Naples, Florida or Varadero?

Both are serious beach destinations with pale sand and calm, shallow water, but Varadero has the edge. Its 20km strip of powdery sand on the Hicacos Peninsula is almost unbroken, the turquoise water stays warm enough to swim in all winter, and the eastern end in front of the resorts feels spacious.

Naples answers with variety: the town beach and pier in Old Naples, reached by public paths, the mangrove boardwalk at Clam Pass, the wild dunes of Barefoot Beach and good shelling after storms. Its winter sea is noticeably cooler, though, and algae blooms sometimes spoil the water for a few days.

Neither is a place to travel for food, but Naples eats noticeably better. Fifth Avenue South and Third Street South are made for long dinners after the beach, and the dockside fish houses around Tin City serve grouper, stone crab and oysters.

In Varadero most meals come from resort buffets, and the few private restaurants in town cook with whatever ingredients they can get. The pleasures there are simpler: grilled lobster when it is available, a daiquiri made with local rum and strong Cuban coffee.

Culture is a minor part of either trip, though Naples has a bit more to fill a rainy day. There is modern and American art at the Baker Museum, historic racing cars at the Revs Institute and the Mediterranean-style streets of Old Naples. Varadero's sights, the Du Pont family's Xanadu Mansion, a small museum and cave drawings in the Varahicacos reserve, take a few hours at most, and Cuba's real history lies off the peninsula.

Varadero has the livelier evenings, though only modestly. Beyond the resort animation shows, the town end has open-air bars, salsa clubs where locals dance with real skill and a disco inside a limestone cave, and Cuban weekenders add to the crowd.

Naples winds down early. Its evenings mean a wine bar or piano lounge on Fifth Avenue South or a sunset drink at a tiki bar, and the streets go quiet well before midnight, especially in summer.

Naples has much the stronger outdoors. Big Cypress, the western Everglades, Corkscrew Swamp and the Fakahatchee Strand are all within an hour, and kayaking through the Ten Thousand Islands brings alligators, wading birds and, with luck, manatees.

Varadero's own land is a narrow limestone strip, so most outdoor time is spent on the water: catamarans to the cays, snorkelling and diving on reefs and wrecks, and kitesurfing in the winter winds. The bird-rich Zapata wetlands are a long day away.

Varadero has a day out that Naples cannot match: Havana, about two hours west, with Old Havana and the Malecón. Matanzas with its nineteenth-century theatre, colonial Cárdenas and the Bay of Pigs add variety, though leaving the peninsula means a transfer, a tour or a hired driver.

From Naples the outings are pleasant drives: the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort Myers, shelling on Sanibel and Captiva, and old Everglades City. Sarasota's Ringling museums are at the limit of a comfortable day.

Both suit small children for the same reason: shallow, warm, usually calm water right off the sand. Naples gives more to do away from the beach, with Naples Zoo and its boat tour past the primate islands, the Golisano Children's Museum and dolphins visible from the shore.

Varadero's strength is the all-inclusive format, where kids' clubs and children's pools take care of the day, and Cubans are warm with children. Parents should bring medicines, nappies and sun cream with them, though, because these are hard to find and medical care is basic.

Neither is easy on foot beyond its old centre, but Varadero is simpler for a visitor without a car. The open-top tourist bus runs the length of the peninsula, and taxis, coco-taxis, horse-drawn carriages and rental bikes cover the flat road between the town and the resorts.

In Naples you can walk around Old Naples and the pier, but the northern beaches, the Everglades and every day trip need a rental car, and traffic builds in winter.

Naples is by far the better place to shop. Fifth Avenue South and Third Street South have galleries, jewellers and resort-wear boutiques, an open-air luxury mall gathers the designer brands, and the outlet malls are half an hour north.

Varadero has craft markets on the main avenue selling carvings, crochet and paintings, plus rum and cigars, which are worth buying from the official shops. Beyond that there is no fashion shopping at all.

Varadero is much the cheaper of the two, provided you book an all-inclusive and stay put. Taxis, excursions and private restaurants are priced for visitors, so roaming independently pushes costs towards middling.

Naples is expensive across the board in the winter high season, with premium hotel rates, restaurants aimed at a wealthy clientele and a rental car on top. Summer is cheaper but hot and stormy, and staying inland or in Fort Myers and cooking for yourself helps.

Naples has the stronger stage, at least from late autumn to spring. The Naples Philharmonic plays in its own hall, alongside touring Broadway shows, chamber music and a professional theatre company downtown, though in summer the programme thins to almost nothing.

Varadero's music is informal: son and salsa trios in hotel lobbies, good bands in the dance clubs and cabaret shows with feathers and rumba. There is no concert hall or theatre, so for serious music or ballet you go to Havana.

Both are easy places to rest and neither has a bathing tradition, so the difference is in kind. Naples has large, polished resort spas open to non-guests, plus golf and long sunset walks in a quiet town. In Varadero the spas are often open-air cabins by the sea, with more variable standards, and the appeal is the all-inclusive ease of days with nothing to organise, especially at the calmer eastern end.