Naples, Florida or Panama City Beach?

Both towns are built around a superb strip of pale Gulf sand, so the difference lies in character. Naples has calm, shallow water and access paths at the end of the quiet streets of Old Naples, with the pier as a meeting point. Barefoot Beach and Clam Pass give you wilder stretches, and the sea stays mild enough for paddling in winter.

Panama City Beach has a much longer run of powder-white quartz with condos along it. The quietest sand is inside St. Andrews State Park and on undeveloped Shell Island. Its water is colder in winter, and rip currents mean you need to watch the beach flags far more closely than in Naples.

Naples eats better, though you would not travel to either of them for the food. Fifth Avenue South and Third Street South have white-tablecloth dining rooms and wine bars, and stone crab claws in the cooler months add a local touch. In Panama City Beach the grouper and shrimp come fried or blackened at casual shacks and dockside decks, and national chains make up most of the choice on Front Beach Road, so a carefully cooked dinner takes some looking for.

Neither town is a place for sightseeing, but Naples at least fills a day. It has the modern and American art of the Baker Museum, the Revs Institute's historic racing cars, Palm Cottage and the Mediterranean-style streets of Old Naples. In Panama City Beach almost nothing is older than the mid-twentieth century apart from what you find at the small Man in the Sea Museum, so anyone curious about history crosses the bay to the St. Andrews district of Panama City or drives further.

Panama City Beach is the livelier of the two after dark, in a sand-between-the-toes way. You get deck bars, tiki huts serving frozen drinks, cover bands and some dancing on summer weekends around Pier Park. In March spring break makes Front Beach Road loud and rowdy, which suits students and few others.

Naples winds down earlier, with an older crowd in the piano lounges and wine bars of Fifth Avenue South and a sunset drink at a waterfront tiki bar. Neither town has a club scene, and both go quiet in their slow months.

Naples has the stronger outdoors, because Big Cypress, the western Everglades and the boardwalk of Corkscrew Swamp all lie within an hour. You can see alligators and wading birds there and kayak through the mangroves of the Ten Thousand Islands. Its best season, the dry winter, is also its most comfortable.

In Panama City Beach the outdoors is mostly about the water. It has dunes and pine flatwoods at St. Andrews State Park, a rare coastal dune lake at Camp Helen, dolphin trips and diving on offshore wrecks and artificial reefs. Both landscapes are flat and hard going in the summer heat.

Both towns need a car for outings that are pleasant rather than outstanding, but the outings differ in kind. From Naples you go for inventors' history and islands: the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, shelling on Sanibel and Captiva, with Miami or Sarasota's Ringling museums at the limit of a day.

From Panama City Beach the best drive runs along Scenic Highway 30A to the pastel planned towns of Seaside and Rosemary Beach. The old oyster port of Apalachicola lies to the east, and Pensacola's naval aviation museum is about as far as a day allows.

Panama City Beach is built around families. Along the strip there is a water park, a marine park with dolphin shows, go-karts and mini-golf, and condos give the children a pool and you a kitchen. Just avoid March, when spring break arrives.

Naples suits younger children who are happy with calm water, shells, the zoo's boat ride past the primate islands and the Golisano Children's Museum. It is gentler and quieter, but older children may run out of things to do sooner.

You need a car in both, but Naples gives you somewhere to leave it, because the compact grid of Old Naples puts the pier, the beach, restaurants and shops within a flat walk or bike ride. Panama City Beach stretches 43km along one road with patchy pavements and a slow trolley-bus, so most walking happens on the sand, and Front Beach Road can crawl in summer.

Naples is the better place to shop. Galleries, jewellers and resort-wear boutiques sit under the palms of Fifth Avenue South and Third Street South, and there is an open-air luxury mall and the old waterfront sheds of Tin City. Panama City Beach offers Pier Park's chain stores, surf shops and souvenir warehouses with shark-mouth entrances, and for anything more individual you drive to the boutiques along 30A.

Panama City Beach is clearly the cheaper vacation. Condo rentals let you cook for yourself, and outside summer and spring break rates fall sharply, so long winter stays come cheap, though that is also when the sea is too cool for most swimmers.

Naples is most expensive exactly when it is at its best, in the high season from January to April, and its restaurants are priced for a wealthy crowd. Its cheaper months are the hot, stormy summer and early autumn. Staying inland or in Fort Myers is the main way to cut costs.

Naples has a real winter arts season. The Naples Philharmonic plays in its own hall, and there are touring Broadway shows, chamber music and two theatre companies downtown, though the programme thins out in summer. Panama City Beach offers cover bands and acoustic sets on beach-bar decks, and the restored historic theatre across the bay in Panama City is the only stage for touring shows.

Neither town has a bathing tradition, but Naples is far better set up for rest. Large beachfront resort spas are open to non-guests, and with golf, quiet streets and a population that is largely there to unwind, a slow week comes easily.

In Panama City Beach the calm depends on the season. From autumn to spring the beach empties and sunset walks are peaceful, while summer and spring break bring noise and crowds. The spa choice is limited to a few resorts and day spas.