Orlando or Williamsburg, Virginia?

Neither city is on the coast, and in both the beach is a day trip. Orlando has a small edge in quality. Cocoa Beach and New Smyrna Beach, about an hour east, are long Atlantic strands with soft sand, and the calmer, clearer Gulf around Clearwater is about two hours away.

Williamsburg's closest sand is the small, calm river beach at Yorktown, about 20 minutes away, which is easy for a short swim. For a real seaside day you drive about an hour to Virginia Beach. The water is pleasant only in summer, and sea nettles can drift into the bay.

Orlando eats better once you leave the tourist corridors. Mills 50 has a strong run of Vietnamese and other Asian kitchens, Winter Park and Audubon Park have chef-led restaurants, and Epcot's World Showcase is a decent place to graze inside the parks. Reaching most of it takes a drive.

Williamsburg has a narrower range but more regional character: ham biscuits, peanut soup, Chesapeake crab cakes and oysters, and wine from the vineyards on the edge of town. The colonial taverns are about the candlelit setting more than the food, and Richmond Road is lined with pancake houses and buffets.

This is where the two differ most. Williamsburg is a living-history town. Costumed blacksmiths, printers and wigmakers work along Duke of Gloucester Street between the Capitol and the Wren Building, the Governor's Palace stands at the end of its green, and the art museums hold serious collections of folk and decorative art.

Orlando grew from citrus groves and theme parks and has little old architecture. Its one outstanding sight is the Morse Museum in Winter Park, with Tiffany's chapel interior. The art and history museums around Loch Haven Park and downtown fill an afternoon, not a trip.

Orlando offers a proper night out. Downtown along Orange Avenue and Church Street, the large student population fills bars and clubs late at weekends, Ivanhoe Village and Mills 50 have gay bars and a relaxed scene, and Disney Springs and CityWalk provide easy themed bars near the resorts.

Williamsburg goes quiet after dinner. There are a few student pubs near the college, some taprooms on the edge of town and candlelit ghost walks. Anyone wanting more drives to Norfolk or Richmond.

Both sit on flat, watery ground, and Orlando has slightly more to show. Its crystal-clear springs are the highlight: kayaking at Wekiwa Springs and wintering manatees at Blue Spring. Airboats cross alligator country, and the Merritt Island refuge offers some of Florida's best birdwatching.

Williamsburg's Tidewater is gentler and greener: the empty Colonial Parkway along the James and York rivers, the paved Capital Trail from Jamestown, and kayaking on the Chickahominy with ospreys and bald eagles overhead. Its outdoor seasons are spring and autumn, while Orlando's run through the winter.

Orlando's outings are long drives in different directions, and each one is quite unlike the last. The Kennedy Space Center, about an hour east, puts the Saturn V and the shuttle Atlantis in front of you, and sometimes a launch is visible across the water. St Augustine's Spanish fort and old streets lie just under two hours north, while Tampa's Ybor City and the Dalí Museum in St Petersburg fill a full day to the west.

Williamsburg's outings form a tight cluster with one theme: early American history. Jamestown and the Yorktown battlefield are each less than half an hour away, so either fits into a morning. The grand plantation houses along the James River and Richmond's Civil War sites carry the same story further. From either base, you will need a car for almost every trip.

Orlando is in a league of its own. Walt Disney World alone has four theme parks and two water parks, and Universal, SeaWorld and Legoland add more. Character breakfasts, bunk-room suites and resort transport are all designed so that families barely have to think. The catch is the heat, the queues and the sheer size.

Williamsburg is a calmer and more educational family trip. Busch Gardens and Water Country USA provide the rides, while children can march in a fife-and-drum parade or climb aboard the replica ships at Jamestown. It fills a long weekend well, not a fortnight.

Williamsburg is the easier place to get about. The Historic Area, Merchants Square and the campus form a flat district you can walk end to end, and Duke of Gloucester Street is closed to cars by day. Beyond that you still need a car for the theme parks, the outlets and the Triangle sites.

Orlando is built around Interstate 4, and its parks, hotels and downtown sit many miles apart with poor pavements between them. The exception is a family staying inside Disney or Universal, where monorails, boats and gondolas make a car unnecessary.

Orlando is a real shopping destination for brand hunters. Two large premium outlet centres and the Mall at Millenia cover American and designer labels, and Park Avenue in Winter Park adds tree-lined boutiques.

Williamsburg's shopping is smaller but has something Orlando lacks: handmade goods. The colonial shops sell pewter, pottery, silver and books printed the old way, and Merchants Square has Virginia gifts. There is one outlet centre on Richmond Road, but no luxury shopping.

Williamsburg is somewhat easier on the budget. Its many motels and condos are reasonably priced outside the peak weeks, and combination passes take the edge off the admission tickets for Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown.

In Orlando, rooms along International Drive and in Kissimmee are fair value, but multi-day park tickets, express passes, parking and meals inside the parks quickly add up. Staying in an on-site resort adds more.

Orlando has a real professional stage. The Dr. Phillips Center hosts touring Broadway shows and the Orlando Philharmonic, Orlando Shakespeare Theater plays in Loch Haven Park, and the long-running Fringe fills the spring. The parks add polished stage shows and fireworks on top.

Williamsburg's performances belong to its colonial setting: candlelit recitals of eighteenth-century music, period theatre and fife-and-drum corps on the main street. Student productions add a little in term time, but for an orchestra or serious theatre you head to Richmond or Norfolk.

Neither is a place to choose for rest, and neither has a bathing tradition, but they relax you in different ways. Orlando offers resort comfort: full spas, lazy rivers and landscaped pools around Lake Buena Vista make good recovery days between hectic park days, and Winter Park's lakes offer some calm.

Williamsburg's appeal is its slower pace. Early mornings on the empty colonial greens, quiet golf resorts on the James River and drives down the wooded Colonial Parkway make for a gentler stay than Orlando's park schedule allows.