Miami or Palm Beach?

Miami has more beach to offer. One continuous strip of pale sand runs from South Beach's Art Deco front past Mid-Beach to the family shore at North Beach and Surfside, and Crandon Park on Key Biscayne adds calm, shallow water. It is a social beach, flat and built-up, where people come to be seen as much as to swim.

Palm Beach's water is clearer and bluer because the Gulf Stream runs close in. The island has less public sand, though, since much of the shore lies behind seawalls and estates and narrows at high tide. Its best swimming is often a short drive away at Singer Island or Jupiter, or in Peanut Island's shallow lagoon.

Miami eats far more interestingly. Cuban cooking is its everyday backbone, from cafecito at a Little Havana window to slow-cooked lechon. Venezuelan, Colombian, Peruvian, Haitian and Nicaraguan kitchens are spread across the city, and Brickell and the Design District add a serious chef-led tier.

Palm Beach offers formal Italian and French dining and long terrace lunches off Worth Avenue. They are done well but rarely surprise, and the dress codes are strict. For Cuban bakeries, a weekend green market and casual places you have to cross the bridge to West Palm Beach. Stone crab in winter is the one thing the two tables share.

Neither city has much old heritage, and both are best seen through their architecture, but Miami has more of it. The Art Deco Historic District is a whole neighbourhood of 1930s pastel hotels to walk through, and Vizcaya adds an Italianate villa on the bay. The Perez Art Museum, the Wolfsonian, Wynwood's murals and Little Havana's exile history fill several days.

Palm Beach's story is Gilded Age wealth: Flagler's Whitehall mansion, Mizner's Mediterranean Revival courtyards on Worth Avenue and the estates along South Ocean Boulevard. Add the Norton Museum of Art across the lagoon and you have seen the main sights in two or three days.

This is where the two differ most. Miami goes out late and hard, with big DJ rooms and bottle tables in South Beach and downtown clubs that run until dawn. For something looser there are Wynwood's breweries and warehouse parties, and salsa nights on Calle Ocho.

On Palm Beach island the evening usually means dinner and a drink in a hotel bar, and much of the social life happens in private clubs. Clematis Street and Rosemary Square in West Palm Beach have enough bars and rooftop terraces for a night or two, but nothing on Miami's scale.

Both sit in the same flat, watery landscape, but Miami has the Everglades proper on its doorstep. You can take an airboat, see alligators on the Anhinga Trail or cycle the Shark Valley loop. Biscayne National Park adds mangroves and reefs, and Key Largo's coral is an hour south.

Palm Beach is strongest underwater close to shore: divers know the shallows under the Blue Heron Bridge for octopus and seahorses. The Lake Trail is a lovely ride, and the Loxahatchee refuge offers a smaller taste of the Everglades. Manatees in winter and nesting turtles in summer add seasonal interest.

Palm Beach has the better outing, and it is Miami itself. The fast train gets you there in about an hour for a full day of South Beach, Little Havana and Wynwood, a world away from the island. Delray Beach's main street, Boca Raton and Jupiter's lighthouse make shorter trips.

From Miami, the trip the other way to Palm Beach's mansions and Worth Avenue is pleasant, and the Upper Keys make a good seafood day. Key West is too far for a comfortable return trip in one day, though, and much of the land around Miami is suburb and wetland.

For families the two are broadly level, and the difference is in the setting. Miami has more to fill the days, from Zoo Miami and the Frost Science Museum's aquarium to the Venetian Pool and Everglades airboats, but long drives and South Beach's party side make it harder going.

Palm Beach is calmer and safe, but the island is grown-up and formal, so most children's outings are across the bridge: the zoo, Manatee Lagoon and the drive-through safari park. Peanut Island's lagoon is ideal for small swimmers.

Neither works well without wheels, and a car helps in both. Miami at least has rail: the free Metromover links downtown and Brickell, and the Metrorail runs from the airport. Neither reaches the beach, though, so visitors staying there walk locally and use ride-hailing for everything else.

Palm Beach is smaller and nicer on foot, with a walkable core around Worth Avenue, the Lake Trail for cycling and a free trolley in downtown West Palm Beach. Its best connection is the fast train to Miami. Buses are slow everywhere else.

Both are luxury shopping destinations, so the choice comes down to scale and atmosphere. Miami spreads its shops out: Design District flagships among architect-designed buildings, exclusive Bal Harbour, the vast Aventura Mall and outlet malls for bargains. Little Havana adds a few Cuban cigar and guayabera shops.

Palm Beach packs its shopping into a few palm-shaded blocks and vias on Worth Avenue. It also has two things Miami lacks: consignment shops selling designer pieces from local wardrobes, and the furniture and art dealers of Antique Row.

Neither is a budget destination, but Miami is easier on the wallet. Its Cuban lunch counters and bakeries are cheap and filling, the mainland neighbourhoods have cheaper rooms than the beach, and the Metromover is free.

Palm Beach is priced for a wealthy clientele, from hotel rooms down to beach parking. The main ways to keep costs down are to stay in West Palm Beach or further along the coast, or to come in the humid summer when rates drop.

Miami has more on stage. The Adrienne Arsht Center hosts Florida Grand Opera and touring shows, Miami City Ballet is a company of real standing, and the New World Symphony plays in its Gehry building, with screenings on the lawn outside. The most local sound is Latin, with salsa, son and timba in Little Havana.

Palm Beach relies on the Kravis Center for touring musicals and orchestras, as well as Palm Beach Opera's short winter season. Palm Beach Dramaworks puts on serious plays and the Four Arts hosts chamber concerts. Both cities save their main season for winter, but Palm Beach goes much quieter the rest of the year.

Palm Beach is the more restful place. The island is slow and manicured, its oceanfront resorts are built around large spas and salt-water pools, and an early swim or a walk by the lagoon sets the pace for the day.

Miami has fine resort spas too, and a long-established Russian and Turkish bath house that Palm Beach cannot match. But South Beach's late noise and heavy traffic work against rest, so in Miami you have to retreat to Key Biscayne or Surfside to find calm.