Miami Beach or Orange Beach?

Both towns are long strips of pale sand, and both are worth the trip for the beach alone, but Miami Beach has the edge because it works all year. Its 11km of Atlantic shore stays warm through winter, and you can choose your mood by area: the crowds and pastel lifeguard huts of South Beach, the resort stretch of Mid-Beach or the space of North Beach. The paved beachwalk ties it all together.

Orange Beach has the finer, whiter quartz sand and water that turns clear green on calm days, with fewer vendors and less noise. The catch is a season that ends in autumn and rip currents that need watching under the flag system.

Miami Beach has the more varied food. Its Latin American roots show in Cuban sandwiches, croquetas and cafecito from takeaway windows, ceviche and arepas, and stone crabs in winter, alongside chef-led and hotel restaurants. Avoid the tourist menus on Ocean Drive and eat on the side streets or in North Beach instead.

Orange Beach does one thing: casual Gulf seafood. Royal Red shrimp, chargrilled oysters, local snapper and West Indies crab salad at waterside fish houses make good dinners, but the range ends there, and many places on the main road serve the same fried platters.

Here the two are far apart. Miami Beach has a sight of real international standing in its Art Deco Historic District, hundreds of 1930s hotels you can walk past along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, plus the Wolfsonian, the Bass and the Holocaust Memorial, and mainland Miami's larger museums are across the bay.

Orange Beach has little more than a small museum of Native American and fishing history. Anyone who wants forts, old quarters or museums has to drive to Pensacola or Mobile.

South Beach is one of the best-known places in the world for a night out, with big DJ clubs filling after midnight, afternoon pool parties and lobby bars made for being seen. It comes with door policies, table service and steep bills, and Sunset Harbour and Mid-Beach have quieter bars for a gentler evening.

Orange Beach is barefoot and seasonal. The Flora-Bama roadhouse on the state line, with sand underfoot and frozen drinks, is the big night, alongside a few bars by the marina and Perdido Pass. There are no clubs, and out of season most evenings end after dinner.

Orange Beach has more nature on the doorstep. A paved backcountry trail runs through pine woods and marsh past alligator ponds into Gulf State Park, the back bays suit kayaks, and dolphin cruises and a large charter fishing fleet work out of Perdido Pass. Bon Secour refuge is good for birdwatching during the migrations.

Miami Beach is almost entirely built up, so outdoor time means paddling the bay, diving offshore wrecks or the mangrove trails of Oleta River. Its strongest card is further away: the Everglades and Biscayne National Park, both about an hour or less by road.

The two are fairly even here, but the trips are different in kind. From Miami Beach the outings are mostly urban and lush: Little Havana, the Wynwood murals, Vizcaya's gardens, Coral Gables, Palm Beach mansions and Key Largo at the top of the Keys.

From Orange Beach the trips are about Gulf Coast history. Pensacola has a Spanish colonial quarter, the naval aviation museum and brick forts, and Mobile has antebellum streets and the battleship memorial. From either town you need a car.

Orange Beach is designed for families in a way Miami Beach is not. Kitchen-equipped condos, early nights, mini golf, a marina Ferris wheel and dolphin boats are all in town, and a water park, a small zoo and a theme park are within half an hour. The main worries are rip currents and the midsummer sun.

Miami Beach has lifeguards all along the shore and calm water, and Mid-Beach or Surfside work well for younger children. Beyond the sand, though, the zoo and museums are on the mainland, and South Beach on a spring break weekend is no place for children.

Miami Beach is far easier without a car. South Beach is flat and compact, free trolleys run up Collins Avenue, and bike share and the beachwalk cover the rest. You only need a car to leave the island, since there is no rail link and the causeways jam.

Orange Beach is spread along one coastal highway, with almost no useful public transport, so a car is needed even for dinner or groceries. In summer that road slows to a crawl, and only the paved trails make cycling a practical alternative.

Miami Beach has two real shopping destinations. Lincoln Road's palm-lined pedestrian mall is a pleasant evening stroll among chain stores, and Bal Harbour at the north end of the island gathers the big European luxury houses.

At Orange Beach you mostly buy swimwear, souvenirs and fishing gear, and the outlet mall in Foley, twenty minutes inland, is the only reason to go shopping at all.

Neither is cheap, but Orange Beach is easier on the wallet, mainly because a shared condo with a kitchen spreads the cost across a group. From late autumn to spring its rates fall sharply, though by then the sea is too cool for most swimmers.

Miami Beach adds resort fees, parking charges and service charges on top of high oceanfront rates, and drinks in South Beach are expensive. Its cheaper season is the opposite one, summer, when the sea is warm but the heat and storms are at their worst.

Miami Beach has a real classical and dance life: the New World Symphony in its Frank Gehry hall, with some concerts projected onto the outside wall for people on the lawn, Miami City Ballet and the restored Colony Theatre. The season runs from autumn to spring.

Orange Beach is about live popular music: country and rock tours at the marina amphitheatre in the warmer months, cover bands in beach bars, and the Frank Brown songwriters' festival each November.

Miami Beach has the spa facilities, with large resort spas, hydrotherapy circuits and sunrise yoga on the sand. For real rest, stay in Mid-Beach or near Surfside, away from the noise of South Beach.

Orange Beach has only a few day spas, so what it offers is a slower pace: empty mornings and sunsets over the back bays. That calm is best from autumn to spring, and spring break and summer weekends are the noisy weeks to avoid.