Miami Beach or Savannah?

This is the widest gap between the two. Miami Beach is a beach city first, with about 11km of pale sand along the island's whole Atlantic side and warm water all year. You can choose between the crowds of South Beach and the quieter stretches of Mid-Beach and North Beach, all within walking distance of your hotel.

Savannah has no beach of its own. Tybee Island, about half an hour's drive away, makes a pleasant, low-key day of flat sand and marsh-tinted water. It is an outing rather than the base for a stay, and from December to March the sea there is too cool for most swimmers.

There is little to choose between them on quality, but they eat very differently. Miami Beach leans upscale and Latin, with hotel dining rooms, seafood and stone crabs in season, plus Cuban croquetas and cafecito from takeaway windows. The tourist menus of Ocean Drive are best avoided.

Savannah cooks in the Lowcountry tradition: shrimp and grits, she-crab soup, Lowcountry boil and oyster roasts in the cooler months. These come in family-style dining rooms and a small set of chef-led places in old townhouses. Savannah's food is more regional and homely, Miami Beach's more cosmopolitan.

Savannah is the stronger choice for sightseeing. Its 1733 grid of garden squares, framed by Federal and Greek Revival houses under Spanish moss, makes a whole historic townscape. The Telfair Museums, the Owens-Thomas House and Bonaventure Cemetery add to it.

Miami Beach has one great sight, the Art Deco Historic District, whose pastel 1930s hotels are best seen on a walk along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue. Beyond that and a few museums such as the Wolfsonian, the larger collections are across the bay on the mainland. A culture-minded stay there means crossing the causeway.

Miami Beach is one of the world's best-known places for a night out, and Savannah doesn't try to compete. South Beach has big clubs with guest DJs that run until dawn, pool parties in the afternoon and lobby bars built for being seen, with dress codes and table service to match.

Savannah's evenings are looser and end earlier. People carry drinks in to-go cups along River Street and around City Market, and there are cocktail rooms in old townhouses and dive bars full of art students. Most of the city is quiet well before the small hours, with St Patrick's Day the big exception.

Neither is a landscape destination and both are flat, so the difference lies in the setting. Miami Beach's outdoor life is on warm open water, with snorkelling and diving on offshore reefs and wrecks. The Everglades and Biscayne National Park are both about an hour away.

Savannah's outdoors is salt marsh: kayaking through tidal creeks, dolphin-spotting trips, wading birds and the avenue of oaks at Wormsloe. In both places, summer heat pushes outings into the early morning.

Savannah has the slightly better spread of day trips, and they are mostly historic: Charleston about two hours north, antebellum Beaufort, the Civil War fort at Fort Pulaski, and the island villages of Jekyll and St Simons.

From Miami Beach the best trips go across the bay to Little Havana, Vizcaya and Coral Gables. Further afield are Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach to the north and Key Largo to the south. In both cities you need a car for nearly everything beyond the city itself.

Miami Beach works better with children, mainly because the beach is on the doorstep. The water is warm and gentle, lifeguards cover the whole shore, and Mid-Beach, North Beach and Surfside make calmer bases with resort pools. The zoo and science museum mean a trip to the mainland, and South Beach is best avoided with young children.

Savannah has shady squares, trolley tours, the free river ferry and ghost walks that older children enjoy. It has no big zoo or aquarium, though, and the beach is a drive away.

Both are easy on foot in the centre and awkward beyond it. In Miami Beach the walkable part is South Beach. Free trolleys run north up Collins Avenue and the beachwalk is good for cycling, but reaching the mainland means slow buses over the causeways or a car.

In Savannah you can walk the historic grid square by square, helped by a free shuttle and the river ferry, but Bonaventure, Wormsloe and Tybee need a car, taxi or tour.

Miami Beach has more to shop for, especially at the top end. The big European fashion and jewellery houses are at Bal Harbour, Lincoln Road makes a pleasant evening stroll past the chain stores, and Collins Avenue is the place for swimwear.

Savannah has no luxury shopping. Still, the boutiques on Broughton Street, the art-school work and the antique shops among the squares give it more local character than Miami Beach's chains. It is good for a browse rather than a spree.

Neither is cheap, but Savannah is easier on the wallet. In Miami Beach, winter oceanfront rates, resort fees, parking and South Beach drinks add up fast. Saving money there means staying back from the sea, staying in North Beach or coming in the hot, stormy summer.

Savannah's historic inns are priced like a popular weekend destination. Its main pleasures, though, cost nothing: the squares, Forsyth Park and the cemeteries. Midweek summer stays or highway motels bring the bill down further.

Miami Beach has more on through the season. The New World Symphony plays in its Frank Gehry hall, sometimes with concerts projected for the audience on the lawn outside. Miami City Ballet and the Jackie Gleason Theater add dance and big shows from autumn to spring.

Savannah's arts calendar depends on its festivals. The biggest is the Savannah Music Festival each spring, held in historic theatres and churches, and there is autumn jazz in Forsyth Park. Come at another time and there may be little beyond bar bands and buskers.

Miami Beach is ahead if wellness means spas. It has large resort spas with hydrotherapy circuits, and sunrise yoga on the sand. Mid-Beach and the quieter stretch towards Surfside are the places for a restful stay.

Savannah has only a handful of spas, so its calm comes from the slow pace instead: a bench under the oaks in one of the southern squares, or the courtyard of a quiet inn. It is most restful midweek in spring or autumn.