Miami or Myrtle Beach?

Both are long strips of pale sand on a warm, gentle Atlantic, and Miami has the slight edge. Its water stays warm enough to swim in every month, and Key Biscayne's Crandon Park adds sheltered, shallow water. The backdrop is built-up, and sargassum can wash in during summer.

Myrtle Beach's Grand Strand is far longer, at about 100km, and its southern stretches at Surfside, Garden City and the state parks are backed by dunes. The trade-offs are greenish water and a swimming season that ends in autumn and does not resume until late spring.

Miami eats like a Latin American capital. Cuban coffee, pastelitos and lechon in Little Havana sit alongside arepas, ceviche, Haitian griot, winter stone crab and a serious upscale tier in Brickell and the Design District.

Myrtle Beach feeds crowds: seafood buffets, pancake houses and chains along the strip. The best meals are just outside town, at the waterfront tables of Murrells Inlet and in the Calabash-style fried seafood over the North Carolina line. A couple of evenings covers them.

Miami gives you several days of sightseeing. There is the Art Deco district along Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, the villa and gardens of Vizcaya on the bay, the Pérez and Wolfsonian museums, and Wynwood's murals. Little Havana carries the story of Cuban exile.

In Myrtle Beach, culture amounts to one good outing to the south. Brookgreen Gardens' sculpture among live oaks, with its account of the people enslaved on the old rice plantation, pairs with Atalaya, the Moorish-style house of the 1930s next door. After that, most people go back to the beach.

Miami is a real party city. Glossy South Beach clubs with international DJs, downtown venues open until dawn, Brickell rooftops, Wynwood's looser warehouse scene and Latin dance nights on Calle Ocho give you range, as long as you have the money and the stamina.

Myrtle Beach goes out in resort style: beach bars and rooftop decks around the boardwalk and dance clubs inside the entertainment complexes. Its one local touch is the shag, the Carolina beach dance, in old clubs on North Myrtle Beach's Main Street. Out of season it closes early.

Both sit on flat, watery coastal land, but Miami has the bigger draws. The Everglades are within an hour for airboats, alligators on the Anhinga Trail and cycling at Shark Valley. Biscayne National Park and Key Largo add snorkelling on coral reefs.

Myrtle Beach is quieter and smaller in scale. You can watch birds on the marsh boardwalks of Huntington Beach State Park, paddle the cypress swamps of the Waccamaw River and join dolphin cruises from the inlets. Golf is its real outdoor pastime, with dozens of courses along the Strand.

Myrtle Beach has the better day out. Charleston, about two hours south, has antebellum streets and harbour forts. The old rice port of Georgetown and the beach village of Pawleys Island are much closer, and Wilmington and Southport lie to the north.

From Miami the options are pleasant but slighter: the canals of Fort Lauderdale, the Gilded Age mansions of Palm Beach and the seafood shacks of the Upper Keys. Key West really needs an overnight stay. Either way you need a car.

Myrtle Beach was built for this. Small waves, resorts with lazy rivers and kiddie pools, a seaside amusement park with a wooden roller coaster, water parks, the boardwalk observation wheel and pirate-themed mini-golf keep children busy without much planning. Avoid spring break weeks.

Miami can work well, with calm water on Key Biscayne, Zoo Miami, the Frost Science Museum's aquarium and the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. But outings mean long drives, and South Beach's party side is a poor fit for young children.

Neither city is easy without wheels, but Miami gives you more options. South Beach is flat and walkable, the free Metromover links downtown and Brickell, and Metrorail runs from the airport, although it never crosses to the beach. Ride-hailing covers Wynwood and Little Havana.

Myrtle Beach spreads along about 100km of multi-lane highway with few pavements and sparse buses. Apart from strolling the boardwalk blocks or the sand itself, almost every trip means getting in the car, often through slow summer traffic on Kings Highway.

Miami is a luxury destination. There are fashion-house flagships in the Design District, the exclusive open-air mall at Bal Harbour and the vast Aventura Mall, plus Lincoln Road for mainstream brands and Wynwood for streetwear.

Both cities have big outlet malls for bargain hunters, but that is most of what Myrtle Beach offers, along with The Market Common and huge beachwear stores. For something local, look out for the sweetgrass baskets sold along the coast road south of town.

Myrtle Beach is the clear choice if money matters. Its sheer number of motels and condos keeps rooms cheap outside the summer peak, and kitchens let families cook for themselves. Book early, though, as July and long weekends get much dearer.

Miami costs more at almost every turn: winter beachfront rates, resort fees, parking and some of the costliest club drinks anywhere. You can soften the bill with Cuban lunch counters, the free Metromover, a summer stay or a hotel on the mainland.

Miami has proper cultural stages. The Adrienne Arsht Center hosts Florida Grand Opera and touring Broadway shows, and Miami City Ballet is a company of real standing. The New World Symphony plays in its Frank Gehry hall, with outdoor screenings on the lawn. Salsa and Afro-Cuban bands add a local sound.

Myrtle Beach's evenings are big variety shows instead: country and gospel revues, Christmas productions and knights-and-pirates dinner theatre, all polished and family-friendly. You won't find opera or an orchestra season.

For a spa day, Miami has much more to offer. The big hotels on Miami Beach and Key Biscayne have whole spa floors with pools and ocean views, and sunrise yoga on the sand is easy to find. Away from the hotels, a long-established Russian and Turkish bath house in Miami Beach has a banya, steam rooms and cold plunges, the city's one real bathing tradition. For calm, stay on Key Biscayne or around Surfside, well away from South Beach's late noise.

Myrtle Beach offers massage and treatment rooms at its oceanfront hotels and golf resorts, but no baths or thermal water of any kind. The summer strip is loud and car-bound, so for real rest choose the quieter southern end around Pawleys Island, or come in spring or autumn.