New Orleans or Miami?

There is no real contest here. Miami Beach is one continuous stretch of pale sand from South Beach to Surfside, and the water is warm enough to swim even in winter. Key Biscayne and Haulover are quieter alternatives. The drawbacks are a flat, built-up setting, seaweed in the warmer months and summer storms.

New Orleans sits on a lake and a river where nobody swims. The nearest sand is around Bay St. Louis, more than an hour's drive away, and the water there is shallow and murky. For most visitors, swimming means the hotel pool.

Both cities eat well, but New Orleans has the stronger and more distinctive kitchen. Miami's food is Latin American and Caribbean: Cuban coffee and sandwiches on Calle Ocho, arepas, ceviche and Haitian griot, stone crab in winter, and a polished upmarket tier in Brickell and the Design District.

New Orleans cooks dishes found nowhere else: gumbo, étouffée, po'boys, chargrilled oysters and spring crawfish boils, some served in French Quarter dining rooms that have changed little in a century. It is also the home of the Sazerac, and its cocktail tradition goes deeper than anything in Miami. Miami gives you more range, New Orleans more depth, though its food is richer and heavier.

New Orleans has more to see. The French Quarter is a rare intact colonial town for the United States, centred on Jackson Square, the cathedral and the Cabildo. The Garden District mansions, the above-ground tombs and the National WWII Museum add enough for several days.

Miami's heritage is barely a century old. Its highlights are the pastel Art Deco blocks along Ocean Drive and the Vizcaya villa on the bay, with Wynwood's murals and the Perez Art Museum for contemporary art. It is attractive, but a couple of days covers it.

Both are serious late-night cities, but they go out in different ways. Miami's nights revolve around clubs: big South Beach rooms with international DJs, dress codes and bottle tables, and downtown venues that run until dawn. Brickell's rooftop bars and the salsa nights on Calle Ocho round it out. It rewards money and planning.

New Orleans stays out on the street. There is no closing time and you can carry a drink outside in a plastic cup, so nights drift on foot from Frenchmen Street to the dive bars of the Bywater, with Bourbon Street as the loud tourist end. There are few dance clubs, and Carnival turns the whole city into one party.

Miami has coral reefs within reach, and New Orleans has nothing like them. Biscayne National Park is mostly underwater, with kayaking among the mangroves and snorkelling over the reefs, and Key Largo is about an hour south. The Everglades start at the city's western edge, where the Anhinga Trail boardwalks pass alligators and wading birds and a cycling loop runs through Shark Valley. Back in town, boats, fishing and kitesurfing on the bay are easy to arrange.

New Orleans has its own wetland in the cypress swamps and bayous, which you can explore by boat or kayak, and the boardwalks of the Barataria Preserve south of the river. In town, the old live oaks and lagoons of City Park and the Mississippi levee are good for a walk or a ride. Neither city has any hills, and both are hard going from June to September, so plan outdoor days for the cooler months.

New Orleans has the more rewarding days out. The River Road plantations are about an hour away, with Oak Alley's avenue of oaks and the Whitney's account of the people enslaved there. Baton Rouge, the Gulf towns of Bay St. Louis and Ocean Springs, and the Cajun country around Lafayette add variety.

From Miami the options are pleasant rather than memorable: the canals of Fort Lauderdale, the Palm Beach mansions, and seafood shacks in Key Largo and Islamorada. Key West, the obvious goal, is too far for a comfortable day there and back.

Miami is the easier choice with children, mainly because of its beaches, with warm, calm water at Key Biscayne and North Beach. Zoo Miami, the aquarium at the Frost Science Museum and the Venetian Pool fill other days. The catch is that most outings mean a long drive.

New Orleans has more for children than its reputation suggests. There is Audubon Zoo, the riverfront aquarium, City Park's carousel and children's museum, and streetcar rides, while the Mardi Gras parades along St. Charles Avenue are a highlight. But there is no beach, and parents need to be careful where they walk after dark.

New Orleans is far easier to get around. The French Quarter, the Marigny and the Warehouse District sit in a compact band along the river and are all walkable. The historic St. Charles streetcar is both transport and sightseeing, though slow.

Miami is spread out and built for the car. South Beach is walkable and the free Metromover links downtown and Brickell, but the Metrorail never reaches the beach. Most visitors depend on ride-hailing, and need a hire car for the Everglades or the Keys.

Miami is the place for designer labels. The flagship stores of the Design District, the exclusive open-air mall at Bal Harbour and the vast Aventura Mall are built for serious spending, and outlet malls on the western edge cater to bargain hunters. Beyond guayaberas and cigars in Little Havana, there is little local character.

New Orleans works the other way round. Big brands are few, but there are antique dealers on Royal Street, miles of independent and vintage shops along Magazine Street, and Mardi Gras masks, hot sauces and pralines at the French Market.

Miami is the more expensive trip at almost every turn. Beachfront hotels charge high winter rates and add resort fees and parking, drinks in the South Beach clubs are among the costliest anywhere, and you will also pay for a hire car or regular ride-hailing. Free beaches, cheap Cuban lunch counters and the no-fare Metromover help, as does sleeping on the mainland rather than on Miami Beach.

A budget goes further in New Orleans, where po'boys, red beans and rice, corner bars and the streetcar keep daily spending modest, and the street music costs nothing. The room is still the biggest bill, but here it is easier to cut. Staying along the streetcar lines outside the Quarter is cheaper, as long as you avoid Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest weekends.

New Orleans is one of the great music cities. Jazz, brass bands, blues, zydeco and funk play every night on Frenchmen Street, in the old French Quarter jazz hall and in bars across Tremé. Sunday second lines and Jazz Fest add to it. Opera, orchestras and theatre, though, are thin.

Miami is the other way round: stronger on the formal stage, with Miami City Ballet, the Arsht Center and the New World Symphony in its Frank Gehry hall, plus Cuban and Afro-Caribbean bands in Little Havana. On an ordinary evening, though, there is far less live music to wander into.

Miami is the better place to rest, mostly thanks to its resort hotels, with spa floors, pools and ocean views. Add sunrise yoga on the sand and a long-established Russian and Turkish bath house, and keep to Key Biscayne or Surfside for calm.

New Orleans has no spa or bathing tradition beyond hotel day spas. Its kind of relaxation is simply a slow pace: a courtyard guesthouse, a streetcar ride under the oaks, a lazy afternoon in City Park.