Miami or Orange Beach?

These are two very good beaches of different kinds. Miami Beach is an urban strip of pale sand facing the Atlantic. It runs from the Art Deco hotels of South Beach to the quieter family shore at Surfside, with the shallow, calm water at Key Biscayne as an alternative. Above all, you can swim there in January as well as August.

Orange Beach has finer, whiter quartz sand, low dunes and green, clear water on calm days. The state park and Alabama Point give some room away from the towers. It is a summer beach only, though, and the rip currents need watching. In Miami the summer problems are sargassum and storms instead.

Miami is far ahead for food. Cuban cooking runs through the city, from cafecito at the ventanita windows of Calle Ocho to slow-roasted lechon. Venezuelan, Peruvian, Haitian and Nicaraguan kitchens add to it, and Brickell and the Design District have a chef-led upscale tier.

Orange Beach does one thing well: Gulf seafood in casual waterside fish houses. Try the Royal Red shrimp, chargrilled oysters, local snapper and West Indies crab salad. Beyond a few good seafood dinners there is little variety, and much of the main road serves the same fried platters.

Miami has a real cultural side, while Orange Beach has almost none. In Miami you can spend a day walking the 1930s pastel facades of Ocean Drive and Collins Avenue, visit Vizcaya's villa and gardens on the bay, then see the Wolfsonian, the Wynwood murals and the Cuban exile history of Little Havana.

Orange Beach grew from a fishing settlement into a row of condo towers, and its heritage amounts to one small museum. For forts, colonial streets or museums you have to drive to Pensacola, Mobile or Fort Morgan.

Miami is one of the world's big party cities. Clubs in South Beach and downtown run until dawn, Wynwood has warehouse bars and breweries, Brickell has rooftop cocktails, and Calle Ocho has salsa nights. It suits people with stamina and a generous budget.

Orange Beach goes out in flip-flops. The Flora-Bama roadhouse on the state line is the one famous stop, and a few bars around the marina and Perdido Pass fill up on warm evenings. There are no dance clubs, and outside spring break and summer most nights end after dinner.

The two are roughly equal for the outdoors, but the settings differ. Miami's prize is the Everglades, an hour away, where you can take airboat rides, walk the Anhinga Trail among alligators or cycle at Shark Valley. Biscayne National Park and the reefs of Key Largo add snorkelling.

Orange Beach is quieter and more for fishing and cycling. It has a long paved trail through pine woods and wetland, sheltered back bays for kayaking, and one of the busiest charter fishing fleets on the Gulf. Bon Secour refuge is good for birdwatching during the migrations. Miami's outdoors are best in winter, and Orange Beach's in spring and autumn.

Orange Beach has the better day trips. Pensacola, about forty-five minutes away, has a Spanish colonial quarter, the naval aviation museum and brick island forts. Mobile has antebellum streets and the battleship memorial park, and a car ferry crosses from Fort Morgan to Dauphin Island.

Around Miami the choices are milder: Fort Lauderdale's canals, the Gilded Age mansions of Palm Beach and the seafood shacks of the Upper Keys. Key West is the place everyone wants to see, but it is too far for a day and works better as an overnight trip.

Orange Beach is the easier family base, because the whole town is built for it. Condos come with kitchens and pools, the sand shelves gently into the water, and the dolphin boats, the Ferris wheel by the marina and a water park nearby fill the days that are not spent on the beach.

Miami has more to see, including Zoo Miami, the aquarium and planetarium at Frost Science and the Venetian Pool in Coral Gables. Each outing means a long drive, though, and South Beach's late-night scene sits awkwardly with small children.

You will want a car in both, but Miami at least has some options. South Beach is flat and walkable, the free Metromover links downtown and Brickell, and the Metrorail runs in from the airport. Ride-hailing covers Wynwood and Little Havana.

Orange Beach is one long coastal highway with almost no public transport, and the summer traffic crawls. Bicycles on the paved trails are the only real alternative to driving.

Miami is a serious shopping destination. The Design District has fashion-house flagships among architect-designed buildings, Bal Harbour is very exclusive, and Aventura Mall is huge. Lincoln Road adds a pedestrian street of mainstream brands.

Orange Beach sells beachwear, souvenirs and fishing gear. For brands, visitors drive twenty minutes to the outlet mall in Foley. Each town has outlets for bargain hunters, but only Miami is worth a trip just to shop.

Neither is cheap, but Orange Beach is easier on the budget. A group or family sharing a large condo with a kitchen spreads the cost, and from late autumn to spring rates fall sharply.

Miami adds resort fees, parking, tax and tips to almost everything, and South Beach club drinks are among the dearest anywhere. Its cheaper season is the hot, stormy summer, which is the opposite of Orange Beach's. Cuban bakeries and the free Metromover help a little.

Miami has a real arts calendar, with Florida Grand Opera and touring Broadway at the Arsht Center, Miami City Ballet, and the New World Symphony in its Gehry hall with screenings on the lawn. Its most local sound is the salsa and Afro-Cuban music of Little Havana.

Orange Beach offers touring country and rock shows at its marina amphitheatre and cover bands in the beach bars. The November songwriters' festival on the state line is its one standout event. Miami's season runs through the winter, while Orange Beach's music follows the warm months.

Miami has more to offer for pampering. The big hotels on Miami Beach and Key Biscayne have full spa floors, there is yoga on the sand at sunrise, and a long-established Russian and Turkish bath house offers a banya and cold plunges. The catch is the noise and the see-and-be-seen crowd, so calm means staying near Surfside or Key Biscayne.

Orange Beach has only a few resort spas. Its version of rest is simply having nothing to do: empty mornings and sunsets over the back bays, best enjoyed when the summer crowds have gone.