Myrtle Beach or Palm Beach?

Both are long Atlantic shores with plenty of beach, but they offer different things. Myrtle Beach has more sand: the Grand Strand is wide, flat and pale with small waves, and calmer, dune-backed stretches run south to Surfside and Garden City. The water is greenish, though, and only swimmable from late spring to autumn.

Palm Beach has the better water, clear and warmed by the Gulf Stream all year, but less sand. Much of the island's shore is private or narrows at high tide, so the public beaches near Worth Avenue and Phipps Ocean Park do most of the work, or you drive to Singer Island or Jupiter. Peanut Island's shallow lagoon adds snorkelling, which Myrtle Beach cannot offer.

Neither is a food destination, but Palm Beach eats better. Its island restaurants are formal and polished, with menus built around stone crab, grouper and Key lime pie, and West Palm Beach adds Cuban bakeries, Caribbean takeaways and a weekend green market by the water.

Myrtle Beach's strip runs on buffets, pancake houses and chains. The good meals are outside town: boat-fresh oysters and flounder at Murrells Inlet, and Calabash-style fried seafood over the state line. A couple of evenings covers them.

Palm Beach has a real Gilded Age story to tell. You can see it in Flagler's marble Whitehall, in Mizner's Mediterranean Revival vias on Worth Avenue and in the estates along South Ocean Boulevard. Across the lagoon, the Norton Museum's American, European and Chinese collections round out two or three good days.

Myrtle Beach, a twentieth-century resort, has much less. Brookgreen Gardens, with sculpture under live oaks on a former rice plantation, and the Moorish-style Atalaya next door make one good day out, and little in town holds a visitor long.

Myrtle Beach is the place to stay out late, at least in summer. The boardwalk blocks, rooftop decks and dance clubs in the entertainment complexes keep going late. North Myrtle Beach's shag clubs on Main Street keep alive a local dance tradition that Florida has no equivalent for. The scene is loud rather than polished, and quiet out of season.

On Palm Beach island, the evening usually ends by eleven, after dinner and a drink in a hotel bar. For a proper night out you cross the bridge to Clematis Street and Rosemary Square, which have cocktail bars and a couple of dance spots. That is enjoyable for a night or two.

Both sit on flat coastal country with alligators and wading birds, but Palm Beach has the edge, mostly underwater. Gulf Stream reefs lie just offshore, and the shallow dive under the Blue Heron Bridge is famous for octopus and seahorses. Inland, the Loxahatchee refuge touches the Everglades, and manatees in winter and nesting turtles in summer add wildlife through the year.

Myrtle Beach answers with birdwatching on the Huntington Beach marsh boardwalks, kayaking through cypress swamp on the Waccamaw and dozens of golf courses along the Strand. Golfers may value those courses more than any reef.

Each has one standout day out and a string of smaller towns, and the difference is in how you get there. From Myrtle Beach the big trip is historic Charleston, two hours' drive away, for antebellum streets and harbour forts. Georgetown's rice-culture museum and Wilmington's riverfront are closer, but every outing needs a car.

From Palm Beach, Miami is about an hour away by fast train, for Art Deco South Beach and Little Havana. The nearer stops, such as Delray, Boca Raton and Jupiter, are resort towns much like Palm Beach, with less old heritage than the Carolina coast.

Myrtle Beach is built for children. It has gentle surf, oceanfront hotels with lazy rivers and kitchen suites, a large aquarium, water parks, a seaside amusement park with a wooden coaster and themed mini-golf on every corner. The only real advice is to avoid spring break weeks.

Palm Beach is safe and calm but aimed at adults, and children can feel out of place on the island itself. Across the bridge, the zoo, the science centre, Manatee Lagoon and the drive-through safari park fill a few days, and Peanut Island's lagoon suits small swimmers.

You need a car in both, but Palm Beach is easier to get around. The island core and downtown West Palm Beach are walkable, and the Lake Trail makes cycling a pleasure. A free trolley loops through downtown, and the fast train reaches Miami.

Myrtle Beach is spread along 100km of multi-lane highway with few pavements and sparse buses, and summer traffic on Kings Highway is slow. Away from the boardwalk blocks and the beach itself, plan to drive everywhere.

Palm Beach is a real shopping destination. Worth Avenue's luxury houses and jewellers sit among Mizner's courtyards, consignment shops sell designer clothes from the wardrobes of the town's wealthy residents, and Antique Row's dealers line South Dixie Highway across the water.

Myrtle Beach is about bargains rather than style. It has two big outlet centres, entertainment complexes, The Market Common and huge beachwear shops. The one local craft is sweetgrass baskets, sold on the road south.

The gap here is wide. Myrtle Beach's sheer number of motels, hotels and condos keeps rooms affordable outside July, and kitchens help with meals. Restaurants, shows and golf still cost the usual American amounts, and you will need a car.

Palm Beach is among the most expensive resort towns in the country, especially in winter, and even beach parking adds up. To make it work, stay in West Palm Beach, come in the humid summer and lean on the free beaches and the Lake Trail.

Palm Beach has the more serious stage, at least in winter. The Kravis Center hosts touring Broadway shows, orchestras and ballet and is home to Palm Beach Opera, Palm Beach Dramaworks puts on serious plays, and the Society of the Four Arts holds chamber concerts. The calendar thins out in summer.

Myrtle Beach does polished variety: country, gospel and Christmas revues in big theatres, dinner shows with pirates or knights, and touring country acts. It makes a good family evening, but there is no opera or serious drama.

Palm Beach is the more restful of the two. The island is quiet and manicured, the large oceanfront resort spas have salt-water pools and full treatment menus, and beach yoga and early swims in a warm sea are easy to find.

Myrtle Beach's summer strip is loud and car-bound, and its spas are mostly treatment rooms in hotels and golf resorts. For real rest, go to the slower pace of Pawleys Island or visit in spring or autumn.