Miami or Wilmington?

Both cities sit on the warm Atlantic, but Miami's beach is the bigger asset. Miami Beach is one continuous strip of sand that many visitors can walk to from their hotel, Key Biscayne has calmer water, and you can swim even in January.

Wilmington's three beaches, from polished Wrightsville to quiet Kure Beach, are good. But they are a drive from the town on the river, and the sea is only warm enough to swim from late spring into autumn. In return, Carolina Beach and Kure Beach have a small-town, family feel very different from Miami's Art Deco hotel front. Rip currents and lifeguards who work only in season call for more care.

Miami eats far more widely. Cuban food from the ventanita windows of Little Havana sets the tone. There is Venezuelan, Peruvian, Haitian and Nicaraguan cooking across the city, and Brickell and the Design District have a tier of chef-led restaurants.

Wilmington's food is narrower and more regional: local shrimp, flounder and oysters, shrimp and grits, and vinegar-sauced eastern Carolina barbecue, with a good craft-brewery scene north of downtown. It is enjoyable for a few days, but there is little beyond Southern cooking and seafood.

Miami has more to see. The Art Deco district of South Beach and the villa and gardens of Vizcaya lead the way, followed by the Perez Art Museum, the Wolfsonian and the Wynwood murals. Wilmington's appeal is older and quieter: streets of antebellum and Victorian houses under live oaks, the Bellamy Mansion, and the Battleship North Carolina across the river. Neither city needs more than a few days, but Miami fills them with more variety.

This is where the two cities differ most. Miami goes out late and hard, from the big-name DJ clubs of South Beach to downtown venues that stay open until dawn. For other moods there are Wynwood's warehouse bars, the Brickell rooftops and the salsa nights on Calle Ocho.

In Wilmington a night out means the bars and pubs along Front Street, which are busiest at weekends with the university crowd, plus the beach bars in summer. It is relaxed and friendly, but there is almost no club culture and the bars close at 2am.

Both landscapes are flat and wet, with no hills, but Miami has the bigger draw in the Everglades. There you can take an airboat, see alligators on the Anhinga Trail and cycle the loop at Shark Valley. Biscayne National Park and the reefs off Key Largo add snorkelling.

Wilmington's outdoors is smaller in scale: kayaking out to undeveloped Masonboro Island, surfing off Wrightsville and walking the pine savanna of Carolina Beach State Park, where the Venus flytrap grows wild. Summer heat and insects hit both cities. In Miami the outdoors is best in winter, while Wilmington is better in spring and autumn.

Neither city is a strong base for excursions, but the outings differ in character. From Miami you head for the water and old money: Key Largo and Islamorada in the Upper Keys, the mansions of Palm Beach, and Key West if you stay overnight.

From Wilmington the days out are historical and small-town. You can go south past Fort Fisher and Brunswick Town to Southport and take the ferry to car-free Bald Head Island, or go north to colonial New Bern and Beaufort.

Both cities work with children, mainly because of their beaches, and in both you need a car for most outings. Miami has more big attractions, such as Zoo Miami, the aquarium at the Frost Science Museum and the Venetian Pool, and the sea is warm enough all year. Against that, distances are long and South Beach's party side is best avoided.

Wilmington is smaller and easier, with old-fashioned rides on the Carolina Beach boardwalk, the aquarium at Fort Fisher, the decks of the battleship and plenty of beach rental houses. It is really a summer destination, though.

Both are car cities, but Miami lets you do a little more without one. South Beach is flat and walkable, the free Metromover links downtown and Brickell, and ride-hailing covers Wynwood and Little Havana, although the Metrorail does not reach the beach.

In Wilmington only the compact historic centre and the riverwalk are walkable. The beaches are 15km or more away and the buses are of little use to visitors, so even a beach day means driving and hunting for parking.

Miami is a real shopping destination, with the fashion flagships of the Design District, the exclusive open-air mall at Bal Harbour, the huge Aventura Mall and outlet malls on the western edge. Wilmington is for browsing rather than serious shopping: independent boutiques, bookshops and antique dealers on Front Street and in the Cotton Exchange, and surf wear in the beach towns. Neither city has much in the way of markets or crafts, but only Miami is worth a trip for the shops.

Wilmington is the easier city on the budget. Rooms in town are reasonable outside summer and a seafood or barbecue meal is fair value, although beach rentals fill up in high season and a hire car is hard to avoid.

Miami costs noticeably more. Winter hotel rates come with resort and parking fees, bar bills are steep, and drinks in the South Beach clubs are among the most expensive anywhere. Cuban lunch counters, free beaches, the free Metromover and a base on the mainland all help, but rarely bring costs down to Wilmington's level.

Miami has the bigger stages. Florida Grand Opera and touring Broadway shows play at the Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami City Ballet is a company of real standing, and the New World Symphony performs in its Frank Gehry building. Salsa and Afro-Cuban bands play in Little Havana.

Wilmington's scene is active for a city of its size. It centres on Thalian Hall, a restored 19th-century opera house, along with a community symphony, outdoor concerts by Greenfield Lake and long-running jazz and blues festivals. Its outdoor stages are busiest in the warmer months, while Miami's season is in winter.

Miami offers more in the way of pampering: large resort spas on Miami Beach and Key Biscayne, sunrise yoga on the sand and a long-established Russian and Turkish bath house with steam rooms and cold plunges. The catch is the noise and the late nights.

Wilmington has no bathing culture and only modest day spas and resort spas. Its slow pace and calm waterfront evenings make it easy to switch off, except on summer weekends. Choose Miami for spa treatments and Wilmington for peace and quiet.