Miami Beach or Trinidad, Cuba?

Miami Beach is built around its shore. The entire Atlantic side of the island is wide, pale sand, from the crowds and people-watching of South Beach to the quieter, park-backed stretches of North Beach. A beachwalk runs behind the dunes and there are lifeguards the whole way, so from almost any hotel you can walk straight onto the sand.

Trinidad's water is the clearer of the two, calm Caribbean sea with a reef for snorkelling. The town is inland, though, so the beach means a short ride to Playa Ancon or the smaller local shore at La Boca. It makes a fine afternoon away from the old town, but there are only two beaches to choose from.

Miami Beach offers far more choice. There are upscale seafood and chef-led dining rooms, but also Cuban sandwiches and cafecito from takeaway windows, stone crabs in winter, and ceviche and arepas from the South American communities. Little Havana is just across the causeway. Avoid the tourist menus on Ocean Drive and the range is wide.

Trinidad serves Cuban home cooking: rice and black beans, roast pork and lobster in paladares and at casa particular tables, with the canchanchara in its clay cup to drink. It is honest and generous but narrow, with the same menus from place to place and no street food or markets to explore.

Miami Beach's great sight is its architecture. The 1930s Art Deco District and the Miami Modern hotels further north are easy to see on foot along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue. After that the list thins out to the Wolfsonian, the Bass and the Holocaust Memorial, and the larger museums are on the mainland.

Trinidad has more to see. The whole sugar-era colonial town is listed by UNESCO, with cobbled lanes of pastel houses around the Plaza Mayor, the Museo Romantico in a planter's mansion and the San Francisco bell tower above the rooftops. Its museums are small, and most of the pleasure comes from two or three days of wandering.

Going out is one of the main reasons people come to Miami Beach. There are big clubs with guest DJs until dawn, afternoon pool parties and lobby bars made for being seen, with quieter cocktail and wine bars in Sunset Harbour and Mid-Beach. The style is glamorous and expensive, with door policies and table service.

Trinidad's night follows one charming routine: rum cocktails and salsa on the steps by the Plaza Mayor, a few courtyard bars, then the club in a cave above town. Locals and travellers mix easily, but after a few nights you have seen it all.

Miami Beach is flat and built up, so outdoor life happens on the water: paddleboarding on the bay, fishing and diving offshore. The mangrove trails of Oleta River are nearby and the Everglades are about an hour away.

Trinidad has real landscape around it. The Escambray mountains rise above the town, Topes de Collantes has forest trails down to the Salto del Caburni waterfall with more cascades at El Nicho, and horse rides cross the Valle de los Ingenios. Both places have reefs for snorkelling, but only Trinidad has hills to walk in.

From Miami Beach, most trips go to the mainland: Little Havana, the Wynwood murals, Vizcaya and Coral Gables. Further out, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Key Largo are each within about an hour and a half by car, but there is little older heritage within reach.

Trinidad has more history around it. The Valle de los Ingenios starts at the edge of town, with its sugar-mill ruins and the Manaca Iznaga tower. Colonial Cienfuegos, Sancti Spiritus and the Che Guevara memorial in Santa Clara each make a full day out. From either base you need a car, a taxi or a tour.

Miami Beach is the easier choice with children. The water is warm and gentle, there are lifeguards along the whole beach and playgrounds behind the sand, and Mid-Beach and North Beach have calm resort pools. Attractions built for children are mostly on the mainland, and South Beach is best avoided at weekends.

Trinidad welcomes children warmly, and the shallow water at Ancon makes a good day out, with horse rides and waterfall pools for older ones. But pushchairs are no use on the uneven cobbles, and power cuts and short supplies of familiar foods and medicines make it hard going with small children.

Both centres are best on foot. South Beach is flat and compact, while Trinidad's old town is small but cobbled and sloping. The difference starts beyond them. Miami Beach has free trolleys and buses up Collins Avenue, bike share and the beachwalk, although leaving the island means causeway traffic or a hire car.

Trinidad has no public transport a visitor can rely on. The beach, the mountains and other towns all mean taxis, bicycle taxis, a hired car or a tour, and the long-distance coaches are slow and infrequent.

Miami Beach has the brands. Lincoln Road is a palm-shaded pedestrian mall of international chains, Collins Avenue adds swimwear and resort clothing, and Bal Harbour's open-air mall at the north end of the island gathers the big European fashion and jewellery houses. What it lacks is anything local or handmade.

Trinidad is the opposite: small, but with real character. Hand embroidery and crochet hang along the craft market lanes, and there are family pottery workshops and small galleries. There are no boutiques, though, and the stalls repeat one another.

Miami Beach is expensive almost everywhere: oceanfront rooms in winter, resort and parking fees, service charges and South Beach cocktails. Side-street hotels, North Beach, lower summer rates and the Cuban takeaway windows ease the bill, and the sand is free.

Day to day, Trinidad costs far less. A room in a casa particular usually includes breakfast, and the music in the squares is free. Taxis to the beach and the mountains, tours and paladar meals priced for visitors do add up, and you need cash, as cards are often not accepted.

The two are evenly matched but could hardly be more different. Miami Beach has formal stages: the New World Symphony in its Frank Gehry hall, with some concerts projected onto the outside wall for people on the lawn, as well as Miami City Ballet and touring shows at the Jackie Gleason Theater, mostly from autumn to spring.

Trinidad has no theatre season at all, but it has live Cuban music every night: traditional song at the Casa de la Trova, salsa at the Casa de la Musica and Afro-Cuban rumba at the Palenque de los Congos Reales. For bands rather than DJs, Trinidad is the place.

Miami Beach is the more restful stay, as long as you choose the right area. There are large resort spas with saunas, steam rooms and plunge pools, sunrise yoga on the sand, and quiet pool days in Mid-Beach and towards Surfside, well away from the noise of South Beach.

Trinidad has no spa culture beyond a few massages at the Ancon resorts. Its slow rhythm of shaded courtyards and doorstep rocking chairs is appealing, but roosters, horse carts, late music and power cuts that stop the fans make rest harder to find.