New Orleans or St. Petersburg, Florida?

St. Petersburg is a real beach destination and New Orleans is not. The barrier islands just west of downtown have wide, fine sand and calm, shallow water. Fort De Soto feels wilder, and Clearwater and ferry-only Caladesi Island are a short drive north.

New Orleans faces a lake and a working river, and you can't swim in either. Its nearest beaches, around Bay St. Louis on the Mississippi coast, are well over an hour away, with water that is warm but brownish and shallow. For most visitors, swimming there means the hotel pool.

New Orleans is one of the few American cities where food is reason enough to go. Creole and Cajun cooking run from gumbo and étouffée in century-old French Quarter dining rooms to po'boys in Mid-City, and the city invented the Sazerac. The cooking is rich, though, and there's little beyond the local tradition.

St. Petersburg eats casually and well, built around grouper sandwiches, smoked fish spread and stone crab in beach-side fish shacks. Its craft breweries are the local strength. It is pleasant rather than memorable, and it lacks a cuisine to compare with Creole cooking.

New Orleans is the place to explore on foot. The French Quarter is an unusually complete colonial town, with Jackson Square, the cathedral and the Cabildo at its heart. The Garden District mansions and the above-ground tombs add more, and the National WWII Museum is a major institution in its own right.

St. Petersburg's culture is mostly indoors and modern. The Dalí Museum on the waterfront is the highlight, with the Museum of Fine Arts and the Chihuly glass collection close by. Its historic buildings date mostly from the 1920s, and two or three days covers it all.

New Orleans has no legal closing time, and you can carry drinks along the street, so nights there carry on until dawn. Bourbon Street is loud and neon. Locals prefer Frenchmen Street, the Bywater dives and corner bars, and the night is spent moving from bar to bar rather than in clubs.

In St. Petersburg a night out means cocktails, rooftop terraces and taprooms along Central Avenue, or sunset at a beach tiki bar. It is relaxed and usually ends with a late dinner. Anyone wanting more crosses to Ybor City in Tampa.

Both landscapes are flat and wet, but St. Petersburg makes it easier to get out on the water. You can kayak through the mangroves of Weedon Island and Shell Key past dolphins, rays and, in winter, manatees. Fort De Soto has birding, and the Pinellas Trail makes cycling simple.

From New Orleans the draw is the swamps: boat tours and boardwalks through cypress and Spanish moss in the Barataria Preserve, with alligators and herons. City Park's live oaks and the river levee are pleasant in town, but summer heat keeps most outdoor plans to spring and autumn.

The two are about equal for day trips, and each offers only a handful. From New Orleans the outings are about history: the River Road plantations, including the Whitney with its account of slavery, and Baton Rouge's capitol. The Cajun prairie towns lie at the far edge of a day.

From St. Petersburg the trips are more varied in tone. You can see Ybor City and the minarets of the old Tampa Bay Hotel, the Ringling in Sarasota and the Greek sponge docks of Tarpon Springs. Orlando's theme parks are possible on a long day.

St. Petersburg is the more natural family base. Calm, shallow Gulf water suits small children, beachfront condos are built for families, and Busch Gardens, the Florida Aquarium and the Clearwater Marine Aquarium are all within reach, though nearly every outing means a drive.

New Orleans has more for children than its reputation suggests, with Audubon Zoo, the riverside aquarium, City Park's carousel and storybook garden, and streetcar and paddle-steamer rides. Parents still have to steer clear of Bourbon Street at night and be careful where they walk after dark.

New Orleans is easier without a car. The French Quarter, the Marigny and the Warehouse District sit in a flat, walkable band, and the slow but charming St. Charles streetcar reaches the Garden District. Ride-hailing covers the airport and the swamps.

St. Petersburg's downtown is walkable and a rapid bus runs to St. Pete Beach. Beyond that, the other beaches, Fort De Soto, Tampa and every day trip are far simpler with a hire car, and many visitors drive everywhere.

New Orleans has more worth browsing. Royal Street's antique dealers sell chandeliers and estate jewellery, Magazine Street has miles of independent boutiques and vintage shops, and Mardi Gras masks and costumes are a speciality you won't find elsewhere.

St. Petersburg's shopping is smaller and more local: record shops, vintage stores and glass galleries in the Grand Central District, and a winter Saturday market downtown. Neither city does luxury, and St. Petersburg sends brand-name shoppers to Tampa's malls.

Both cost about what you'd expect for American destinations, and neither is cheap. In New Orleans, rooms in and near the Quarter take most of the budget, especially on festival weekends. Po'boys, the streetcar and free street music keep daily spending down.

In St. Petersburg the extra costs are a hire car, beach parking and peak beachfront rates from February to April. In both cities, the hot summer months are the cheapest time to go.

Music is one of the main reasons people visit New Orleans. Traditional jazz, brass bands, zydeco and funk play every night in the Frenchmen Street clubs and Tremé bars, second-line parades move through the neighbourhoods on Sundays, and Jazz Fest anchors the spring. The formal stage is modest.

St. Petersburg has a steady, smaller scene. The Florida Orchestra and touring shows play the Mahaffey Theater, there's a regional theatre company, and bands play in bars at weekends. For opera and ballet, visitors go to Tampa.

St. Petersburg is better for a restful trip. Historic beach hotels have resort spas, Pass-a-Grille stays sleepy, and watching the sunset over the Gulf becomes a daily ritual. Winter, with its low humidity, is the calmest time to go.

New Orleans has only hotel day spas. What it offers is a slower pace: a quiet courtyard guesthouse, a long streetcar ride under the oaks and an idle afternoon in City Park, though few people go there just to rest.