, which covers the Calusa people, the carved wooden figures found on the island in the 1890s and the old clam canneries. St. Pete Beach has more historic buildings to look at: the pink 1920s Don CeSar hotel, the old beach cottages of Pass-a-Grille and the Spanish-American War batteries at Fort De Soto.

St. Pete Beach has the livelier evenings. Tiki decks along Gulf Boulevard and in Pass-a-Grille fill up for the sunset, often with a cover band playing, and Corey Avenue has a few bars that stay busy for longer. Downtown St. Petersburg is about half an hour away if you want a proper night out.

Marco Island winds down soon after dinner. Apart from resort lounges and marina bars, the main draw is Goodland's dockside bars on winter weekend afternoons. The crowd is mostly retirees and families, and the nearest alternative, Naples, is fairly restrained too.

Marco Island is the stronger choice for nature. It sits at the top of the Ten Thousand Islands, so mangrove paddling, dolphin trips, manatees in the canals and some of Florida's best inshore fishing all start at the edge of town, with the protected estuaries of Rookery Bay just to the north. Within an hour you can be in Everglades National Park, Big Cypress or the Fakahatchee Strand, among alligators, wading birds and cypress swamp.

St. Pete Beach has a gentler version of the same coast. Kayak trails wind through the mangroves at Fort De Soto and Shell Key, roseate spoonbills feed on the flats and manatees come into Tampa Bay in the cooler months, but there is no wilderness as large or as remote as the Everglades within easy reach. Both landscapes are entirely flat, so neither has real hiking.

St. Pete Beach is much better placed for days out. St. Petersburg's waterfront and Dalí Museum are half an hour away, and Tampa's Ybor City is under an hour. To the north are the Greek sponge-diving town of Tarpon Springs and Scottish-founded Dunedin, and across the Sunshine Skyway are Sarasota's Ringling estate and Anna Maria Island.

Marco Island's choice is shorter: Naples, the old trading post at Chokoloskee, and the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, with Sanibel just beyond. Its best excursions head into the swamps rather than to towns.

Both have the shallow, calm water and soft sand that young children need, but St. Pete Beach gives you more for the days off the beach. Fort De Soto has a fort and a fishing pier, Clearwater and Tampa have aquariums and a science centre, and Busch Gardens is within an hour.

Marco Island works in a simpler way, with resort pools, children's programmes, wading at Tigertail and dolphin boats. For attractions built for children you will need Naples' zoo and children's museum, or an airboat ride for older children.

You will want a car in both places, but St. Pete Beach is a little easier without one. A beach trolley runs the length of Gulf Boulevard, and Pass-a-Grille and Corey Avenue are pleasant to walk. Marco Island has good flat cycle paths between the beach and the shops, but beyond that there is only a limited county bus to Naples. Both are about three quarters of an hour by road from the nearest major airport.

Marco Island has the better shopping, mainly because Naples is so close. Fifth Avenue South and Third Street South are lined with upmarket boutiques and galleries, and there are polished open-air malls nearby. On the island itself you will find a few plazas selling resort wear and shells.

St. Pete Beach offers mostly swimwear and souvenirs on Gulf Boulevard, plus a few independent boutiques on Corey Avenue and craft shops in Pass-a-Grille. For malls and department stores you need to drive inland to St. Petersburg or Tampa.

Both are expensive, but St. Pete Beach leaves more room to save. Older motels a block back from the beach, casual seafood places and the quieter late summer all bring the cost down, and the beaches are free apart from parking.

On Marco Island, beachfront resorts and restaurants are priced for a wealthy winter crowd, with the January to April peak the most expensive time. Summer room rates and weekly condo rentals with kitchens help a little, but it is hard to keep a stay there cheap.

Marco Island has a slight edge for an evening of music or theatre. The island has its own small community theatre, and resort bars bring in a guitarist or a band through the winter. Naples is half an hour away, and its performing arts centre is home to the city's philharmonic and also hosts touring shows and recitals. Out of the winter season, though, there is little on.

St. Pete Beach has less in town, mostly cover bands and acoustic sets in the beach bars. For a concert or a play you drive to St. Petersburg for the Florida Orchestra and its mid-sized theatres, or about three quarters of an hour to Tampa's arts centre for touring musicals and opera.

Neither place has a bathing tradition, so wellness in both means resort spas and a slow pace. Marco Island is the quieter of the two. Its spas look straight over the Gulf, and the plazas have yoga classes and day spas. St. Pete Beach has massage studios along Gulf Boulevard and the unhurried streets of Pass-a-Grille, but the spring-break weeks can make it noisier.