Miami or San Juan?

Miami has the edge, mostly because its beach is one continuous, easily swum strip of pale sand along the whole barrier island, with Key Biscayne's Crandon Park and Bill Baggs for shallower, calmer water. The setting is flat and lined with buildings, and summer can bring sargassum.

San Juan's beaches are good but patchier. Isla Verde's reef-sheltered sand and the calm bay at Escambrón are excellent, yet parts of Condado and the coast towards Piñones have strong currents, so lifeguarded balnearios matter here. The palm-backed crescent at Luquillo is prettier than anything near Miami, and the winter sea runs a little warmer.

Miami offers more to eat. Cuban cooking leads, from cafecito at ventanita windows to lechon on Calle Ocho, but Venezuelan, Colombian, Peruvian, Haitian and Nicaraguan food broaden it, and stone crab and grouper sandwiches add a seafood strand. There is also a serious upscale tier in Brickell and the Design District.

San Juan focuses on a single island cuisine and does it well: mofongo, arroz con gandules, alcapurrias from seaside kiosks and the pork-roasting stalls of Guavate up in the hills. Rum, the piña colada and mountain-grown coffee give it a drinking culture that Miami's lunch counters lack.

San Juan has the deeper history. Its walled old town of blue cobbles and colonial houses, the forts of El Morro and San Cristóbal and the cathedral with Ponce de León's tomb date back nearly five centuries and form a UNESCO site walkable in a day.

Miami's heritage is barely a century old but distinctive in its own way: the pastel 1930s Art Deco blocks of South Beach and the Italianate villa and gardens of Vizcaya. Its museums and Wynwood murals give more contemporary art than San Juan, though neither city needs more than a few days.

Miami is the bigger night out. South Beach and the downtown clubs run on international DJs, dress codes and bottle tables until dawn, and Wynwood's warehouse bars, Brickell's rooftops and salsa on Calle Ocho add range. It rewards a large budget and stamina.

San Juan's nights are rougher round the edges and more spontaneous. Crowds drink in the street at La Placita in Santurce, and Calle San Sebastián mixes dive bars with salsa and reggaeton dance floors. Condado and Isla Verde add casinos and hotel lounges, but the energy is concentrated from Thursday to Saturday.

San Juan has the more varied outdoors. El Yunque brings tropical rainforest, waterfalls and hill views under an hour away, Laguna Grande glows with bioluminescent plankton on night paddles, and the north coast has proper winter surf.

Miami's great asset is the Everglades: airboats, alligators on the Anhinga Trail and cycling at Shark Valley, with Biscayne's mangroves and reefs close by. The land is entirely flat, though, and from June to September heat and mosquitoes make it hard going.

San Juan has more worth leaving town for. Ponce, over the mountains, has its colonial plaza, red-and-black firehouse and a fine art museum, the ferry to Cataño reaches the rum distillery, and Loíza is the heart of Afro-Puerto Rican bomba. Culebra and Vieques reward an overnight stay.

Miami's options are pleasant but thinner: Fort Lauderdale's canals, Palm Beach's Gilded Age mansions and the seafood shacks of Key Largo and Islamorada. Key West is too far for a comfortable day trip.

Miami has more built for children. Zoo Miami, the Frost Science Museum's planetarium and aquarium, Jungle Island and the Venetian Pool fill the days that the calm beaches of Key Biscayne and North Beach do not, though nearly every outing needs a car.

San Juan's highlights are simpler: El Morro's tunnels and cannons, kite flying on the lawn outside, sheltered water at Escambrón and short paved trails in El Yunque. There is no zoo or aquarium, but English, US standards and resort pools make it easy to manage.

Neither is easy without wheels, and both rely on ride-hailing. Miami's walkable pockets are flat, South Beach is good by bike and the free Metromover links downtown and Brickell, yet nothing on rails reaches the beach.

San Juan's old town is compact but hilly and cobbled, and the Tren Urbano misses both it and the beach districts. In both cities the best outings, whether the Everglades and the Keys or El Yunque and Ponce, mean hiring a car or booking a tour.

Miami is in another league for buying. The Design District's flagships among architect-designed buildings, Bal Harbour, the vast Aventura Mall and the western outlets serve luxury and bargain hunters alike, with Lincoln Road for mainstream brands.

San Juan has Plaza Las Américas and a short run of boutiques on Ashford Avenue, but its strength is souvenirs with roots: carved santos, vejigante masks, guayaberas, cigars, coffee and rum from Old San Juan. That is local character Miami largely lacks.

San Juan is the less expensive of the two, though it still costs about what a US mainland city does. Miami's beachfront hotels add resort fees and parking on top of high winter rates, and South Beach club drinks are notoriously costly.

Both cities soften the bill the same way: Cuban counters and bakeries in Miami, kiosks and roadside stalls in San Juan, and cheaper rooms in summer and autumn at the cost of hurricane risk. In San Juan the main extra is a hire car to see the island.

The two are evenly matched but lean in different directions. Miami is stronger on formal stages: Florida Grand Opera and Broadway tours at the Arsht Center, the well-regarded Miami City Ballet and the New World Symphony in its Gehry building, with screenings on the lawn.

San Juan's music lives more in the streets and dance halls. Salsa bands fill Old San Juan and Santurce, and open bomba sessions let visitors join the drumming and dancing, while the Casals Festival and the Centro de Bellas Artes carry the classical side.

Rest means resort spas in both, and neither city is quiet. Miami has a little more: sunrise yoga on the sand and a long-established Russian and Turkish bath house with banya and cold plunges, plus calm stretches on Key Biscayne and around Surfside.

San Juan has no bathing tradition, so calm comes from a hotel pool in Condado or Isla Verde, or from leaving the city for countryside retreats and the small offshore islands.